Monthly Cultural Events

Next Event TBA

Zoom Schedule:

  • 6:45-7 PM: Zoom room opens/Check in

  • 7 PM - 7:30 PM: Meditation (Optional)

  • 7:35 PM - 9 PM: Presentation followed by a Q&A

If new to our meetings, when entering the Zoom room, we ask everyone to kindly display your name and have a photo or allow video. Also, please make sure to put your microphone on mute. Thank you!

 

Once per month join us online for an ongoing series of monthly cultural events scheduled to take place on a Sunday immediately after 7 PM evening meditation at 7:35PM ET. See below for zoom recordings of previous presentations and guest speakers.

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PREVIOUS EVENTS

Nov. 13, 2022

With Laurence Bergreen

In this talk Laurence Bergreen spoke about the ways in which divine or non-rational guidance influenced, inspired and gave various explorers the confidence to overcome seemingly impossible odds, going where no one had been able to travel successfully before. The explorers include Columbus, Magellan, and Marco Polo, among others.

Watch the recording here

ABOUT THE GUEST SPEAKER:

Laurence is a prize-winning biographer, historian, and chronicler of exploration. Among his books are biographies of Christopher Columbus, Marco Polo, Ferdinand Magellan, Giacomo Casanova, Louis Armstrong, Al Capone, and Irving Berlin, which have been translated into 25 languages worldwide. Laurence’s book Columbus: The Four Voyages was a New York Times bestseller, selected for the Book-of-the-Month Club, the History Book Club, and the Military Book Club, and was a New York Times Book Review “Editor’s Choice.” He has written for many national publications, has taught at the New School for Social Research and served as assistant to the president of the Museum of Television and Radio in New York. See also laurencebergreen.com

 

October 2, 2022:

Tibetan materials of the Starr East Asian Library at Columbia University with Emily Holmes and Lauran Hartley

Sangha member Emily Holmes and her colleague Lauran Hartley at Columbia University, presented an overview of the digitized Tibetan materials of the Starr East Asian Library at Columbia, as well as other materials related to the Kagyü Lineage. They also spoke a bit about the digitization process itself and about preservation, its ethics and goals.

Watch the recording here

August 28, 2022:

Noted Sculptor Kurt Steger

Sangha member Kurt Steger spoke about his life and work as a sculptor and gave a tour of his sculpture studio and grounds, which included furnishings, gardens, sculpture, and a description of his Shamanic Weapons.

Watch the recording on here

ABOUT THE GUEST SPEAKER:

Kurt Steger began working in construction in his early twenties. His passion for woodworking led him to sculpture and design, and he has crafted a life and career centered around art, design, and community. His distinctive style is a fusion of many interests, including shamanism, Western psychology, and environmental issues. Steger sometimes describes himself as an Environmental Psycho-Realist. His sculptures often incorporate performances of rituals and rites of passage, always with the intention of healing and release.

Steger’s accomplishments include an installation and sitting area in the atrium of Sacramento City Hall in Sacramento, California; a massive traffic circle sculpture in Grass Valley, California; and an interactive sculpture and healing ceremony conducted at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C., honoring the ten-year anniversary of 9/11. His work is in private, public, and museum collections, and he is a 2017 NYFA (New York Foundation for the Arts) Fellow for Sculpture.

Originally from Southern California, Steger moved to Brooklyn in 2012, and in 2017 he moved to the Lower Hudson Valley, where he designed and built his home studio. He has transformed his property into a laboratory for experimental design, with sculpture gardens, landscaping, woodworking classes, and a gathering place for community events. Steger has expanded his studio practice to encompass architecture and landscape design, integrating his handmade sculptures with the natural environment.

Kurt's holistic approach to art and design inspires contemplation and deep appreciation for the natural world.

More resources

Sunday July 17, 2022

Fair Trade Organic Coffee & The Cooperative Business Model with Tripp Pomeroy

The recording of Tripp Pomeroy’s wonderful discussion of fair trade organic coffee cooperatives in the third world and more is available on YouTube.

ABOUT THE GUEST SPEAKER:

Tripp Pomeroy is the CEO of Cafe Campesino, Georgia's first and only 100% fair trade organic coffee company. He is also a board member of Cooperative Coffees, through which Cafe Campesino and it's Florida roastery, Sweetwater Organic Coffee, import all of their coffee. A unique green coffee bean importing cooperative of 22 small to medium-sized North American roasters, Cooperative Coffees is committed to deep, long-term, equitable and transparent trading relationships with small-scale coffee farmers and their exporting cooperatives around the globe. Since 2004 Tripp has played an active role in the roaster-owned cooperative, including participating in numerous roaster-farmer workshops and leading delegations to connect Cafe Campesino customers and other stakeholders directly with the women and men who grow their coffee and the important work their cooperatives do in their coffee farming communities in Africa, Latin America, and Asia Pacific. These connections provide a unique and important opportunity to learn first-hand about coffee farming and, in particular, the critical importance of cooperatives as well as organic farming and fair trading practices. Tripp earned a B.A. in Political Science from Tufts University and an M.A. in International Development from The American University's School of International Service.

Sunday, June 26th

“Psychological Barriers to and Benefits of Compassion” with Myriam Mongrain

Sangha member spoke about the important variations among individuals in the propensity for kindness and compassion. The aim of this talk was to highlight the ways in which compassion in relationships may become valued and rewarding for all.

Watch the recording on YouTube

ABOUT THE GUEST SPEAKER:

Myriam Mongrain is a clinical psychologist and Professor of Psychology at York University, in Toronto, Canada. She is a graduate of McGill University and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of California at Davis. She is an active clinician and researcher. Her research has focused on the role of emotional dependence and self-criticism in the occurrence of major depression and ways to ameliorate these personality traits. Recently, she has looked at positive psychology and examined the effect of interventions such as the practice of compassion, gratitude and optimism.

Sunday, May 15, 2022:

With Johanna Lunn A Presentation on the film, In the Realm of Death and Dreaming


ABOUT THE GUEST SPEAKER

Johanna Lunn, film director and a member of our larger Buddhist sangha, will speak about her film project sponsored by the Canadian Film Board on the subject of death - The When You Die Project - and the completed film available for viewing at https://whenyoudie.org/death-film/ 


ABOUT THE FILM PROJECT WHEN YOU DIE & THE DOCUMENTARY In the Realm of Death & Dreaming

Does consciousness continue after death?

Director Lunn guides viewers on a journey to find answers to this and other questions by exploring personal stories of near-death experiences, deathbed visions, and more. She speaks with leading clinicians and researchers who have spent their careers studying these experiences and the nature of consciousness. Their stories are revealed with humor and compassion. 
Exploring what happens after death not only helps us decide how we want to be cared for at the end of life; it also reduces our fear of death, helping us to live more fully. 

Experts featured in the documentary:
 Anthony Bossis, PhD; Elly Claire Hart, PhD; Dean Radin, PhD; Penny Sartori, PhD; Peter Fenwick, MD; David Maginley, M.Div.; Ann Marie Chiasson, MD; Sue Brayne, MA; Andrew Holecek, DDS; Jill Schock, MTh.