Berkeley Arts & Letters Home Page

authors, ideas, conversations

First Congregational Church of Berkeley

with Berkeley Arts & Letters Presents

A Two-Part BENEFIT FOR A NETWORK FOR GRATEFUL LIVING (ANG*L)

A SPIRITED LIFE IN THE SECULAR WORLD

with BROTHER DAVID STEINDL-RAST and SAM KEEN

Friday, July 30 and Saturday, July 31

First Congregational Church of Berkeley

2345 Channing Way at Dana, Berkeley

Tickets: Brown Paper Tickets (or by phone: 800-838-3006)

What does it mean to get beyond the veneer of gratitude in popular culture and live a spirited life?

Join Brother David Steindl-Rast and Sam Keen for a weekend exploring the many facets of this question.

Friday, July 30

7:30 PM

THE SCANDAL OF GRATITUDE

In the Sanctuary at FCCB

Brother David talks about how to pierce beneath the too-easy surface concept of Gratefulness, followed by a rejoinder from Sam Keen.

Saturday, July 31

10 AM – 4 PM

A DAY WITH BROTHER DAVID AND SAM

In the small assembly at FCCB

These two spirited friends are looking forward to a lively dialog on Sam’s belief of the importance of “Dwelling in the Presence of the Sacred’,

and Brother David’s translation of vision into action via “The Practice of Gratefulness in Contemplation”.

There will be time for much discussion, for asking and answering questions, and for sharing a lunchtime meal included as part of the day.

Tickets are available for just Friday evening’s conversation, for just Saturday’s all-day workshop, or for both events.

Tickets for Friday evening are $20 ($10 students with ID).

Tickets for Saturday’s workshop, including morning and afternoon coffee and teas, and a boxed lunch,

are $99 (with a limited number of student tickets available at $65)

The entire weekend benefits A Network for Grateful Living (ANG*L).

Best known for its interactive website, gratefulness.org, ANG*L is dedicated to providing education and support for the practice of grateful

living as a global ethic, based on the teachings of Brother David and colleagues.

Brother David Steindl-Rast, O.S.B., was born in 1926 in Vienna, and received a Ph.D. from the University of Vienna. Since 1953 he has been a monk ofMount Saviour Benedictine monastery in New York State. He was one of the first Roman Catholicsto receive Zen training and to participate in Buddhist-Christian dialog.

For decades, Brother David divided his time between periods of a hermit’s life and extensive lecture tours. His audiences included starving students in Zaire and faculty at Harvard and Columbia, Buddhist monks and Sufi retreatants,New Age commune residents and naval cadets, Green Berets and participants at international peace conferences. He has contributed to books and periodicals from Encyclopedia Americana to the New Age Journal. He wrote Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer, and A Listening Heart. Brother David co-authored Belonging to the Universe with physicist Fritjof Capra, and The Ground We Share, on Buddhist and Christian practice,with Robert Aitken Roshi. His most recent book is Deeper Than Words: Living the Apostles’ Creed.

Sam Keen was, in his words, “over-educated at Harvard and Princeton” and was a professor of philosophy and religion at “various legitimate institutions” and a contributing editor of Psychology Today for 20 years before becoming a free-lance thinker, lecturer, seminar leader and consultant. He is the author of a baker’s dozen books, including Fire in the Belly, Sightings, and In the Absence of God: Dwelling in the Presence of the Sacred. He was co-producer of an award winning PBS documentary, Faces of the Enemy. His work was the subject of a PBS special with

Bill Moyers -- Your Mythic Journey with Sam Keen. When not writing or traveling around the world lecturing and doing seminars on a wide range of topics on which he claims he is “not necessarily an expert but a skilled explorer,” he cuts wood, tends to his farm in the hills

above Sonoma, takes long hikes and practices the flying trapeze.

This weekend is hosted by Patricia De Jong, senior minister, FCCB.

Map, parking, public transportation

Coming in August:

Nicole Hollander -- The Sylvia Chronicles

“Poignant, sometimes tart, always interesting…Hollander sees America with

an eye unlike anyone else’s.”

Sara Paretsky, author of the V.I. Warshawski Series

“Sylvia is my soul mate!”

Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed

“A sharp observer of the American scene.”

The Seattle Times

“The most outspokenly feminist cartoonist in mainstream publication.”

People

“The toughest woman in America.”

The Village Voice

Friday, August 20

7:30 PM

Nicole Hollander

The Sylvia Chronicles:

30 Years of Graphic Misbehavior from Reagan to Obama

Since drawing her first Sylvia strip in 1979, cartoonist Nicole Hollander has channeled her acerbic wit and razor-sharp sensibilities through the incomparable and irascible Sylvia, a Chicago original whose hilarious commentary on American life has won over millions of loyal readers.

