Crossroads to Initiate New Seminar Series

By Tom Evans and Michael Riordan

The popular Crossroads Lecture Series will soon have a new companion, called the CrossCurrents Seminar Series. These seminars will typically occur on weekday evenings and address more specialized topics in more intimate gatherings than the lectures. We aim to showcase the San Juan Islands’ extensive individual talents and involve speakers in discussions with other interested islanders, further stimulating a fellowship of ideas.

The name CrossCurrents reflects the connection to Crossroads and also a sense of immediacy, plus the fact that we live on islands in the midst of strong and sometimes conflicting tidal currents. As these seminars should be more interactive that the lectures, they will be held in smaller settings than Orcas Center and ideally attract 20-30 like-minded participants.  Topics will include a full range of artistic, intellectual, environmental, scientific and technological subjects; they can be better focused to interest smaller audiences and promote deeper exchanges. We hope to access the great wealth of diverse talents that exist in the San Juans — including individuals of national prominence and with distinguished backgrounds.

For the Fall 2012 season, there are two CrossCurrents Seminars planned:

• Thursday, October 18: “The Higgs Boson Discovery,” led by Michael Riordan
• Thursday, November 15: “Mozart’s Unfinished Requiem,” led by Roger Sherman

Riordan is physicist and historian of science whose feature article, “The Higgs at Last,” appears in the current October issue of Scientific American. Sherman is Music Director of the Orcas Choral Society as well as a local music publisher and host of Seattle’s popular “Organ Loft” radio program.

Both seminars will begin at 5 pm, the first in the Episcopal Parish Hall and the second in the Rosario Resort Music Room, Participants are invited to join the seminar leader and host for (a no-host) dinner afterwards at a nearby restaurant. Interested persons should sign up in advance on the Crossroads web site, https://www.orcascrossroads.org and indicate whether they also plan to attend the dinner. Admission will be free and open to all, including students, although donations will be gratefully accepted.