We are excited to be near our alma mater, Middlebury College, in Vermont. We are so impressed by the work that they are doing and the connections that they continue to make with their own local community as well as around the world.
This fall, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet and winner of the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize, will visit the Middlebury College campus for the third time. The first time, our sons were in elementary school and heard him speak during an afternoon when he met with children of the community. This event took place outside in early fall and it was unforgettable...hundreds of children listening and asking questions, the Dalai Lama taking the children's questions very seriously and also laughing and joking such that everyone relaxed and had a wonderful time. This fall, the Dalai Lama will explore, "Cultivating Hope, Wisdom, and Compassion" when he visits Middlebury College to deliver two lectures. The title of his talk for the public is "Finding Common Ground: Ethics for a Whole World."
Last weekend, Middlebury College hosted a four day symposium on Creativity and Collaboration.
Their annual Nicholas R. Clifford Symposium kicks off each academic year by giving the campus community rich opportunities to discuss and experience timely topics from many perspectives. This year's Symposium featured over 30 events with an impressive lineup of speakers, performances, and panel discussions.
The opening keynote speech was delivered by Peabody Award-winning radio producer Julie Burstein, author of the acclaimed book “Spark: How Creativity Works." Burstein has devoted her life work to conversation with highly creative people—interviewing, probing, guiding, and creating public radio programs about them and their work. In her book, she offers a tour through some of the essentials of creativity, exploring its mysterious workings, and helping us find more of that dimension ourselves.
What an inspiration this campus is. So many opportunities to engage in thoughtful dialogue about what matters most in our lives and on our planet. These are the themes that we are thrilled to consider with the educators with whom we work. Inventing a hopeful, healthy, vital future will take the creativity, collaboration and grounded ethics of every one of us across generations.
