Humanities & The American Soul

Time: 6-8pm

Dates: February 27, March 5, March 12, March 26, April 2 & April 11th

"There is something wild in the beauty of Baldwin’s sentences and the cool of his tone, something improbable, too, this meeting of Henry James, the Bible, and Harlem." So wrote Darryl Pinkney in a 2013 assessement in the New York Review of Books. Join two brilliant conversation partners, novelist Ben Fountain and equity pioneer, Arlene Ford, Ph.D. as we enter into the beautiful, cool, and improbable artistry of James Baldwin, one of the United States' great literary voices.

Instructors:
Arlene Ford, Ph.D. is an educator, facilitator, researcher, and storyteller with a passion for helping others learn and engage productively. A graduate of Harvard Law School, she also holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles. She founded the Equity Inquiry Project Inc. (EquIP) in 2013 with the goal of working closely with leaders, team members, and their organizations to support lasting transformational change.

Ben Fountain, a former practicing attorney, is the author of Brief Encounters with Che Guevara, which won the PEN/Hemingway Award and the Barnes & Noble Discover Award for Fiction, and the novel Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, winner of the National Book Critics' Circle Award and a finalist for the National Book Award. Billy Lynn was adapted into a feature film directed by three-time Oscar winner Ang Lee, and his work has been translated into over twenty languages. His series of essays published in The Guardian on the 2016 U.S. presidential election was subsequently nominated by the editors of The Guardian for the Pulitzer Prize in Commentary. He lives in Dallas, Texas with his wife of 32 years, Sharon Fountain.

Selected readings from:

Baldwin: Early Novels & Stories (Library of America)

Baldwin: Collected Essays (Library of America)

optional: I Am Not Your Negro (edited by Raoul Peck; it's the script, with stills, from Peck's documentary)

**Please note that parking is not included in the price of the course. Free street parking is available along Routh Street or for purchase in the lot located at 2711 Routh Street.