PRESIDENT'S CORNER - July 8, 2016

More Notes from Chautauqua & Lily Dale:  Bonnie and I will be home by the time this is published, but here are a few more notes from the road…

• Last Saturday night, it was a real privilege to be in the Amp to hear the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra play the Tchaikovsky Sym #5. Rossen Milanov conducted the whole score from memory. As it came to an end, we were all on our feet cheering.
• Friday morning, Roger Rosenblatt had Alan Alda and his wife Aileen, both authors and married for 60 years. Alan admitted to being 80! WOW! Pure delight. Thursday was Ann Patchett, one of the best speakers we’ve ever heard here.
• Friday closed out the week in the afternoon Interfaith series with John Shelby Spong on his new book: Biblical Literacy, a Gentile Heresy. One of the members at our church house described his work as “making the Bible into a novel.” I wouldn’t go that far, but for progressive Christians, these talks were like catnip! Basically: the whole of the New Testament was written by Jews, for Jews worshipping in the synagogue to the Jewish liturgical year! ALL the early Jesus followers were, of course, Jews!
• Friday we saw a very interesting play by Sarah Ruehl: In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play. It’s about the early days of electricity when a young doctor is trying to treat nervous women, accused of “hysteria” by using a very early version of a vibrator to induce a “paroxysm” to relieve their anxiety. We thought the play too long and rather demeaning of women…hmmm.
• We ended our chaplaincy on Sunday morning, then drove over to Lily Dale, a much different place than CHQ. It, too, is a gated community with a season that coincides with CHQ, though LD is the oldest Spiritualist community in the U.S. We have friends there and it is an ideal retreat place, set on a small set of lakes. The weather has been perfect, so sitting out in the park to read—heaven!

Back to Business: OK, you know what July 11 means, right? Time for Summer Term to begin! Classes are filling, instructors are prepping their materials, and your Board will be meeting on Monday to plan our next year’s work and elect the new slate of officers, or re-elect some…I’ll let you know. If you have not registered for a class or four, please review the catalog and sign up for something that you think might just be exciting.

Film Forum: I know I’m the host, but keep in mind the theme of the summer film series: Movies That Either Skipped Morgantown or Never Played Here! We’ll move to Classroom B for this series at 3 PM every Wednesday starting July 13 with “The Way.” We’ll want to have a bit of discussion after each film.

I’ll be seeing you very soon!

Jim Held, President