07 / 21
Start: 12:00 pm
End: 4:00 pm
 We live between fences. We may hardly notice them, but they are dominant features in our lives and in our history. Built of hedge, concrete, wood and metal, the fence skirts our properties and is central to the American landscape. We use them to enclose our houses and neighborhoods. They are decorative structures that are as much part of the landscape as trees and flowers. Industry and agriculture without fences would be difficult to imagine. Private ownership of land would be an abstract concept.But fences are more than functional objects. They are powerful symbols. The way we define ourselves as individuals and as a nation becomes concrete in how we build fences. Through an examination of boundaries, place, and space, Between Fences will explore how neighbors and nations divide, protect, offend, and defend through the boundaries they build.
This exhibit runs from June 13, 2009 - July 26, 2009 Start: 2:00 pm
 Journey Stories tells how we and our ancestors came to America. From Native Americans to new American citizens and regardless of our ethnic or racial background, everyone has a story to tell.Our history is filled with stories of people leaving behind everything - families and possessions - to reach a new life in another state, across the continent, or even across an ocean.
This exhibition runs from July 18 - August 30, 2009. Start: 5:30 pm
End: 7:30 pm
A Day at Stateville is a short play detailing a newcomer's first day at Stateville Correctional Facility in Joliet, Illinois. Conceived and written by men who participate in the prison's "Life Transformation Through Communication" course and who are all doing natural life without parole, the play seeks to inspire community members to take action in reducing the number of at-risk youth from entering prisons, while also advocating for improving the daily conditions prisoners face. | ||
07 / 22
Start: 12:30 pm
End: 1:30 pm
 According to a recent article in The New York Times, more and more Americans are considering themselves "non-believers"-people who do not subscribe to a particular faith and/or belief in God. Akira Suemori writes, "The American Religious Identification Survey, a major study released in March 2009, found that those who claimed ‘no religion' were the only demographic group that grew in all 50 states in the last 18 years. Nationally, the ‘nones‘ in the population nearly doubled, to 15 percent in 2008 from 8 percent in 1990. In South Carolina, they more than tripled, to 10 percent from 3 percent. (Not all the ‘nones' are necessarily committed atheists or agnostics.)"
Historically, religious organizations have used special interest groups to promote their views on civic life. Everything from prayer in schools to abortion has been talked about, discussed, and protested. Due to the increasing numbers of "non-believers," several new groups are beginning to organize and form special interest groups of their own. Start: 6:00 pm
End: 8:00 pm
Four inter-related classes will focus on the urban culture of the Weimar Republic (1919-1933), a period in Germany of extraordinary political and economic turmoil as well as technological and cultural innovation. German artists and intellectuals working at this time confronted issues that are still important to our contemporary experience.
Some of the issues we will address in these seminars include the effects of technology and urban environments on individuals and society, the fragmentation and anonymity as well as the freedom and autonomy of life in a metropolis, the longing for nature and unity, the proliferation of forms of mass culture (film, newspaper, radio, illustrated magazine), the role of art in modern life and everyday life in art, the shifting status of "high" and "low" culture, as well as the idea of modern culture as alienating and "decadent." These are discussion classes and no papers will be assigned. Some readings, links to images, and films clips will be made available on the Illinois Humanities Council's website. Discussion Days and Topics: | ||
07 / 23
Start: 8:30 am
PCC Westside AmeriCorps volunteers will discuss 'Close Encounters of the Human Kind' & 'Reflections on Ghandi' by Abraham Verghese and George Orwell The Meaning of Service (MoS) is a reading and discussion program for Americorps volunteers featuring discussions that use short philosophical and literary texts on the nature of justice, service, and related themes. Meaning of Service presents participants with the opportunity to examine, refine, and regenerate the beliefs underlying their work. Start: 2:00 pm
Journey Stories tells how we and our ancestors came to America. From Native Americans to new American citizens and regardless of our ethnic or racial background, everyone has a story to tell.Our history is filled with stories of people leaving behind everything - families and possessions - to reach a new life in another state, across the continent, or even across an ocean.
This exhibition runs from July 19 - August 30, 2009. Start: 7:00 pm
End: 8:00 pm
According to a recent article in The New York Times, more and more Americans are considering themselves "non-believers"-people who do not subscribe to a particular faith and/or belief in God. Akira Suemori writes, "The American Religious Identification Survey, a major study released in March 2009, found that those who claimed ‘no religion' were the only demographic group that grew in all 50 states in the last 18 years. Nationally, the ‘nones‘ in the population nearly doubled, to 15 percent in 2008 from 8 percent in 1990. In South Carolina, they more than tripled, to 10 percent from 3 percent. (Not all the ‘nones' are necessarily committed atheists or agnostics.)"
