Minnesota Independent Scholars Forum

Philosophy Study Group
2026-02-11 19:00 - 21:00 UTC | via Zoom
We will conclude our discussion of the book, The Boxer and the Goalkeeper: Sartre Vs Camus, by Andy Martin. In spite of rumors to the contrary, our next book will not be The Commie and the Nazi: Marx vs Heidegger. There is a possibility that we could do The Wrestler and the Fencer: Plato vs Descartes, however. But whatever is decided, it will be done by those who show up. Jus’ sayin’.

Woman's World: Women Artists in Russia
2026-02-28 10:00 - 11:30 | Bethlehem Lutheran Church – Commons Room, 41st and Lyndale, Minneapolis
Where in the world are the women artists? The answer: In the Russian Empire and Soviet Union. This ppt presentation traces the ways in which women artists were vital to the development of their culture’s visual artistry. Textile artists, painters, folk artists and non-conformist women contributed both to their own country and to the international scene.

Carol Veldman Rudie is coordinator of outreach education at the Museum of Russian Art. She has been lead docent there since 2005 and developed its docent training programs. Her special interest involves forming and educating groups to tour Russia. Her Ph.D. work at the U of MN includes a minor in Art History.

Philosophy Study Group
2026-03-11 19:00 - 21:00 | via Zoom
We will begin discussing the book, The Subversive Simone Weil: A Life in Five Ideas (2023), by Robert Zaretsky. This book is available new for around $15 in either paperback or as an eBook. For the 11th we’ll read the introduction and chapters 1 and 2.
Simone Weil was a 20th century French philosopher and mystic who was only 34 when she died, but her writings have been enormously influential. She strongly believed that one’s philosophy should be lived. The MISF Philosophy Study Group thinks that, too, and will do it if we ever figure things out.

From Memoir to Fiction and Today's Publishing World
2026-03-28 10:00 - 12:00 | Bethlehem Lutheran Church – Commons Room, 41st and Lyndale, Minneapolis
Vince Wyckoff will reveal the backstory to his first work of non-fiction, Beware of Cat, and Other Encounters of a Letter Carrier, and how it nearly cost him his career amid threats of federal felony charges. His Black Otter Bay mystery series has been met with less drama, but strong reviews and a loyal following of readers.

Born and raised in Columbia Heights, Minn, Mr. Wyckoff attended the University of Minnesota and is a veteran of the U.S. Army. His first book, “Beware of Cat,” celebrates the stories of people on his mail route. For a short time, he lived on the north shore of Lake Superior, from which he developed the background for Black Otter Bay, his first work of fiction and a finalist for the 2016 Midwest Independent Publishers Award. This was followed by a sequel, Nightwatchers, and the third installment, Refuge From the Sea. His stories have been published in several local periodicals as well as the anthology, Home. Wyckoff and his wife, Sybil, live in Minneapolis. They have two children and four grandchildren.

Philosophy Study Group
2026-04-08 19:00 - 21:00 | via Zoom
We are finishing our discussion of the book, The Subversive Simone Weil: A Life in Five Ideas, by Robert Zaretsky. The last parts of the book cover Weil’s concepts of rootedness and her own mystical version of Catholicism. Even though most people aren’t convinced by the latter, they still regard her analysis of social roots as her primary contribution to philosophy. However you may feel, we hope you’re rooting for us as we dig into her ideas.
Curt

Black Arts Minnesota: An Autoethnographic Approach
2026-04-25 10:00 - 12:00 | Bethlehem Lutheran Church – Commons Room, 41st and Lyndale, Minneapolis
This talk demonstrates how archival research and artistic practices bear witness to a Black presence in Minnesota dating as far back as the 1860s.

A North Minneapolis native and fifth-generation Minnesotan, Davu Underwood Seru currently serves as the Curator of the Givens Collection of African American Literature and Life at the University of Minnesota. Formerly, Davu was an Assistant Professor of Practice in the Department of English at Hamline University where he taught courses in research, writing and literature, for which received the prestigious Dr. Colleen S. Bell Outstanding Faculty Award. Additionally, he is co-author of the book Sights, Sounds, Soul: The Twin Cities Through the Lens of Charles Chamblis (MNHS Press 2017) and is an award-winning, internationally recognized drummer and composer.

Philosophy Study Group
2026-05-13 19:00 - 21:00 | via Zoom
We will discuss chapter 1, “The Idea of Perfection”, from the book, The Sovereignty of Good (1970), by Iris Murdoch. Not only will we discuss perfection, but we intend to model it as well. Or at least give you some ideas on how to not do things.

