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Levan Center: St. John’s Lecture. Greg Schneider and The Brothers Karamazov

Uncategorized April 3, 2015 Comments: 2

My brief Spring Break trip to Hawaii has confirmed that spring breaks are a necessity for sanity and this year, I’m taking full advantage of it. Here is the full moon over the pacific at 4:00 a.m. Hawaii time on April 2nd. I am out on the balcony of my room catching up on some of reading and social media…reflecting on difficulties facing a few of our colleagues who are dealing with medical issues related to themselves or loved ones. These are by far the most difficult times one faces on life. So here is some Hawaiian warmth, love and well wishes coming your way.

Last week, Jack Hernandez invited Dr. Greg Schneider to BC for the annual St. John’s Levan lecture. I had a crazy day and at 7:00 p.m., walking into the Levan Center, I felt exhausted with the weight of the world on my shoulders. However, the lecture had me captivated the entire time….Schneider’s words elevated me so much so that when I was driving back I felt uplifted.

Greg Schneider, to me, was pretty hardcore; his piece was meticulous with deep-dive analysis and thorough, insightful evaluation that reflects a top-notch mind.

Dr. Greg Schneider

A faculty member at St. John’s College in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Schneider delivered a fascinating interpretation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s classic novel “The Brothers Karamazov.”

Most who know the Russian master’s final work are already familiar with the deep philosophical themes of God and morality at play in the story of murdered patriarch Fyodor Karamazov and his three extremely different sons. But Schneider’s intriguing take delved into the connection between the mind and body of the novel’s characters, showcasing how physical moments in the book inform and explain the intellectual ideas at the heart of the story.

I loved the way he examined how a bow, or a kiss, or a character laying on the ground speaks to concepts like mutual responsibility or spiritual vs. atheistic arguments in the 135-year-old story.

Studying great works of the past has special value when you look at it through the prism of our 21st century world, illuminating how universal themes resonate through time to a modern audience.

As Schneider beautifully expounded on Doestoyevsky’s realm of murder and moral ambiguity, it wasn’t a long walk to connect his thoughts with some of the dangers and crises, both domestic and international, darkening our world today.

Tom and Pauline Larwood with other attendees at the Levan lecture

It’s in moments like those, applying elements of long-forgotten answers to some of our most perplexing modern-day questions, that academia is uniquely engaging, a kind of archaeology, unearthing treasures of the past for the enrichment and betterment of today and future generations.

And isn’t that what education is all about, anyway? I was sorry my mentee Mariaha wasn’t there there to experience this brilliant Levan lecture. Dr. Norm Levan’s gift is so meaningful to the communities of Bakersfield, Arvin, Lamont, Wasco, McFarland, Shafter, and Delano. It is our obligation at BC to expose our own minds and the minds of our students and community to first-rate scholarship and thought shared by the likes of Schneider.

Thank you, Dr. Schneider, Levan Center director Dr. Jack Hernandez and most of all, thank you Norm Levan. Here’s to you for making this a possibility at Bakersfield College.

Dr. Doolittle’s Heaven and the Levan Center

Uncategorized March 2, 2015 1 Comment

Anne Benvenuti

It’s impossible to fully explain what an exquisite treasure Bakersfield College’s Levan Center for the Humanities has become. Since opening in 2010, the Center has consistently featured a variety of speakers and presentations that run the gamut of academic disciplines.

But the true crowning achievement of a Levan Center event is that you can often walk into a given presentation knowing virtually nothing about the topic, only to leave enthralled and excited about a field or an idea or a personality that you never would have guessed could or would so capture your imagination.

Case in point – what if we could talk to the animals? And what if they’ve actually been talking to us all along?

Anne Benvenuti, who regaled the Levan Center audience on Feb. 23, believes the great divide often put between humans and the rest of Earth’s creatures isn’t nearly as great as many think. In fact, the professor, clinical psychologist and Episcopal priest says changing how we think and relate to animals would take a profound step toward changing all life on the planet for the better.

Reading from her new book “Spirit Unleashed: Reimagining Human-Animal Relations,” Benvenuti recounted her encounter with a dehydrated bat she found during a hike. First taking the animal for dead, she quickly realized the still breathing bat’s plight when it brought its tiny hands to its dry tongue, all but begging for water.

After quenching the animal’s thirst in a nearby creek, the apparently grateful creature swam away – but the brief intersection of their two lives left Benvenuti further convinced in the power of silent communication.

“Love one little thing and you love the entire universe that holds it,” Benvenuti writes. “As well as the essence from which it pours forth, and the pulse that beats in it, and the breath that heaves it, and the awareness that connects it. Save one little thing and you save your soul entire.”

During her hour-long discussion “Dr. Doolittle’s Heaven,” Benvenuti outlined some of the contemporary research establishing language as a common pervasive system across the animal kingdom and attempted to tear down the remaining perceived barriers separating humans from the rest of the planet’s animal life.

Benvenuti advocates new definitions of soul and spirituality that not only encompass all the vast variety of life on Earth, but the adoption of a type of natural spirituality that will forever bind that life together.

Heady stuff…but exactly the kind of stuff the Levan Center was created to showcase.

Moments like Anne’s soul-enriching talk are a constant reminder to me to recognize and appreciate the vision of Dr. Norman Levan in funding the center’s creation.

Dr. Levan left us last year, but as I watched this woman speak and saw the engagement in her audience, all held in rapt attention, I knew that somewhere, he was very pleased.

A Thank You for Trio Celeste

Uncategorized May 5, 2014 Leave a comment

BC Composers’ Club plus a woodworking student interested in the construction of Stradivarius instruments.

Recently, Trio Celeste, a small group of musicians, performed at the Levan Center here at Bakersfield College. Nancy Edwards was in the crowd, and she wrote a thank you to Jack Hernandez and John Gerhold, who facilitated the performance. Jack oversees the programming at the Levan Center, and John is the chair of Bakersfield College’s performing arts department.

As part of the event, Trio Celeste performed with Bakersfield College students.

Dear John and Jack,

I want to thank you for inviting and presenting to the community the Trio Celeste recently at the Levan Center on campus. The extraordinary accomplishments and talent alone of these remarkable performers are dazzling. As their biographies stated, they are stars on an international level, as well as within the American states. Their muscianship and professionalism are models of perfection for all of us to admire.

It was quite endearing to hear them speak of how pieces were performed and how much they practiced, as well as to hear about the Stradivarius violin. I would not have believed that I would ever have an opportunity to hear a performance on a Stradivarius. Each performer was so gracious and charming, I am sure the students were delighted to have them work with them in their classes! It has to be the opportunity of a lifetime!

We were most pleased also to have some time to visit with Ann Finlinson and John for a lovely breakfast before they went home to northern California. They have become very close friends and we are most appreciative of every opportunity to visit with them. They were so delighted with the concert and appreciative of what you have done to make these events possible. Ann has repeatedly said how much these events mean to her knowing that so many lives are touched by the extraordinary performers and presenters the Finlinson Committee has brought to the college.

I wanted to again thank you both in particular and add my congratulations to your success. I would be delighted for our committee to meet perhaps in early summer or early fall before classes are too far along and everyone is swamped just to explore some ideas again. It is very exciting to hear all of the great ideas.

I send my very best wishes to you always,

Nancy Edwards