July 11, 2008
Darlene Brooks-Hedstrom
An Archaelogical Search for Monastic Life in Egypt

Egypt did not go directly from pyramids to mosques.  Dr. Brooks Hedstrom will examine the history of Christian monasticism in Egypt from its roots in the third century until its apex in the medieval period under the Islamic caliphate.   The archaeological evidence from Egypt suggests that under Islam, Christian monasteries flourished and were considered luxurious places for refreshment and relaxation.  Dr. Brooks Hedstrom will present the results of her most recent seasons of work at the monasteries in Wadi Natrun and Sohag, where she is Chief Archaeologist. These sites are rarely visited by tourists and are little
known outside of Egypt.

Darlene Brooks Hedstrom is a Jaffrey native and associate professor at Wittenberg University.  Her scholarly interests range from depictions of the Middle East in film, to Herodotus, but she is primarily an archaeologist who has worked in England, Jordan and Egypt.  She is founder and director of the Wittenberg Archaeological Field School.  Her research, which has broken new ground in assessing the relationship between monastic practices and the architectural design of monks’ cells in early medieval Egypt, earned her a Fulbright fellowship for 2007—08.

Darlene says: “I first became interested in Egypt while a second grader at Jaffrey Grade School. After this, I started reading all the books at the Jaffrey Public Library on archaeology.  I always appreciated that the Library was the place that introduced me to the world of ancient peoples and their wonderful monuments. My first excavation was as a freshman in High School, when I joined an excavation of a late 19th century logging site at Pisgah State Park.  Now I take my three year old son, Silas, and my husband, Mark, along on my excavations.”

Dr. Brooks Hedstrom’s digging has also taken her to the City of London, to two sites with material from the Roman to the medieval periods; and to Abila, an ancient city in Jordan, with remains from the Bronze Age to the mid-Abbasid period.  Dr. Brooks Hedstrom describes herself as a “seasoned but still excited teacher and scientist” and will be pausing to appear at the Forum as she travels back home to Springfield, Ohio, after a year’s exploration in Egypt.

Moderator: Diana Wolfe Larkin

July 18, 2008
Keith Stevens & Gus Kaikkonen
A Life in Theatre — The Peterborough Players Observe Their 75th Anniversary

How does one prepare for a life in the theatre?  In fact, how does one live a life in the theatre?  In any given year, half of the professional stage actors in America do not work at all in their chosen field.  What compels talented actors, directors, writers, designers and technicians to overcome the hardships and bring different worlds to life on stages across the country?  Despite the difficulties, for most professional theatre artists, life onstage is both incredibly rewarding and the only career imaginable.

Peterborough Players Artistic Director Gus Kaikkonen and Managing Director Keith Stevens will lead a discussion about what goes on behind the scenes, and will talk about how a season at the Players is put together.  They will also describe their careers and will be joined by members of the 2008 summer company, who will also share their experiences.

The Peterborough Players celebrate their 75th Anniversary Season in 2008. Founded in 1933 by Edith Bond Stearns in her small barn off Middle Hancock Road in Peterborough, the Players continue to thrive as one of the leading professional summer theaters in the United States.  From June 5th through September 28th, the company will produce a total of ten plays.  Seven of those shows will be performed by the professional company, as the Players’ subscription series.  An intern company will stage two plays for children and families, and one production with local high school students, under the auspices of the Ascending Stars program, will be staged.

Gus Kaikkonen and Keith Stevens are both marking their 13th season with the Peterborough Players.

Artistic Director Kaikkonen divides his time between Peterborough and his New York City base. His is a long, multi-faceted, and award-winning career of directing, playwrighting, and creating musicals.  He is also a stage and television actor. 

Managing Director Keith Stevens is a year-round resident, and lives in Peterborough with his wife Joanne, daughter Anastasia, and son Maclane. He has wide experience in managing regional theatres, and acts, directs, and teaches.

Moderator: Dick Ames

July 25, 2008
Carl Colby
Abbott Thayer and the Sanctity of Nature

Abbott Thayer (1849—1921), painter, teacher, inventor and naturalist, was one of Dublin, N.H.’s most original, prolific and fascinating residents.  His passion for conservation, his work as an artist, and his extensive studies of protective coloration, were influential in New Hampshire, in America, and in Europe.

Award-winning film director Carl Colby and producer Pamela Peabody have just completed an hour-long documentary titled Invisible: Abbott Thayer and the Art of Camouflage, which will be shown for the first time at Keene’s Colonial Theatre, on July 26th.  In advance of this occasion, Carl Colby will appear at the July 25th Amos Fortune Forum.  In his presentation to the Forum, Colby will speak about Abbott Thayer’s complexities. 