Historically, religious organizations have used special interest groups to promote their views on civic life. Everything from prayer in schools to abortion has been talked about, discussed, and protested. Due to the increasing numbers of "non-believers," several new groups are beginning to organize and form special interest groups of their own. | ||
07 / 24
Start: 11:30 am
City Year Senior Corps volunteers will discuss 'A Bed for the Night' by Bertolt Brecht The Meaning of Service (MoS) is a reading and discussion program for Americorps volunteers featuring discussions that use short philosophical and literary texts on the nature of justice, service, and related themes. Meaning of Service presents participants with the opportunity to examine, refine, and regenerate the beliefs underlying their work. Start: 5:00 pm
End: 6:00 pm
According to a recent article in The New York Times, more and more Americans are considering themselves "non-believers"-people who do not subscribe to a particular faith and/or belief in God. Akira Suemori writes, "The American Religious Identification Survey, a major study released in March 2009, found that those who claimed ‘no religion' were the only demographic group that grew in all 50 states in the last 18 years. Nationally, the ‘nones‘ in the population nearly doubled, to 15 percent in 2008 from 8 percent in 1990. In South Carolina, they more than tripled, to 10 percent from 3 percent. (Not all the ‘nones' are necessarily committed atheists or agnostics.)"
Historically, religious organizations have used special interest groups to promote their views on civic life. Everything from prayer in schools to abortion has been talked about, discussed, and protested. Due to the increasing numbers of "non-believers," several new groups are beginning to organize and form special interest groups of their own. | ||
07 / 25
Start: 12:00 pm
End: 4:00 pm
We live between fences. We may hardly notice them, but they are dominant features in our lives and in our history. Built of hedge, concrete, wood and metal, the fence skirts our properties and is central to the American landscape. We use them to enclose our houses and neighborhoods. They are decorative structures that are as much part of the landscape as trees and flowers. Industry and agriculture without fences would be difficult to imagine. Private ownership of land would be an abstract concept.But fences are more than functional objects. They are powerful symbols. The way we define ourselves as individuals and as a nation becomes concrete in how we build fences. Through an examination of boundaries, place, and space, Between Fences will explore how neighbors and nations divide, protect, offend, and defend through the boundaries they build.
This exhibit runs from June 13, 2009 - July 26, 2009 | ||
07 / 26
Start: 2:00 pm
Journey Stories tells how we and our ancestors came to America. From Native Americans to new American citizens and regardless of our ethnic or racial background, everyone has a story to tell.Our history is filled with stories of people leaving behind everything - families and possessions - to reach a new life in another state, across the continent, or even across an ocean.
This exhibition runs from July 19 - August 30, 2009. | ||
07 / 27
Start: 5:00 pm
Discussion of "Swimming in a Sea of Death: A Son's Memoir," by David Rieff Literature & Medicine: Humanities at the Heart of Healthcare is a discussion-based program that brings hospital staff together monthly to reflect on the larger mission of medicine through facilitated conversations about literature. Start: 7:30 pm
End: 8:30 pm
We think of "political prisoners" as persons sentenced to prison because of their political views, not because they committed a criminal act. But now some say there is a new crop of political prisoner: people sentenced to prison for their natural life without hope of parole or release. Others believe that life without parole is a just sentence for those who have committed heinous crimes. What types of convicted criminals receive life without parole? Solomon Moore of The New York Times writes, "Although most people serving life terms were convicted of violent crimes, sentencing experts say there are many exceptions, like Norman Williams, 46, who served 13 years of a life sentence for stealing a floor jack out of a tow truck, a crime that was his third strike. He was released from Folsom State Prison in California in April after appealing his conviction on the grounds of insufficient counsel." | ||
07 / 28
Start: 12:00 pm
End: 4:00 pm
We live between fences. We may hardly notice them, but they are dominant features in our lives and in our history. Built of hedge, concrete, wood and metal, the fence skirts our properties and is central to the American landscape. We use them to enclose our houses and neighborhoods. They are decorative structures that are as much part of the landscape as trees and flowers. Industry and agriculture without fences would be difficult to imagine. Private ownership of land would be an abstract concept.But fences are more than functional objects. They are powerful symbols. The way we define ourselves as individuals and as a nation becomes concrete in how we build fences. Through an examination of boundaries, place, and space, Between Fences will explore how neighbors and nations divide, protect, offend, and defend through the boundaries they build.
This exhibit runs from June 13, 2009 - July 26, 2009 Start: 2:00 pm
Journey Stories tells how we and our ancestors came to America. From Native Americans to new American citizens and regardless of our ethnic or racial background, everyone has a story to tell.Our history is filled with stories of people leaving behind everything - families and possessions - to reach a new life in another state, across the continent, or even across an ocean.
This exhibition runs from July 19 - August 30, 2009. | ||
