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Adult Education encompasses several vital and spirited ministries at Asylum HIll Congregational Church.
View Annual Report of Adult Education Committee
May 2008
The Intersection of Race, Religion, and Ethnicity: Implications for American Society and our Schools with Dr. Khyati Joshi
Tuesday, May 13, 7:30 pm
America today is perhaps the most religiously and ethnically diverse nation on the globe, and becoming more so. For some Americans this is uncomfortable, for others it is exciting - either way it is both a challenge and an opportunity, especially in our schools.
In partnership with the Connecticut Council for Interreligious Understanding, we have the wonderful opportunity of hearing Dr. Khyati Joshi speak to this issue with time for questions and dialogue. Dr. Joshi is Assistant Professor in the School of Education at Fairleigh Dickenson University, and author of New Roots in America’s Sacred Ground: Religion, Race, and Ethnicity in Indian America. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and has pursued graduate studies at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and The Candler School of Theology at Emory University. Dr. Joshi has written many articles, including: Because I had a Turban published in “Teaching Tolerance”. She has taught many courses in the challenging area of multicultural education, and is known widely as a respected educator in this field.
Though conversant with many of the issues of justice and multiculturalism in America, Dr. Joshi brings a unique perspective and years of research focusing especially on how South Asian Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Christian immigrants have experienced American society. This promises to be an engaging evening, hopefully with people of many different ethnic and religious groups in attendance. I especially hope many AHCC members will attend. Sign up at the Opportunity Table
The Journey of an Artist or...
How I Backed Into My Career by John Atwater
Thursday, May 15, 10:00 a.m
John Atwater is well known here at AHCC. He has served on the Diaconate and our Adult Education Committee, has cooked for our Lenten Breakfast Series, has transformed one of our Spirit Hill classrooms into a Temple setting and another into an open garden, and has even taught us how to Swing Dance - and that is but a partial list.
But as well known as John is here at AHCC, he is perhaps even better known in the art world. In that world, John is seen as one of America’s foremost Marine Artists. Over the years he has won many awards and his paintings have appeared on the covers of Connecticut Magazine, Marine Painting- Techniques of Modern Masters and Bound For Blue Water. John exhibits in Connecticut at the Maritime Gallery at the Mystic Seaport and in Camden, Maine, at the Bayview Gallery. He is a member of the American Watercolor Society, the American Society of Marine Artists, and has served as president of the Connecticut Watercolor Society for over 25 years.
Fortunately, you won’t have to go to Mystic or Camden to see John’s paintings, because at our Grandtimer’s gathering on May 15, John will grace us with a slide presentation of many of his paintings plus a handful of small works painted on site in Connecticut and Maine. He will weave among these paintings the story about how he became an artist and how his journey has developed over the years.
Grandtimers is a program for people of retirement age, but all are invited, especially if the topic is of interest to you. Please join us, and remember - no reservations are ever necessary and newcomers are always welcome.
June 2008
The Middle Passage and Beyond: Religion in the Caribbean
with Dr. Leslie Desmangles
Wednesday, June 4, 7:30 p.m.
AHCC member Dr. Leslie Desmangles is Professor of Religion and International Studies at Trinity College, with a specialty in Caribbean Studies. We are happy to have him speak with us about the collage of religious traditions in the Caribbean, including Judaism, Christianity, Rastafari, Vodou, and Hinduism; and how these traditions interact with one another in interesting ways.
A Christian and native of Haiti, Dr. Desmangles is an expert in cults and cultic studies. He has published many articles on Haitian Vodou and is also the author of The Faces of the Gods: Vodou and Roman Catholicism in Haiti and associate editor of the Encyclopedia of African and African-American Religions, both of which won “Choice” awards. In 2007 he was honored at the American Anthropological Association National Meeting where two sessions were devoted to his life work. He has appeared on the Phil Donahue Show, Today Show, CBS’s This Morning and Dateline. We are fortunate to have him share his unique perspective with us here at AHCC. If you’re interested in coming we’d appreciate if you’d sign up at the Opportunity Table or give us a call at 525-5696.
Walking Tour of Hartford’s Historic Cedar Hill Cemetery
Saturday, June 28, 10:00 - 11:30 a.m.
Cedar Hill Cemetery is one of the very few remaining pristine examples of the rural cemetery movement in the United States. Cedar Hill is home to abundant wildlife, to a collection of almost two thousand professionally maintained species of trees, including some of the state champions of their species, and is the burial place of many of Hartford’s notable historic figures including J. P. Morgan, Samuel Colt, Gideon Wells, Joseph Twichell, Yung Wing, Wallace Stevens, Katharine Hepburn, and many of the posthumously inducted members of the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame, as well as folks from all walks of life. On a lovely day, Cedar Hill is a place of peace and repose and exquisite beauty.
Russ Jones, an AHCC member who serves as co-chair of the Board of Directors of Cedar Hill, will lead our tour. In addition to the cemetery tour, we will include some interesting stories of its history.
We will begin our tour at the Cedar Hill Chapel at 10:00 a.m. You may park along the causeway entering the cemetery, and we will conclude our tour by 11:30 a.m. Be prepared to walk about 2 miles, and we’ll tour rain or shine. Wear long pants or slacks and comfortable walking shoes. There is a limit of 35 people. A sign-up sheet will be on the Opportunity Table.
© 2006 Asylum Hill Congregational Church
Hartford, CT 06105