The Sylvia Chronicles (with a foreword by Jules Feiffer) presents Sylvia’s singular take on contemporary politics, from the early days of Reagan to the latter days of Palin. Along the way, she takes on subjects as varied as the hazards of allowing death row convicts a last smoke, an imaginary exchange with Donald Rumsfeld’s younger brother, and the dangers of texting while driving an SUV and reaching across the seat for a Snickers bar – recording not only the most memorable and outrageous events of the past three decades but also the often overlooked absurdities of our daily lives.

With a Master of Fine Arts degree from Boston University, Nicole Hollander had plans to become a painter. Instead, she focused on graphic design, styling matchboxes in California. After moving back to Chicago, Hollander worked as an art teacher and art director. Sylvia was first published in the feminist magazine The Spokeswoman, and is now an internationally syndicated comic strip. Hollander created the Sylvia character to “hack her way through the jungle of aging”. Of her numerous collections, Female Problems: An Unhelpful Guide was turned into a musical in 1998. While you can always visit her website, don’t miss this chance to meet the cartoon legend this evening!

Ms. Blog on Nicole Hollander

$12 advance ($6 students with ID and Hillside Club members), $15 at the door

Online at Brown Paper Tickets or 800-838-3006

Hillside Club

2286 Cedar Street, Berkeley

Coming in September:

Meredith Maran -- My Lie

with Ayelet Waldman and John McMurtrie

Elizabeth Rosner -- Blue Nude

with Phillipa Kelly and Linda Gray Sexton

Coming in October:

Robert Scheer -- The Great American Stickup

Houshang Asadi and Nooshabeh Amari with Jonathan Curiel -- Letters to My Torturer

Coming in November:

Sam Harris -- The Moral Landscape

Our independent bookstore partners are

Mrs. Dalloway's Literary & Garden Arts, Berkeley,

The Booksmith, San Francisco,

University Press Books, Berkeley

Moe's Books, Berkeley

First Congregational Church is our primary partner.

FCCB is located at 2345 Channing Way at Dana, Berkeley.

and we also partner with the Hillside Club at 2286 Cedar Street, Berkeley

MAP

Berkeley Arts & Letters ticketing is provided by

Brown Paper Tickets 800-838-3006

Berkeley Arts & Letters is a project bringing writers and thinkers together with readers

for inspiration, provocation, education, and sharing conversations.

We welcome everyone who's interested in civil discourse, curiosity...and the pleasure of words.

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

Email us at office@berkeleyarts.org.
Send mail to us at 1321 Dwight Way, Unit L, Berkeley CA 94702

If you missed some of our talks, you’ll find a number of them at FORA.TV, with more to be posted. Enjoy!

Berkeley Arts & Letters Spring 2010 Season:

Chris Farrell / January 21
Jaron Lanier / January 27

Ethan Watters with Todd Oppenheimer / February 4
Garry Wills / February 11
Chris Cleave / February 16
Joel Kotkin / February 18

Mark Vernon and Astra Taylor / March 1
Sam Keen / March 11
Tim O'Brien / March 16
Harry Kreisler / March 24

PEN World Voices: Christo Tsilokis and Tommy Weiringa with Oscar Villalon/ April 21
Roxana Saberi / April 22

Peter Carey / May 5

Dan Ariely / June 3

Berkeley Arts & Letters Fall 2009 Season:

Lang Lang / September 8

Rebecca Solnit / September 17

Michael Sandel / September 23

Robert Scheer & Peter Richardson / September 24

Max Blumenthal / September 29

Diane Ackerman / September 30

Po Bronson / October 6

Richard Dawkins / October 7

Sherman Alexie / October 8

Stewart Brand / October 16

Leonard Pitt / October 17

Daniel Goldhagen / October 19

Kay Redfield Jamison / October 22

Deepak Chopra / October 23

Gary Vaynerchuk / October 25

Irene Khan / October 29

Orhan Pamuk / November 6

Liza Dalby / November 10

Susan Halpern / November 12

Mary Karr / November 16

Berkeley Arts & Letters Spring 2009 Season:

William Iggiagruk Nelson / January 14

Dacher Keltner and Michael Lewis / January 21

Dalton Conley / January 27

Luke Bergmann / January 28

Stephen Hinshaw / February 17

David Thomson / February 19

Pratap Chatterjee / February 20

Alva Noe / February 26

Xinran / February 27

Peter Singer / March 2

Stephen Mitchell / March 3

Alan Boss / March 13

Tom Davis and Dennis McNally / March 18

Elaine Showalter / March 19

Germaine Greer / March 31

Paul McGeough / April 7

Mahmood Mamdani / April 10

Judith Orloff / April 15

Michelle Goldberg / April 16

Donald Richie / April 21

Tamim Ansary / May 5

Ruth Reichl / May 10

Reza Aslan / May 12

Colson Whitehead / May 19

Luis Alberto Urrea / June 11

Eduardo Galeano / June 12

Lac Su / June 15

Novella Carpenter and Michael Pollan / June 18

Scott Rosenberg / July 29

Berkeley Arts & Letters