Minnesota Independent Scholars Forum

The Writing Life
2019-04-27 10:00 - 11:30 UTC | Washburn Library, 5244 Lyndale Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55419
As someone who has been an active writer for more than half a century, I have benefited from the prestige and authority conferred on the general culture by the invention of the printing press. Since that time books have had a short 500-year run, and a mixed success, as cultural influences. While the book’s influence seems to be in decline since the advent of the digital age, we ironically have more books being published today than at any other time in history. What roles do contemporary writers now fulfill, and how should a “serious” writer define this role? I hope to address these issues from my own personal experiences as writer and editor, in the hope that my example is at once typical in some basic ways and therefore instructive.
Emilio DeGrazia, a long-time resident of Winona, Minnesota, taught at Winona State University from 1969 to 2002, and continues to write and edit from his home there. He founded Great River Review in 1977, and it currently is the official literary journal for the creative writing students at the University of Minnesota. He has had a long and varied history as a writer. A first collection of short fiction, Enemy Country (New Rivers Press), was selected by Anne Tyler for a Writer’s Choice Award, and a novel, Billy Brazil (New Rivers Press), was chosen for a Minnesota Voices award. A second story collection, Seventeen Grams of Soul, received a Minnesota Book Award in 1995, and a second novel, A Canticle for Bread and Stones, appeared in 1996. In the past few years DeGrazia published Burying the Tree, his first collection of essays, a memoir (of sorts) called Walking on Air in a Field of Greens, Seasonings, a first collection of poetry, and Eye Shadow, creative non-fiction. He also has had two plays produced and has served two terms as Winona’s Poet Laureate.

Philosophy Study Group
2019-04-24 19:00 - 21:00 | Curran’s Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in Minneapolis
We are going to be returning to Being and Time by Martin Heidegger. We will read the first three chapters of Division I of Part I, (through “The Worldhood of the World”).
This is up to page 149 in the Macquarrie and Robinson translation, the “standard” English translation which, once again, can be found for free online (http://pdf-objects.com/files/Heidegger-Martin-Being-and-Time-trans.-Macquarrie-Robinson-Blackwell-1962.pdf). Used copies are also plentiful. This is asking a lot. It is 80 pages of difficult reading. Do the best you can. Regardless, we are expecting a phenomenal discussion.

History Study Group
2019-04-18 19:00 - 21:00 | Curran’s Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in Minneapolis
We are continuing through our list of member-voted books by reading the Pulitzer Prize-winning book, John Adams (2001) by David McCullough, starting with Part I. This book can be had for around $18 in paperback and $15 as an ebook. However, since this is a prize-winning book by a popular author and has been around for a while, used copies are numerous and cheap.
Those of us who have also been around for a while, and those who haven’t been around for quite so long, and those who haven’t been around very long at all, and the numerous of us who are also cheap: we hope to see you all on the 18th.

Philosophy Study Group
2019-04-03 19:00 - 21:00 | Curran’s Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in Minneapolis
We have decided to try a different tack into the philosophy of Martin Heidegger and examine his idea of phenomenology. He disagreed with Edmund Husserl, the person who is most credited with establishing phenomenology as a modern discipline. We will try to take a look at exactly what Heidegger’s disagreements were and what it means for coming to understand his concept of Being.
Our principal source will be Heidegger’s The Basic Problems of Phenomenology (1975), a series of lectures he gave in 1927, shortly after the publication of his Being and Time.
You do not have to purchase the book, however (unless you really want to), since we are only going to discuss the Introduction, which can be found online. The URL for this is listed at the end of this announcement along with some other sources for phenomenology in general. While the only required reading for this meeting is the Introduction, it is suggested that you spend some time with one or more of the other sources to understand how Heidegger’s existential phenomenology differed from that of Husserl and others. His approach is also refered to as hermeneutical phenomenology, so any examination of hermeneutics may also be useful.
This exercise has the advantage that when people ask you what you are up to, you can tell them that you are studying the Heideggerian hermeneutical approach to existential phenomenology. They’ll probably leave you alone after that.
Introduction, The Basic Problems of Phenomenology by Martin Heidegger
https://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/heidegge.htm
An outline of The Basic Problems of Phenomenology (appears to be of only a part of the book)
https://www.academia.edu/4009954/Outline_of_Martin_Heidegger_The_Basic_Problems_of_Phenomenology
SEP article on Phenomenology
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/phenomenology/#Bib
IEP article on Phenomenology
https://www.iep.utm.edu/phenom/
Wikipedia article on Phenomenology
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenomenology_(philosophy)
Wikipedia article on hermeneutics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermeneutics
2007 lectures on Heidegger by Hubert Dreyfus (thanks to Cathy for telling us about this)
Phenomenology looks like it is covered in the first few of the 28 lectures
https://archive.org/details/Philosophy_185_Fall_2007_UC_Berkeley/Philosophy_185_Fall_2007_UC_Berkeley_Lecture_01_Phil_185-Lecture_1_20422.mp3
It is also at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaIWz_87Kz0
Handouts for the Dreyfus 2007 lectures
https://web.archive.org/web/20170911095625/http://socrates.berkeley.edu:80/~hdreyfus/185_f07/html/HandOuts.html
Later lectures on Heidegger by Hubert Dreyfus (probably from the same class in 2011)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywuNea7-1Q8

