The Learning Center of Senior Citizens, Inc. is pleased to announce its annual “One Big Question” symposium will be held on May 12, 2017 at First Presbyterian Church, 520 Washington Avenue at Paulsen St.

Now in its fifth year, “One Big Question” focuses each year on one question of importance to society. A diverse lineup of distinguished local and regional speakers will provide educational and thought-provoking lectures on this year’s question: One Nation?

What can you expect to hear if you attend? According to TLC Director Roger Smith, nothing is off the table. “Remember those topics our mothers told us to avoid in polite company—religion, politics, money, race?  Well, we’re talking about all of them and more at The Learning Center’s annual symposium on May 12! This year’s One Big Question, One Nation?, brings first-class speakers together to raise issues we face in a society as divided as we’ve witnessed in living memory.”

This popular event is open to the public. Advanced registration is required (details below). Each lecture is $10 and may be purchased individually. Boxed lunches are available for $7. Please reserve by Friday, May 5.

Proceeds from “One Big Question” support TLC courses and lectures throughout the year.

“ONE BIG QUESTION” SCHEDULE:

Civil Rights in a New Century? Build a Bigger Tent
9:30 a.m. – $10
Lecturer Shirley Cherry is a Civil Rights activist, life-long educator, and now director of Montgomery’s Dexter Avenue Baptist Church Parsonage where the young King family lived. Cherry reflects on the Civil Rights Movement and its lessons for the current day.
 
The Future of Journalism in a Post-Fact World
10:45 a.m. – $10
Lecturer Rebecca Rolfes is a veteran journalist and editor at the Chicago publishing company Imagination.  She explores the rise of point-of-view journalism, the deliberate creation of fake news, the economic impact of a digital media landscape, and the threat it poses to the independence and objectivity of journalism.  

Being a Black Man at the Corner of Prosperity and Peril
12:30 p.m. – $10
Lunch is available at 12 noon – $7
Lecturer Kevin Merida is a longtime Washington Post journalist and now editor-in-chief of ESPN’s digital platform, The Undefeated.  In 2006, he led the Post’s project “Being a Black Man.” In an era of fierce debate about identity and which lives “matter,” Merida explores what it means to be a black man today.
 
Questions of Faith, Division, and Opportunity
2 p.m. – $10
Lecturer David Messner leads Savannah’s Unitarian Universalist Church.  Reverend Messner explores the lines between “people of faith” and “those without faith.”  In his presentation, he considers how the mix of faith, spirituality, religiosity, and values often reveals more similarities than differences, suggesting a different map for navigating a common future.

Working-Class Angst in a Global Society
3:30 p.m. – $10
Lecturer John Bishop frequently speaks at The Learning Center.  In this presentation, he delivers his observations about divisions in education, class, and socioeconomic status which have driven working-class Americans to depart from predictable political and cultural norms and the impact this may have on the future.

If you are interested in becoming a sponsor of SCI’s “One Big Question” event, please contact Roger Smith, director of The Learning Center, at (912) 236-0363.

To register for this event, please visit The Learning Center’s page at www.seniorcitizensinc.org or call (912) 236-0363.