Think Again

March 31 2009 Topic Sexual Responsibility:How Are Individuals and Society Helped or Hurt by Personal Sexual Choices I'm excited for this discussion. I'd like for it to be open, frank, and thought-provoking. While morality can and should come up, I hope to avoid excessive moralizing and would rather use our time to identify and discuss the questions critical for helping each of us to develop our personal moral opinions about sex. The core questions of our discussion are: What does it mean to be sexually responsible? How are individuals and society helped by personal sexual choices? How are individuals and society hurt by personal sexual choices? Required Readings & Video:(4 short readings and 1 short video, all totaling about 45 minutes; all documents and video located online): 1. What Are the Major Issues Involved in Sexual Responsibility? These issues will form the foundation of our discussion. I have compiled a summary of some of the critical issues and questions we cou...

For February's Think Again dialogue, we'll try to get a taste of life during The Great Depression and draw some lessons that have relevance to the current economic downturn. The question is not whether our experience will be "as bad," or "the same" as the 1930s, but what the voices from that time can teach us today, regardless of the severity, duration, or nature of our crisis. A few questions to consider as we prepare for the dialogue: What was gained and what was lost in that time? Who was hardest hit - women, blacks, children, white men, migrants, laborers? If all we know about that time comes from artists (writers, journalists, painters, photographers, musicians, etc.), what attention should we give to the creative chroniclers of our day? Feel free to add questions you would like to explore in the comments. The prep work includes 30 minutes of audio and 30 - 45 minutes of reading/looking at art. 1) Introduction to the book, "First-Person America...

Here’s a tentative schedule for 2009. I assigned the top nine topics and left two months open so we can decide as a group if we want to pick from the remaining topics, or create new ones. We will discuss this schedule at January’s dialogue and make sure it works for the topic hosts. February : Lessons From the Great Depression: What Should We Know Going Into Recession? March : Sexual Responsibility: How is Society Helped or Hindered by Personal Sexual Choices? April : OPEN May : The Future of Marriage: What will "the institution" of marriage look like in 20 years? June : Aging Boomers: Understanding the Economic Impacts of a Nation of Retirees July : What Determines Attraction? August : Texting, Email, Blogs, and the Fall of the English Language September : OPEN October : The Future of Education November : How Americans View Food December : Is the World Better or Worse Off Because of International Aid? Here's the vote tally, FYI: (13) Sexual Responsibility: How is Society...

Topic Host: Tiffany Ivins In your opinion, is the "right to education" a basic human right? Why or why not? In your opinion, does technology enable better *access* to free, high-quality educational opportunity and are the costs (economic, social, cultural) worth the benefits? To prepare for our dialogue session, please spend about 30 minutes doing the following: 1) Browse 2 links on "Right to Education" and the 4 As ( the right to education must be available, accessible, acceptable and adaptable): http://right-to-education.org/node/46 http://right-to-education.org/node/226 2) Watch this 4 minute video on Youth-Managed Resource Centers (YMRC) in Nepal. 3) Browse this website to learn about projects where information and communication technologies (ICT) are central to social and economic development. 4) Find out what is happening with Open Educational Resources , Open Content and Open CourseWare . If you are still interested, here are some more links (not ma...

Thanks to all who attended dialogue group this week. Great start to our conversation on Technology in the Developing World , and fantastic brainstorming for the 2009 topics. Please note that we have changed the date and time. Starting in January, we will meet from 7:30 - 9:30 pm on the last Tuesday of every month. The last 10 minutes of each meeting will be dedicated to a teaser on the next month's topic. The upcoming topic's host will have the assignments selected and ready to present. For January 27, we will continue the discussion on Technology in the Developing World , hosted by Tiffany Ivins. The remaining 11 months will be determined by popular vote from the 20 suggestions below. Keep in mind that the topic descriptions are rough - just enough to give the general gist. The topic host will refine the focus once the topics are chosen. Please list your TOP TEN choices in the comments by Monday, January 5 . 2009 SUGGESTED TOPICS 1) Comedy and Politics: How Spoofs Shape Publ...

For our combined November/December dialogue, we'll have a shorter discussion so we can have time to pick topics for next year and generally make merry with each other over wassail and jingly bells. Come prepared with some ideas for topics you'd like to discuss next year. Wednesday, Dec. 10 7 - 9 pm Mitch and Tiffany's 4348 S Jupiter Dr (3760 E.) SLC, UT 84124 Tiffany Ivins will lead the mini-dialogue on Technology in the Developing World, but there is no assigned reading this time so you can bring anyone you think would want to join us. We'd like to spice up and diversify the group a little, so please bring friends!

Topic Host: Carri Hulet October 29 The assignment this month is not reading - it is listening. Both assignments are from the Chicago Public Radio show This American Life. The first, called "The Giant Pool of Money," aired on May 9, 2008 and demystifies the chain of events that led to the sub-prime mortgage crisis. The second, named creatively "Another Frightening Show About the Economy" aired on October 3, 2008 and explains the swings in the markets, the bailout, and generally elucidates some of the queer madness we're sorting through day by day. Get some tissues because both episodes will make you want to cry (at least, that's the effect they had on me). You can get This American Life as a free podcast, but I believe in order to listen to the back episodes, you have to pay for the downloadable file or just plug in and listen free from your computer. You'll find the episodes at http://thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Archive.aspx?year=2008 #355 The Giant Pool...