a 2017 Cabin Fever Series
March 23, Walt Whitman
(January 17, Ralph Waldo Emerson
February 13, Henry David Thoreau)
Hotel McCall Library, 7-8:30 pm
$12 each evening, register here
Three evenings with these brilliant minds who offered a fledgling America new ways to think. Unconventional, shocking, and controversial at the time, your inheritance today.
Emerson was a scholar of philosophy, religion, literature, history, and science. A prolific writer and popular lecturer, his influence on the American sense of identity cannot be underestimated.
Thoreau was perceived in his lifetime as an idle ne’er-do-well. In fact, he was a dedicated scholar and deeply committed scientist. His days spent walking culminated in copious field notes, journal entries, essays, and books.
He is perhaps best known for his masterpiece Walden. Perhaps more relevant today is his essay Civil Disobedience, which has influenced nonviolent resistance movements led by Gandhi, M.L.King, and more. Thoreau argues that if a government creates unjust laws, we have a moral obligation not to follow them. He concludes with, “There will never be a really free and enlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly.” Do we agree? Do we accord our singular intelligence as a higher power, or is does this invite more relativism and narcissism? Join us Monday night to hash over Thoreau’s message and find inspiration for our own times.
Remember those vivid and brutal characters in Scorsese’s Gangs of New York? Whitman knew those guys. He was on the streets rather than the idyllic peace of Concord. His brash, physical, and deeply spiritual poetry brought a nascent American literature a genuine American voice.
Attend one evening or all three. We will read, discuss, wonder, and depart with a deeper appreciation of our identity and inheritance as Americans.
Hotel guests are especially invited free of charge.
High School students are especially invited, 50% discount.
About Renée
Renée brings a blend of perspectives as an educator, therapist, and coach. She offers courses, retreats, community-building events and celebrations with Luminaire. She taught high school English for 17 years across 5 schools and 2 continents. Reading and teaching the Transcendentalists has been one of her biggest influences. She is currently working on a playbook of accessible and fun approaches to Transcendentalism.
Her facilitator training with Authentic World San Francisco and the Integral Center Boulder also brings an Integral lens to the topic. She is in the second year of the West Central Mountains Leadership Academy and currently enrolled in yoga studies with the Himalayan Yoga Meditation Tradition. Read more at reneesilvus.com.
