Dr. Jerry Root returns to KindlingsFest; this summer to discuss "The Good Life"

Dr. Jerry Root returns to KindlingsFest; this summer to discuss “The Good Life”

KindlingsFest 2013 — July 31 to August 4

By Dick Staub

Since Aristotle people have been asking, “What is the Good Life?”

In the U.S. the “Good Life” became synonymous with “The American Dream,” a post WWII idea incorporating education as a pathway to a productive career, material benefits like owning a home, and the stability of marriage and family.

As we enter the 20th century in a globally depressed economy, young, well-educated adults cannot find work, are burdened with college loan debt and see little prospect for owning a home. Marriage and family are being redefined. Retired adults who “achieved the Dream” are fearfully recalculating their economic future. Virtually everybody is stepping back and asking, “so what exactly is the Good Life and is it still attainable?”

This is the theme Kindlings Fest 2013 will take up from July 31st to August 4th on beautiful Orcas Island, WA.

This festival of spirituality, arts and ideas will again bring its unique blend of thoughtful lectures, world-class arts, and an exploration of the spiritual from an inclusive, but distinctly Christian standpoint.

Lecturers include Dick Staub, award-winning broadcaster, writer and founder of The Kindlings (and since 2007 pastor of Orcas Island Community Church), Art Miller founder of SIMA, a pioneering company in executive assessment, Laurie Wheeler, PhD candidate in New Testament from University of Aberdeen and pastoral staff member at University Presbyterian church in Seattle, and Chi-Dooh Li (Skip Li), a Spanish-speaking Chinese lawyer from Seattle who said yes to a crazy idea, which has resulted in private property ownership throughout Latin America.

Kindlings founder Dick Staub said, “The artists in residence this year are world class, with poet Scott Cairns, whose poetry has appeared in Atlantic Monthly, The Paris Review, and The New Republic, New York painter Chris Anderson, recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (Painting), New York Foundation for the Arts (Painting), Artists Space (Artist’s Grant), Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation (Painting) and New York State Council on the Arts, and music from TJ Stafford (a.k.a Uncle Daddy), a band that hails from Los Angeles. Members have scored TV and Film – “BattleStar Galactica,” “Toy Story 3,” and “The Walking Dead,” to name a few – as well as toured with Rush, and started String Project LA – dubbed, “One of the top 10 reasons to study music in LA.”

Staub added, “C.S. Lewis scholar Dr. Jerry Root, British Actor Nigel Goodwin will be with us again, as will Windham Hill artist Jeff Johnson and Wendy Goodwin. There is a program for kids, buffet lunches, an Artwalk to Eastsound galleries on Thursday and so much more.”

KindlingsFest is a global phenomenon with attendees from Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, Africa and all across the U.S., (especially Orcas Island!)

For information and registration visit www.thekindlings.com/kindlingsfest/ or call 360-376-6422 (M-F 10AM-3PM PST).

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