Popcorn Forum returns after one-year absence
COEUR d'ALENE - It's back.
The Popcorn Forum returns to the North Idaho College campus next week.
The annual lecture series and symposium, a Coeur d'Alene tradition since 1970, was canceled last year due to budget and time constraints.
"I'm just so pleased about this," said retired NIC political science instructor and human rights activist Tony Stewart.
The symposium will run from Nov. 8-11, and will feature a four-day long Chautauqua series. It is co-sponsored by the Human Rights Education Institute, the Idaho Humanities Council, and NIC.
During his time at NIC, Stewart founded and coordinated the yearly forum, which features a string of lectures, panel discussions and workshops focused on critical political and cultural issues.
Next week's program will highlight the humanities through a historical journey for peace and human rights from 1850 to the present.
It is designed to assist the public in understanding how historical events and leaders have helped shape and change our lives.
"When learning it can be a challenge to retain info, but with this format, you think you really have gone back in history and met these people," Stewart said. "I think that is why people like it so much."
The week's events will be at NIC's Schuler Performing Arts Center with the exception of the Thursday evening performance that will be held in the Lake Coeur d'Alene Room of the NIC Edminster Student Union Building.
All the performances are free and open to the public.
For further information call HREI at 292-2359
Monday
* 9 a.m. The series kicks off with Tawnya Pettiford Wates from Virginia bringing historical figure SoJourner Truth to life on stage.
* 11 a.m. Suzan Jarvis King from New York City will bring historical figure Eleanor Roosevelt to life on stage.
Tuesday
* 9 a.m. Albert Wilkerson from Idaho will perform as a Buffalo Soldier.
* 11 a.m. Jeanne Givens of Seattle and a member of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe will present the story of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe's last chief, Ignace Hayden Garry.
Wednesday
* 9 a.m. Denise Clark from Idaho will bring historical figure and union leader Mother Jones to life on stage.
* 11 a.m. Harvey Richman from Idaho will bring historical figure Mohandas Gandhi to life.
Thursday
* 9 a.m. Rev. Happy Watkins of Spokane will bring the late Dr. Martin Luther King to the stage with King's famous "I Have A Dream Speech."
* 11 a.m. Annette Baldwin from Chicago will bring historical figure Susan B. Anthony to life on stage.
* 7:30 p.m. Dr. George Frein will bring Abraham Lincoln to life on stage.
The presenting scholars have participated in Chautauqua performances for humanities councils in Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas and South Carolina. Our presenters have degrees in the arts, drama, history, philosophy/religion, and English/Literature. Their credentials include awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Fellowship with the NEH, performances at the National Museum of American History, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., Broadway in New York City, in Sub-Saharan and West Africa and Dr. George Frein is the current director of the National Chautauqua Tour.