Neoplatonism

I attended a lunch at the Ath for a talk on Neoplatonism by Professor El-Bizri.  Prof El-Bizri is a visiting lecturer here, he normally teaches at the American University of Beirut, and was brought to CMC by my religious studies teacher, because Prof El-Bizri is one of the foremost scholars on Arabic studies and philosophy.  He discussed Neoplatonism, a philosophic movement that started in the 3rd century and is mostly based on Plato's theories.  The biggest concept with in neoplatonism is "The One," which is the highest transcendent principle that has so much existence that it overflows and creates everything around us.  It is self-aware that it is different than everything it creates, which is everything, and this self-awareness is recursive in all things.  The philosophical implications of this thinking were very deep and somewhat hard to follow because Prof El-Bizri has practically an excess of knowledge in the area.  However, he was extremely engaging and discussed enough background information, especially on Plato's theory of forms, that the detailed philosophical ideas had context.

Racial Disparity in the Criminal Justice Court System

I attended the Athenaeum talk "Racial Disparity in the Criminal Justice Court System" given by
Phyllis Morris-Green.  She is public defender for San Bernardino County, and she has dedicated her life to protecting those treated unfairly in the court system. She discussed the blatant inequality in the justice system that causes minorities to be incarcerated disproportionately compared to non-minorities. She showed a powerful video called "Racial Facial" that I recommend every look at. It gives an overview of America's racist past and present injustices that minorities have dealt with.  Her talk was extremely passionate and moving; it highlighted that as a country we must continue to work together to ensure equal treatment for all. I would definitely recommend this talk.

From Silent Spring to Silent Night: A Tale of Toads And Men

I saw a great talk at the ath on Tuesday night by Tyrone B. Hayes. He was an amazing speaker: very funny, open, and warm. He spoke about public health and the use of dangerous chemicals. These chemicals are being used in agriculture all around California and the US, but are banned in Europe. His talk focused on his own research of frogs and the many generation effects of these chemicals. They actually caused male frogs to become infertile, stop producing testosterone and begin producing estrogen. These detrimental effects can also be traced to birds, fish, and even humans. His talk was scary, but enlightening. It is clear that something needs to change.

Publishing and Diversity Panel at the Ath

I attended the Publishing and Diversity Panel with Kima Jones, Rachel Kahan, and Yi Shun Lai, a book publicist, a publishing professional, and an author/literary editor respectively.  They spoke about the current diversity movement in Publishing, which is really only gaining traction in Children's Literature as of now.  They identified the major problems, especially within fiction for adult audiences, as being primarily economic.  The people that can afford to take unpaid internships that lead to high-up publishing jobs usually don't reflect the diversity of our country.

They also spoke of the VIDA count (http://www.vidaweb.org/) which started out assessing the percentage of female writers from every major publication but has now grown to include other ethnicity and queer representativeness as well.  Their numbers/stats are both interesting and kind of horrifying.

While most of the talk was shocking and a little disheartening, the panelists ended by sharing their reasons for hope in publishing (which speak to our nation in many other aspects as well).  They said that the most likely route to improved diversity and inclusion lies in unconscious biases becoming a more conscious change.  Our currently divided nation allows us to put the spotlight on accessibility and communication.  And as Kima Jones put it in the last, pre-Q&A sentence of the panel, her fear is what forces her out of bed each morning and hopefully we can all find motivation like that to inspire change.