2025 SEASON
PAST EVENT
April 24, 2025
Dr Ann McKee in conversation with Dr Carol Leary shared somber stories about brain trauma but left us with hope by sharing 14 lifestyle factors in our control reported to diminish risk of dementia by 45%.
PAST EVENT
February 27, 2025
Highly respected political analyst Amy Walter and her college mentor, former Chair of the Colby Government Department Cal Mackenzie, tackled questions on the minds of many—What are the chances that control of the House flips at the midterms? How are tariffs and market fluctuations likely to influence decision making in DC? Will the guardrails of democracy hold?
2024 SEASON
PAST EVENT
November 13, 2024
From the mermaid kisses of the local oysters to the sexiest word in the English language “implementation,” marine biologist Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and chef Barton Seaver pointed us toward a more sustainable relationship with our oceans.
PAST EVENT
October 17, 2024
Former Massachusetts Governor Patrick counselled humility as the character trait he believed most critical to a successful leader, while further revealing he advises political candidates to be willing to lose a race because of their principles and that meeting people at the grass roots level will help them find commonality across diverse groups.
PAST EVENT
September 19, 2024
Former Pres. Clinton Press Secretary Joe Lockhart and journalist and Politico founder John Harris, with moderator Colby professor and author Dan Shea, look back at the presidential politics of the last 50 years and forward toward January 2025 as they reflect on their experiences inside the world of presidential politics.
PAST EVENT
August 27, 2024
Jackie Northam guided us through a conversation with Martin Fletcher and Aaron David Miller about the “inconvenient reality” that is the Middle East today. They caution that the narrow path from trauma to hope will require each side to no longer be captive to ideology, which in turn will require new leadership with a vision and a sense of ownership to bend the arc of history toward a new ending.
PAST EVENT
Maine Electric Utilities - Costs, Climate Change, Renewable Energy and the Future
June 24, 2024
Maine’s public advocate, Bill Harwood, challenged the status quo structure of rate payer subsidies for alternative energies, inviting us to design a model that promotes a transition to sustainable energy while not driving up energy prices for those least able to afford it.
PAST EVENT
Humanitarian Expressive Therapy: Establishing Resilience In The Aftermath Of Severe Physical Trauma
May 30, 2024
Dr. Julia Byers has used art as therapy in humanitarian crisis across the globe. She took us on a journey from intimate to unfathomable global trauma as she first invited us to share with each other what art has meant in our lives and then took us on a journey to a Syrian refugee camp where she used the power of art to begin the healing process for children caught in the terrors of a war not of their own making.
PAST EVENT
An Evening Melding the Spiritual and the Scientific in Search of Truth.
March 21, 2024
Author, professor, physicist Alan Lightman took us on a journey from the microscopic to the vastness of space. While a scientist at his core, Lightman focused us on the enigma that Einstein best encapsulated in saying “The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science.”
2023Â SEASON
PAST EVENT
A Very Hot Topic: What Climate Change Means to Public Health
November 16, 2023
Nirav Shah returned to Maine to remind us that “simple solutions are rarely either.” Given the potential impact of climate change on public health, all of us need to understand how our actions today can impact the health of our communities tomorrow. This spirited conversation with Chris Costa gave us a lot to think about.
PAST EVENT
A Conversation About the Radical Acts of Reading & Writing with Accomplished Maine Authors Lily King & Susan Conley
September 19, 2023
Both Lily and Susan said they read books while they write – books that feed their souls within the creative world they inhabit for that particular work. They described writing as “long and hard” but when they can take characters to a moment of intensity, passion… joy and the reader goes with them, there is nothing like it.
PAST EVENT
From Words to Reality: The Impact of the Supreme Court Ruling on Affirmative Action in College Admissions
August 22nd, 2023
Citing diversity in college education as important to national security, our panel pointed to the recent Supreme Court decisions and other practices as impediments to the important role in secondary education of a diverse peer group, and were concerned the impact will be felt for years to come.
PAST EVENT
INVALUABLE LESSONS OF CARRYING ON IN THE FACE OF GREAT TRAGEDY
July 18, 2023
NBC News foreign correspondent, Martin Fletcher, left us with a message of hope despite sharing tales of people he met in the grips of the most harrowing circumstances, describing the most elemental human quest as a search for peace and quiet.
PAST EVENT
LOOKING BACK OVER A YEAR OF WAR IN THE UKRAINE: PROGRESS, PROGNOSIS AND PREDICTIONS
May 30, 2023
With the war in Ukraine approaching a stalemate, our panel of military and diplomatic experts explained the paths to potential resolution guided by recent history of the "ends" of global conflicts.
PAST EVENT
FAR FROM HOME: A DISCUSSION WITH ASYLUM SEEKERS IN MAINE
April 25, 2023
Our goal was not to solve the problems in the asylum process – and we know they exist – but to meet six new Mainers who faced harm at home and who made their way from Angola, Cuba, Ukraine and other countries to Maine where they have dreams of making a home for themselves and their families and to contribute to Maine in roles such as nurses, accountants, geologists and engineers.
2022 SEASON
PAST EVENT
DR. NIRAV SHAH, PROF. KARA PALAMOUNTAIN, MODERATED BY DR. DORA ANNE MILLS
August 17, 2022
Maine’s own Dr. Dora Mills provided the framework for us to peak inside the work and lives of Dr. Nirav Shah and his wife Prof. Kara Palamountain as they coped with the emerging Covid pandemic in Maine and abroad, in a discussion full of humor and sagacity. And hear about the moment they fell in love with Maine.
PAST EVENT
ADM GREGORY JOHNSON, SUSAN THORNTON MODERATED BY HAROLD PACHIOS
July 22, 2022
Admiral Johnson and retired senior U.S. diplomat Susan Thornton did not pull punches in their predictions about the difficult path the Ukrainians face in their war with the Russians. They reminded us that it will be a long cold winter that will challenge NATO allies’ resolve to remain united in their sanctions against the Russians and military support for the Ukraine army. A unifying theme that inspires Americans not to flag in their support is not evident. How long will the conflict last? How will it end? Listen to the recording below.
PAST EVENT
SENATOR ANGUS KING
May 27, 2022
Sen. King, Maine's first independent US Senator, helped unravel the mystery that is the operation of the US Senate, both in its function and dysfunction. He revealed to us that he still can't quite believe that he goes to work each day in the splendor that is the US Capitol, in what he called one of the most interesting jobs in the world.
PAST EVENT
HEATHER COX RICHARDSON
October 12, 2021
Heather Cox Richardson speaks about Maine’s leadership role in the formation of our democracy and all of our responsibility to ensure its future.
Please note we experienced sound difficulty with the first several minutes of the video recording, but it resolves thereafter.