Poetry Day
2026-05-16 10:00 - 12:00 | Bethlehem Lutheran Church – Commons Room, 41st and Lyndale, Minneapolis
Morgan will do a retrospective reading, a sort of live-time selected and new gathering of poems highlighting work from different periods in her life as a poet. She will also share examples of her explorations into the book arts, including her artist book Collage for Mina Loy and Stitch by Stitch, the anthology which accompanied the Quilt, Not Quilt exhibition at Minnesota Center for Book Arts.
There will be an open mic at the end of Morgan’s presentation, where attendees may volunteer to share their own poems.

Morgan has published poetry collections and chapbooks with titles such as Dodge & Scramble, Between, Silk, Oddly Enough, The Maps are Words, Arpeggio of Appetite, and Spinnerets. The journals and anthologies in which her poetry has appeared include: Ecopoetics; Resist Much/Obey Little; Queer Voices (Minnesota Historical Society Press); Water~Stone Review; Saint Paul Almanac; When We Become Weavers: Queer Female Poets on the Midwestern Experience; About Place Journal. Morgan’s creative nonfiction publications include “Riding Shotgun for Stanley Home Products” in Riding Shotgun: Women Write About Their Mothers (MHS/Borealis Books). Her essay “Signs of the Time” earned an honorable mention in the inaugural Judith Kitchen Prize in Water~Stone Review #14, and her lyric essay “(Un)Document(ing),” which appeared in Water~Stone Review #22, was nominated for a Pushcart prize. Her work has garnered awards from the Minnesota State Arts Board, the McKnight Foundation, the Jerome Foundation, and the Witter Bynner Foundation.
A student of the book arts, Morgan completed the core certificate program at Minnesota Center for Book Arts (MCBA) and exhibited her artist’s book Collage for Mina Loy in 2016. She collaborated with three other poets in composing and hand crafting the limited edition chapbook Stitch by Stitch which accompanied Quilt, Not Quit: The Afterlife, an exhibition at MCBA in 2018. Morgan’s collages have been published online in Concision Poetry Magazine as well as in print in Saint Paul Almanac, Volume 13.
Morgan serves as teaching artist with The Loft Literary Center as well as the COMPAS Artful Aging program. Currently, she is co-editing the anthology Nick of Time: Women Write about Art & Aging, forthcoming from the University of Minnesota Press in fall 2026.

Philosophy Study Group
2026-06-10 19:00 - 21:00 | via Zoom
We are planning on concluding our discussion of the book, The Sovereignty of Good, by Iris Murdoch. This is a change from our earlier announcement that we would spend three sessions on the book. The remainder of the book is two chapters titled “On ‘God’ and ‘Good’” and “The Sovereignty of Good Over Other Concepts.” Murdoch did not regard herself as a theist, but she does regard ‘Good’ as, while perhaps not a Platonic form, something that rises enough over competing concepts that it deserves the term ‘sovereign’? Good God! The Sovereignty of Good over what!? Be sure to attend and find out!

The War at Home: Minnesota during the Great War, 1914-1920
2026-06-27 10:00 - 12:00 | Bethlehem Lutheran Church – Commons Room, 41st and Lyndale, Minneapolis
Americans went to war in 1917 not only against Germany but also against each other at home. The controversial declaration of war came during a contentious time when farmers and workers challenged the wealthy, African Americans struggled against Jim Crow and lynchings, women campaigned for suffrage, and millions crusaded against alcohol. In The War at Home, Greg Gaut focuses on the lives of individual Minnesotans to tell the dramatic story of this period, when the state experienced bitter polarization, nativism, flagrant disregard for democratic norms, and intense, occasionally violent, confrontations.

The Minnesota Commission of Public Safety ruled the state with an iron hand during the war. Led by John F. McGee, the commission pursued a “loyalty” campaign especially against trade unions and the Nonpartisan League. McGee’s most prominent adversary was Charles A. Lindbergh Sr., whom the Nonpartisan League nominated to challenge the governor in the fiercely contested 1918 primary. Although Minnesota’s home front experience was the product of a particular confluence of events and personalities, it raises issues about how democracy can give way to authoritarianism when economic inequality, anti-immigrant nationalism, and racism rule the day.

Greg Gaut is an historian whose career has included two decades of teaching at a liberal arts college and a decade of work as an historic preservation consultant primarily preparing National Register of Historic Places nominations around the state of Minnesota. With his wife and co-author Marsha Neff, he is a frequent contributor to Minnesota History, and two of their articles won the David Gebhard Award for the best article on Minnesota’s built environment. A lover of libraries, he published Laird’s Legacy: A History of the Winona Public Library and Reinventing the People’s Library, a history of St. Paul’s Arlington Hills Public Library which is now the East Side Freedom Library. His article on a World War I espionage case, Hardware Store Sedition: The Case of Charles W. Anding, won the Solon J. Buck Award for the best article in Minnesota History for 2020. He holds a doctorate in Modern European and Russian history from the University of Minnesota.
