Current Events   

The Director of the Marion County Sheriff's Office, Paul Bloom, will share with participants information about changes in the Sheriff's Office over the past few years and what that means for Marion County residents. His His current duties include public information and community outreach for the Sheriff's Office.

If there is one word which sums up the American experience, it is equality. When Jefferson proclaimed "all men are created equal," it was only aspirational. He claimed it was "self-evident." But it wasn’t.  Few initially understood its ramification. Not all Americans in the past or today subscribe to equality. This presentation examines the struggle to move beyond the more evident sense of hierarchy. The gift of America to the world is its historical struggle to make equality a reality in law and practice.

Please join us to hear Annie Avery, Principal of the Ina A. Colen Academy, and Rebecca Rogers, Executive Director of the Circle Square Foundation as they present the opportunities, challenges, and journey related to creating a new charter school. They were instrumental in the school's creation and can address the vision behind the establishment of the Ina A. Colen Academy, and how that vision relates to the changing models of delivering education programming.

View and discuss two engaging TED Talks (visit TED.com) in a salon-type setting where free-thinkers spark each other's minds and hearts through spirited presentations and conversation.
Be stimulated, and become better educated and acquainted. Salons such as this were popular occasions for sharing knowledge and building friendships from Renaissance times up until the 1940s. TED has again popularized this concept with TEDx - local, independently organized events - in vibrant learning communities all over the world.
Participants are sure to leave motivated and more meaningfully connected with the world around us.

Extremely timely, given the resurgence of the so-called "Great Replacement" theory of white Nationalism today. The 1790 Naturalization Act was biased in allowing any free white person to become a citizen of the new republic; all others need not apply. This presentation demonstrates the historical effort to keep America white. Despite this, the struggle also enjoined an America of diversity.  E Pluribus Unum can be interpreted two ways: homogeneity or heterogeneity. America has become a primer for other nations today who are struggling with issues of homogeneity and heterogeneity.  America has been a petri dish.

The COVID pandemic caused stunning and unprecedented changes in every aspect of our lives. School closings. Business shutdowns. Holiday gatherings prohibited or restricted in size. Nothing, and no one went unscathed. This includes our courts. Courthouses were closed. Hearings and trials were postponed. Looking backwards, we wonder how we survived it all. Attorney Jerry Colen will discuss the many ways that COVID put its stamp on our judicial system.