Jody Peterson, associate professor of History, introduces the Fall 2010 Lyceum/Humanities class.

Charles Bergman loves to tell stories. It is through stories that we come to know who we are, and it is in these stories that we feel most fully alive to ourselves and to the world. Charles Bergman uses stories and his own photographs to convey the importance of conserving nature, and the role nature plays in helping us discover our most compelling passions, our most cherished dreams. Bergman is a professor of English at Pacific Lutheran University and spent sometime in a sting operation of animal trafficking in Texas and Brazil. He will share his experience of this growing illegal business.

With honesty, compassion, and humor, author Thomas Norman DeWolf (Inheriting the Trade: Northern Family Confronts Its Legacy as the Largest Slave-Trading Dynasty in U.S. History; Beacon Press) offers an alternative to all that noise. Tom inspires audiences with a challenging yet hopeful conversation about the all-too-often hidden elements of history, racism and intolerance. Tom wrote Inheriting the Trade after traveling with nine distant relatives on a life-altering journey to retrace the notorious triangle slave-trade route through Rhode Island, Ghana, and Cuba to film his cousin Katrina Browne’s Emmy-nominated documentary Traces of the Trade, which premiered on the acclaimed PBS series, P.O.V.

Join poet Cindy Williams Gutierrez and musician Gerardo Calderon for a journey to the spirit of ancient Mexico. Through a live performance of Aztec-styled poetry and music, this collaborative presentation engages in a haunting dialogue with “the ones who have gone before.” The presentation features a series of poems written in the mythic voices of Nahua poet-princes and princesses accompanied by Mexican indigenous music. Musical virtuoso Calderon performs Mesoamerican rhythms on water drums, turtle shells and butterfly cocoon rattles, and other worldly melodies on clay flutes and wind whistles, to transform Cindy’s poems into the “flower and song” of the ancients.

In Plato’s Phaedrus Socrates lambasts writing as a “dumb” technology that would ultimately corrupt society. This stance against the technology that has been lauded by the likes of Sven Bikerts and Camille Paglia for everything from the greatness of the Western culture to skyscrapers, respectively, interests those of us today who work with Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and other social and digital media. Is social media, indeed, ruining contemporary culture, as some suggest, or is it, like writing, strange and frightening to us in its newness but will one day find acceptance by society? Dene Grigar, PhD, Associate Professor and Program Director of Digital Technology and Culture at Washington State University-Vancouver, will explore this topic of language and communication.

Director of International Student Programs, Laju Nankani, and some of the current international students will discuss how information gets disseminated in countries such as Korea, China, and Mali. Does everyone have full “access?” Is censorship rampant in some countries? What are the disadvantages of “full access?” How does “power” and “influence” affect the “democratization of information?

Please join Chris Bailey, J.D, Vice President of Human Resources and Legal Affairs, as he explores Generational Differences in education and the workplace. He’ll focus the discussion on strategies to attract, retain and connect with Generations X + Y, as well as explore the “Quarter-life Crisis” and its implications on our educational environment and the workforce.

What is gained and what is lost in online education? As technological literacy becomes more important in education, who is left behind? What are the ramifications? In what ways can personal technology devices be tools of education rather than distractions? Does technology change the boundaries between students and teachers? Sue Gallaway, Dean of Library Services and eLearning will address these questions and also share the direction Centralia College is taking with technology in educational learning.

The experience of Native Americans in the 1930’s and 1940’s. A Navajo girl explores her family’s past while struggling to keep her culture in a government-run boarding school. Her vision of becoming a modern healer in a changing world is brought to life as her community joins the U.S. in World War II.

A member for the Washington State Office of the Attorney General will present on identity theft. Some of the topics to be discussed will be what extent does an individual have a right for his/her personal information to remain private and who is responsible for its protection? How do individuals use information to represent or misrepresent themselves online? What is meant by a “secure site,” and how is the information kept secure?

As part of World AIDS Day, John Abplanalp Epidemiologist, from the Lewis County Public Health department, will talk about the HIV/AIDS epidemic. He will talk about how the media coverage (or lack of) has affected public response, where can one go for reliable information during a major health crisis, how has the increased access to information altered our everyday understanding of HIV/AIDS, and what is happening in Lewis County and the state of Washington in regards to HIV/AIDS?