Colby will describe Thayer’s deep understanding of nature and its secrets; his theories of camouflage; his Transcendentalist beliefs; his abiding love of Mount Monadnock; his paintings, and his influence upon his fellow artists.

Pamela Peabody and Carl Colby have worked together on several films over the years.  Both are advocates of the arts, and seek in their work to explore the inspirations which lead to great creative achievement.

Carl Colby’s filmmaking assignments have taken him around the world, to more than thirty countries.  The subject matter of his documentaries is vast, from celebrations of painters and musicians, to space exploration, to anti-child trafficking, to politics.  He also organizes international art shows and conferences, and is currently developing a feature about the personal and professional life of his father, the late William E. Colby, former CIA Director.

Pamela Peabody is the head of PRP Productions, of Washington, DC. Her previous project with Carl Colby, A Dialogue of Generosity, was a film about the Shakespeare Theatre company at the new Harman Center for the Arts, in Washington, DC.  Peabody made her first film in 1980. In The Female Line: Three Generations of Peabody Women, she profiled Mrs. Malcolm Peabody, a Civil Rights activist; Marietta Tree, a U.N. ambassador; and Frances Fitzgerald, a Pulitzer Prize winning author. Peabody has deep family ties to Dublin, and brings Carl Colby to the Forum in cooperation with the Dublin Historical Society.

Moderator: Russell Bastedo

August 1, 2008
Lincoln Chen
Rockefeller, Ford & Gates — When American Philanthropies go Abroad

Beginning with the Rockefeller Foundation in the early 20th century, and continuing with the Ford Foundation, CARE, Bill Gates and George Soros, Americans have spearheaded massive endeavors to alleviate worldwide poverty.  Dr. Lincoln Chen, who has spent a lifetime working both as a medical practitioner and as an official of some of the largest and most effective American philanthropic foundations, will reflect upon the
successes and challenges inherent in the art of giving, and will discuss the roles which philanthropies can, and cannot play, on the global stage.

The Western World’s wealth, expertise and sense of mission have been deployed abroad for generations.  Poverty, disease, pandemics and failed governance do not respect political boundaries, and non-governmental
organizations have designed and funded international aid programs of great breadth and scope.  How effective can these enormous outflows of funds be?  Are American foundations meeting their promise?  In this complex
age, when American aid from private sources collides with our government’s foreign policy interests in places such as Iraq, Darfur and Afghanistan, can American largesse still be seen as philanthropic.

Dr. Chen is President of the China Medical Board. Started in 1914, the Board was endowed by John D. Rockefeller as an independent foundation, and entrusted with the mission of advancing health in China and throughout Asia. The Board strengthens medical education, deepens research, and works with local agencies to develop policies. 

Prior to leading the China Medical Board, Dr. Chen served as Executive Vice President of the Rockefeller Foundation.  He has been on the faculty of the Harvard Medical School, and is currently a Fellow of Harvard’s Asia Center. He has also spent many years in Asia, where he represented the Ford Foundation in India and Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Dr. Chen received his BA in 1964 from Princeton University, his MD fromHarvard University, and his MPH from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health.

Moderator: Roderick Mac Farquhar

August 8, 2008
Charles Daloz
An Experiment in Ecological Technology

The Daloz Mill and Farm BioCultural Center is a small, New Hampshire non-profit foundation, located in Hancock.  Its mission is to do research and to educate and demonstrate to the community the ecological technologies which are appropriate for our upper Contoocook River Valley bioregion.

Charles Daloz, who taught Horticulture and Ecology at Jaffrey’s Conant High School from 1986 to 2002, will explain that, in ecosystems, materials cycle and energy flows; change is constant and interactive; and diversity enhances overall stability.  The Daloz Mill and Farm’s BioCultural Center uses the nutrient cycles of organic agriculture, the energy flow of their hydro-power steam and mill, and the changes that time has wrought over its 200-year-old history to put these ecological principles into daily practice.

Daloz operates an 80 member Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) project as part of a resurgent agriculture within the region, and is working to build a sustainable agriculture system which has enhanced biodiversity, low fossil fuel import,  and high carbon sequestration in the soils, both living and humic. A “Friends of the Mill” group is working to repair, maintain and operate Hancock’s historic, water-powered box and barrel mill, to develop markets for its wood products, and to demonstrate Yankee ingenuity by using local
resources to enliven the community.

