Nancy Hesser

Chesapeake Forum is pleased to present “How They Grew: Short Stories of Initiation” with Nancy Hesser. While novels may chart dynastic drama over centuries, the short story is ideally suited to capture key points in personal development – a vivid childhood memory, an “aha” moment, a challenging transition. The short fiction to be discussed in “How They Grew” paints arresting signposts on the path to maturity, including Catechism, Clubs, Facts of Life, and Work. Participants will receive readings via email. Coming of age or coming to grips? Personal discovery and rites of passage offer enduring sources of inspiration for writers the world over. “How They Grew: Short Stories of Initiation” provides a forum for discussing evocative fiction showcasing a variety of identities and cultures. This 4 session HYBRID course is available in-person at the Easton Peachblossom YMCA, by Zoom or Recording. The course takes place on Thursdays, Feb 17, 24, Mar 3,10, from 10:30 to noon, $40.To register for this class visit the website at www.chesapeakeforum.org.

Nancy Hesser, Ph.D., has taught literature in the US, DR Congo, and Mali. She lives with her husband and canine companions in the salt marshes of south Dorchester County. Her short story courses for various Eastern Short programs have focused on American regionalism, the Roaring 20s, African voices, Central America, the Caribbean, foodies, drunkards, and flash fiction, among other subjects.

Lynn Randle

Chesapeake Forum is pleased to announce that Lynn is back with her Impact of Social Media course that sold out last Winter Semester. Lynn will moderate this course about the impact of social media on today’s culture. Where are we going? Where will we end up? How are we, as educated consumers of the news, to discern the truth? (Hint: It is no longer Walter Cronkite on the evening news…) Instead of a single session, she has agreed to allow for more discussion by spreading the course into three sessions looking at:1) How social media shapes public opinion and divides us, 2) The impact of social media’s hold on how we define the truth, 3) Public policy choices going forward that walk the fine line between clarifying and controlling. A class syllabus will be provided in advance. This 3 session HYBRID class will take place on Tues, Feb 15, 22, Mar 1 from 1 to 2:30 pm, $30. You may attend in-person at the Easton Peachblossom YMCA, by Zoom, or Recording. To register for this class visit the website at www.chesapeakeforum.org

Lynn Randle has spent her career advising politicians, government leaders, and businesses of the strategic communications needed to manage their position on issues. From this unique position, she has observed and operationalized the growing importance of understanding the impact of social media beyond the mainstream media channels of the past. Her experience from a range of positions in public service, Washington politics, and leading a privately held boutique consulting firm has solidified a life-long interest in understanding social behavior and how it is influenced. Her educational background includes a Master’s Degree from Stanford University in Communications Research, as well as a Masters in International Relations. She studied marketing and journalism as an undergraduate at Cal State University.

Chesapeake Forum’s John Miller and Michael Valliant will lead a discussion to examine the power of poetry through a close reading of works by three famous British poets and a sampling of their work: John Milton’s “Lycidas, William Blake’s “The Songs of Innocence and of Experience” and “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell,” William Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey” and “Ode: Intimations of Immortality. HYBRID

Course: Choose in-person at the Easton YMCA, Zoom or Recording. Three sessions, Thursday, Jan 27, Feb 3, 10, from 10 to 11:30 am, $30.

John Miller and Michael Valliant

John H. Miller has taught literature courses at both secondary and college levels, including American Literature at the University of Clermont-Ferrand, France, under a Fulbright Fellowship. He has also taught at the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, Washington College, American University, and the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum’s Academy for Lifelong Learning. John is also involved in several local non-profit organizations, currently serving as President of Allegro Academy, and board member of Chesapeake Forum. John earned his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh, with a BA from Yale.

Michael Valliant is the Assistant for Adult Education and Small Groups at Christ Church, Easton. He has worked for non-profit organizations throughout Talbot County, including the Oxford Community Center, Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, and Academy Art Museum. He is a father, writer, runner, longboard skateboarder, stand-up paddleboarder, novice birder, sunrise chaser, and daily coffee drinker. He has written for Tidewater Times, Trail Runner Magazine, and Shore Monthly. He is a graduate of Washington College with a degree in English and Philosophy and is currently a seminary student through the Iona Collaborative with the Seminary of the Southwest and the Episcopal Diocese of Easton. To register for this class or find the list of Winter 2022 classes visit the website at www.chesapeakeforum.org

Margot Miller

Margot will lead us through a discussion of three compelling novels that represent both terrible and wonderful aspects of the intimacy of family life. There is wisdom and compassion in all three, as they explore the difficult and ambiguous choices and the deep emotional work that life demands of us. Session one, Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler, Session 2, Monogamy by Sue Miller, Session 3, Family Happiness by Laurie Colwin. Zoom only (no recording) 3 Sessions Wednesdays, Jan 25, Feb 1 & 8 from 1-2:30 pm, $30. Margot Miller, Ph.D., holds a doctorate in French literature and has taught French literature (originally at university settings) and literature in English and English translation from French and Italian, at the ALL/Chesapeake Forum since 2007. Her specialty is women writers of the 20th and 21st centuries. To register for this class or find the list of Winter 2022 classes visit the website at www.chesapeakeforum.org.

Pamela Conrad, Ph.D

Chesapeake Forum, Academy for Lifelong Learning, is pleased to announce the Forum’s 2022 Distinguished Visiting Scholar will be Pamela ‘Pan’ Conrad, Ph.D. The “virtual event” will take place on Thursday, January 20, 2022, from 4 pm – 5:30 pm. Conrad is an astrobiologist, planetary scientist, as well as an Episcopal priest. The title for her talk is “Exploration, adventure and science: what’s the difference, and why does it matter?”

As an astrobiologist and planetary scientist Conrad specializes in understanding how planets do or do not evolve into habitable environments, and she is presently involved in the exploration of Mars with the Perseverance Rover and its companion, the Ingenuity helicopter.

“Exploration is a fundamental property of all living things,” says Conrad. Her program for Chesapeake Forum will discuss why and how we explore in the 21^st century. “Humans are on the verge of becoming interplanetary creatures, and how it happens is a choice we can make before the course becomes firmly charted. The path we choose could determine the fate of life in the universe, and alternatively the universe sets its own constraints on the journey.” She will engage her audience in a wide-ranging conversation that ties together geographic exploration on Earth, space exploration and tourism, empire and colonialism, science fiction and moral discernment.

Conrad is a research scientist at The Earth and Planets Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of Science in Washington, DC, her primary job is as an Episcopal priest and pastor of St. Alban’s Parish in Glen Burnie, MD. She serves as the chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, a group charged with working on dismantling systemic racism where it exists within the church, and she also serves as the Warden for the North American Province of The Society of Ordained Scientists.

As both an Episcopal priest and a scientist, one of her priorities is to help people feel confident to engage both their critical thinking and their faith in all aspects of life, using what we can learn from observing nature as an approach to understanding the systems nature of all that is.

Pamela Conrad’s education exemplifies what it means to be a lifelong learner – forever curious, always learning, always exploring. She received her B.A. with Distinction in Applied Music (vocal performance) from George Washington University and went on to earn additional degrees in Music and Composition, as well as Philosophy and Geology, and a Ph.D. in Geochemistry and Mineralogy. She later received her M.A. in Divinity from the Episcopal Divinity School, Cambridge, MA. Registration for this event will begin January 3, 2022, thru the website: www.chesapeakeforum.org. Cost is $25. Registration discounts will be made available for students and can be obtained ahead of time by providing name and email to [email protected].