Think Again

Dialogue leader: John Kesler — Founder and President, Salt Lake Civil Network This Think Again event is in association with the Utah Citizen Summit, Village Square, and Living Room Conversations Location:   Home of James & Judith McConkie 3373 Oakwood St Salt Lake City, Utah 84109 Discussion: John will briefly outline the upcoming Utah Citizen Summit on January 19, 2018 and why it's worth attending the event. He will also describe the patterns of societal flourishing and transformation which underlie The Summit as well as every endeavor which the Salt Lake Civil Network underwrites from TEDx Salt Lake City to Integral Polarity Practice (IPP), to wellness policy and homelessness. John will then lead us into a conversation of how we can apply these patterns of flourishing to improve any societal issue.      About John: John T. Kesler is an attorney, facilitator, consultant and lecturer residing in Salt Lake City, Utah....

> Dialogue leader: Romel Mackelprang Director of Disability Studies at EWU Mark & Elizabeth England's 1194 South 500 East in Salt Lake City. Late-comers, please use the back door.   Discussion: The culture wars in the US have brought people together to protest against racial  and ethnic violence, xenophobic policies, violence against women, and LGBTQ rights.  Perpetually lost in the battle for human rights are people who live with disabilities. Disability is  almost universally seen as a tragedy or affliction. Hitler’s mass extermination of disabled  Germans was labeled tough minded mercy, at Nuremberg. Today, prominent ethicist Peter  Singer and others argue that it is morally justifiable to euthanize disabled infants. Social policies  often prohibit disabled people from working. People with mental health disabilities such as  depression are viewed with pity or as morally deficient. Yet, drawing strength from the ci...

> Dialogue leader: Devery Anderson Editor at Signature Books Mark & Elizabeth England's 1194 South 500 East in Salt Lake City. Late-comers, please use the back door.   Discussion: The murder of fourteen-year-old Emmett Till in 1955, and the acquittal of his accused killers, helped launch the civil rights movement because it woke up the nation and the world to the racial atrocities of the American South. It was perhaps the most tragic and famous lynching in American history, which taught us many lessons. Or did it? What did we learn? What have we forgotten? How does this tragedy help us gauge how far we have come since?    About Devery: Devery S. Anderson is an editor at Signature Books in Salt Lake City and is the editor or co-editor of four books on Mormon history, two of which won the Steven F. Christensen Award for Best Documentary from the Mormon History Association in 2006. His book, Emmett Till: The Murder That...

> Dialogue leader: Travis Marker CEO and founder of Scrivener’s Quill Mark & Elizabeth England's 1194 South 500 East in Salt Lake City. Late-comers, please use the back door.   Discussion: Emma Goldman, an active and outspoken activist and anarchist argued that the populous should abandon the governing systems in the United States. We will look at the writings of Goldman and explore her role in bringing awareness to deficiencies in the legal system.   About Travis: Travis Marker is the CEO and founder of Scrivener’s Quill: A Center for Lawyers and Literature. Mr. Marker graduated with a double major in English and History from Weber State University and received his law degree and certificate in dispute resolution from Willamette University College of law. Travis  then earned a Master of Laws in dispute resolution from Bond University in  Australia  Mr. Marker is the most active scholar presenting CLE (Continuing ...

> Dialogue leader: Dr. David Parker Director, Center for Creating Community Mark & Elizabeth England's 1194 South 500 East in Salt Lake City. Late-comers, please use the back door.   Discussion: Implicit bias refers to an automatic association people may make about groups of people along with stereotypes about those groups. In some situations, the automatic associations may influence behavior which can result in a person responding in a biased way even when they are not explicitly prejudiced. Over a course of time this can erode the relationship between members of the various communities in which we are active. I n this interactive conversation, we will examine the influence of implicit bias on understanding and working with contemporary social justice issues as they manifest in our lives.    About David: Dr. Parker’s life's work is dedicated to creating and sustaining inclusive environments, which led him to create the Cen...

Dialogue leader: Dr. Robert Davies Physicist/Research & Education Associate, Utah State University Mark & Elizabeth England's 1194 South 500 East in Salt Lake City. Late-comers, please use the back door.   Discussion: We live in the an age in which humans have become the single biggest force for change throughout Earth’s biosphere. The  Anthropocene  is a time of planetary climate disruption and the Sixth Great Extinction. Across oceans, atmosphere and land; water, life and ice humanity is engaged in a wholesale dismantling of our life support system. Clearly, recycling and listening to TED talks is not enough. But what is enough?  And how can each of us move forward with any hope for meaningful action? The engines of destruction are strong ― so strong, says activist and deep ecologist  Joanna Macy, “they’re hard to look at!” And so tonight we explore: What is the mindset that moves us forward… and how do we find this mindse...