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Thursday, May 24, 2012

Bookishness in the Village of Northport



Social Ethicist To Speak at Trinity Congregational

It’s been there in the right-hand column for a few days, so maybe you’ve already noticed that Gary Dorrien is coming to town as this year’s Belko Peace Lecturer. Cornel West has called Dorrien “the preeminent social ethicist in American today.” Dorrien has authored 14 books and over 250 articles in ethics, social theory, philosophy, politics, history, and religion, and I’m more than tickled to tell you also that, while he grew up in Michigan’s Thumb region, he was born in the U.P. Yep, he’s a Yooper!

Dr. Dorrien taught for over 20 years at Kalamazoo College and is now an ordained Episcopal priest and the Reinhold Neibuhr professor of social ethics at Union Theological Seminary, as well as Professor of Religion at Columbia University. His talk on Saturday evening, June 2, will be on Social Ethics and the Economy. The presentation will begin at 7 p.m. Dorrien will speak a second time at the regular Sunday morning worship service, which begins at 11 a.m. 

Both presentations are free and open to the public, and there will be opportunities following both talks for questions and comments.

Friends of Library Summer Series

The Friends of the Leelanau Township Library, or Leelanau Township FOL, established in 1962, celebrates their 50th birthday this year, and the lineup for the Susanne Rose-Kraynik Summer Author Series is impressive: July 10, Stephanie Mills; July 17, Mario Batali, July 24, Teresa Scollon, July 31, Jim Ribby. All programs begin at 7:30 p.m.. They are free and open to the public, with donations appreciated.


Leelanau Twp. FOL will also host a strawberry brunch preceding the annual meeting on Saturday, June 9. The buffet brunch is scheduled for 11 a.m. at the township fire hall. Come and celebrate 50 years of a great organization. Reservations for the brunch should be made by Tuesday, June 5. Call the library at 231-386-5131. Cost to members is $12; nonmembers $15. f you aren't yet a member, please join! 

Michigan Poet Comes Home from New England

 Fleda Brown, long-time Michigan summer resident and recent Poet Laureate of Vermont, now retired to Traverse City and a frequent guest on Interlochen Public Radio, will be this summer's inaugural guest author at Dog Ears Books in Northport. She will read from her book of memoir essays, Driving with Dvorak, and, I hope, some of her poetry, also. I'll be telling you more about Fleda as we get closer to her appearance on June 22, but mark your calendar today.


Please have a happy and safe holiday weekend! See you again next week here at Books in Northport! 

5 comments:

BB-Idaho said...

Yooper? Is that what they call
them? We honeymooned in the U.P.
in the early 60s, and I am sure that there were far more trees than humans. (a quick check reveals that is still the case:
Wichita has more people than all
of Yooperville). I've worked
with several folks from MichTech and find them among the best educated in their fields...and
basic upper midwest modest..possibly from having lived through Houghton winters)
..will wait for a report on what
Dr. Dorrien spoke about.

P. J. Grath said...

The U.P. is my getaway Up North, BB. Yes, there are more trees than people. There are whole stretches of boggy land inhabited by mosquitoes, black flies, and bears. Houghton, by contrast, is quite civilized. But I love the whole U.P.

You shall have your report in time on the social ethicist.

Houghton winters! You've got me dreaming!

Jerry Dennis said...

Dog Ears Books is lucky to have Fleda Brown as a guest author June 22. She's a wonderful writer -- and a wonderful reader -- and I guarantee everyone who attends will go home enriched and uplifted. Sure, I'm prejudiced (she's a pal), but, really, she's a great reader with a huge soul.

Jerry Dennis

Dawn said...

Sounds like a great summer. If I plan now maybe I can get to the August reading...

P. J. Grath said...

Jerry, I'm happy that Fleda Brown will be at Dog Ears Books. Dawn, did you see that it's Bonnie Jo Campbell again in August, with ONCE UPON A RIVER in paperback? I have a couple more possibilities for summer but am not going to try to do too much. Summer events are many and thickly clustered in our neck of the woods, and it's easy to overschedule--which I am determined not to do. Must keep enough energy to water gardens, mow grass, walk on beach, have picnics, etc.!