Charles Daloz graduated in 1969 from Amherst College, with a BA in biology and anthropology.  He served as Coconut Rehabilitation Extension Officer with the U.S. Peace Corps in the Marshall Islands of Micronesia from
1969 to 1972, and afterward traveled extensively throughout South Asia. During the 1980’s, Daloz received an MS and PhD in Vegetable Crops and International Agriculture from Cornell University. He then served as
Agricultural Development Officer in a USAID Provincial Development Project in Aceh, Indonesia, where he worked to improve the agricultural extension service, legume crop and home garden systems, along with the seed production capacity for the Province.  Upon his return to America, he raised his family in Hancock, N.H.  Upon his retirement from teaching at Conant High School, Daloz established the BioCultral Center at his home in Hancock. He is also Market Master of the Hancock Farmers’ Market, founding member of the Peterborough Farmers’ Market, and a member of many local agricultural and preservation groups

Moderator: Helen Coll

August 15, 2008
Robert Barry
Averting Nuclear Anarchy

Since the end of the Cold War, many have become complacent about the risks posed by nuclear weapons.  But the dangers are growing.  The world’s major nuclear-weapon states have continued to rely upon nuclear terror in their own security policies and have failed to work together to strengthen the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), and to address the regional rivalries which fuel
nuclear competition.

Robert Barry returns as a Speaker to the Amos Fortune Forum, and will explain
why it is urgently important for U.S. leaders to be pursuing a bolder, more comprehensive approach toward reducing the risk of nuclear anarchy. The current U.S. policy of isolating “unfriendly” states to try to prevent proliferation while permitting “friendly” states to possess and improve their nuclear arsenals is not working.

In 2009, Washington and Moscow will observe the 200th anniversary of the arrival of the first U.S. envoy to Russia, John Quincy Adams.  By renewing U.S. and Russian cooperation on nuclear issues, the incoming presidents of the United States and Russia can avoid a second Cold War, and strengthen global
efforts to avoid a new wave of nuclear weapons proliferation.

Barry is former U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia, and to Bulgaria.  In 1998, he was appointed Head of the OSCE Mission to Boznia and Herzegovina. During his time there, he was responsible for the administration and implementation of three sets of elections, as well as the implementation of election results.  The OSCE Mission also carried out major programmes in the field of governance, rule of law, human rights, media and military stabilization.

Ambassador Barry was the Deputy Director of the Voice of America, the global U.S. broadcasting service.  He was also Ambassador to the Stockholm Conference on Disarmament in Europe from 1985 to 1987. During his career, Foreign Service work took him to the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and Germany.  Mr. Barry also served at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. He received the Distinguished Honor Awards of both the Department of State and the U.S. Information Agency.  He received the Presidential Meritorious Service Award four times, and was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit by the Federal Republic of Germany for his leadership at the Stockholm Disarmament Conference.  Ambassador Barry is a director of the British American Security Information Council.  He graduated from Dartmouth College, and received his MA from Columbia University. He and his wife Peggy have spent their summers in Rindge, N.H., for many years.

Moderator: Nan Quick

August 22, 2008
Craig Brandon
Monadnock: More Than a Mountain

Craig Brandon, author of the local bestselling book Monadnock: More Than A Mountain, will share the results of his ten years of research on the most-hiked mountain in North America.  He will talk about the unique aspects of the mountain, the poets who wrote about it, the painters who painted it, and the musicians and dancers who celebrated it.  He’ll also spend some time talking about the successful efforts to save the mountain from developers, which have been ongoing since the 1880s.  Without these efforts, Monadnock would be covered with summer homes, paved with a summit road, and defaced with a radio antenna.  We look at Mount Monadnock every day.  Craig Brandon will tell us what it’s really all about.

Brandon is the author of five books of popular history, including The Electric Chair: An Unnatural American History, and Murder in the Adirondacks: An American Tragedy Revisited.  He spent twenty years as a reporter, columnist and editor in upstate New York before accepting a position as Director of Communications for the Rockefeller Institute in Albany, N.Y., during the administration of Gov. Mario Cuomo.  He then relocated to New Hampshire, and from 1995 to 2007, he advised the student newspaper, and taught classes in reporting, news writing and editing at Keene State College.  He is the editor and publisher of Surry Cottage Books, a niche publishing company that produces books about the Monadnock region.  In 2008 he is republishing Elizabeth Weston Timlow’s The Heart of Monadnock, the story of a woman’s spiritual transformation on the mountain, and will also be releasing Monadnock Odysseys, by Richard Jenkins.

Brandon’s writing has won national, state and local awards, which include First Prize from the National Education Writers competition of 1980, and the Golden Apple award from the New York State United Teachers. His work has also been recognized by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the Associated Press, the National School Boards Association, the Gannett Foundation and Hearst newspapers.

Brandon and his wife, Jean Winter, live in Surry, N.H.

Moderator: Charles Royce