History Study Group
2019-03-28 19:00 - 21:00 | Curran’s Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in Minneapolis
There were two books which were tied for second among those nominated and voted upon by our members. Of these two we chose Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time (1995) by Dava Sobel as the next one to read.
The British Book of the Year in 1997, it is available in paperback for less than $14 and as an ebook for no more than $12. Since it is relatively short and we have an extra week to read it, we are going to only spend one session on the book. So we will see you on the 28th at 93.277518 W (and 44.926556 N).

Ignatius Donnelly: Ultimate Independent Scholar
2019-03-23 10:00 - 11:30 | Washburn Library, 5244 Lyndale Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55419
Ignatius Donnelly; poet, promoter, politician, orator, and author; was arguably the most interesting figure in Minnesota history. Although today he is largely dismissed as a crank, Donnelly was an indefatigable champion of the nineteenth century’s underdogs. His writings were both a reflection of the times and of his moods. His 1890 Caesar’s Column was the first great dystopian novel and a best seller in spite of its populist pessimism. Donnelly’s non-fiction ceded no field to the experts. His Atlantis: The Antediluvian World led to scientific speculation and many fantasy novels. Despite his numerous defeats, many of his ideas eventually came to fruition, creating an impressive legacy.
Patrick Coleman has been the Acquisition Librarian at the Minnesota Historical Society for the last three decades. In that curatorial position he has been responsible for adding approximately 100,000 volumes to the library, making it the premier place for scholarship on all Minnesota topics. He is especially proud of the MHS library’s growth in the previously neglected areas of Minnesota fiction, poetry, fine press, and artist’s books. Coleman writes and lectures on topics related to Minnesota’s culture and history. He served as the President of the Library of Congress’s Minnesota Center for the Book, presided over the Minnesota Book Awards, is on the boards of Coffee House Press and the Minnesota Center for Book Arts, and received the Kay Sexton Award in 2009 for his contributions to Minnesota’s community of the book. Currently, he serves as an Executive Leadership Fellow at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Integrative Leadership. His avocational interest include Irish literature (collecting one of few complete sets of the Cuala Press, run by the sisters of W. B. Yeats,) wilderness canoeing, cross-country skiing, and backpacking.

Philosophy Study Group
2019-03-13 19:00 - 21:00 | Curran’s Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in Minneapolis
We are going to dip our toe into Martin Heidegger’s seminal work, Being and Time. First published in 1927, Being and Time is considered one of the most important philosophy books of the 20th century. This book is neither short nor easy, so we will read and discuss the introduction to see how far we want to delve into it.

Board Meeting
2019-02-27 16:00 - 17:30, 2018-11-28 19:00 - 21:00, 2018-10-24 16:00 - 17:30 | Highland Park Library, 1974 Ford Pkwy, St Paul, MN 55116
MISF Members welcome!

The Power of Landscape Art
2019-02-23 10:00 - 11:30 | Washburn Library, 5244 Lyndale Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55419
Minnesota Public Radio frequently mentions the power of classical music. Bob Brusic will adapt this theme and talk about The Power of Landscape Art. He will discuss the various ways in which the genre of landscape painting has been used to communicate ideas and evoke emotions. The talk will be illustrated.
Brusic has been a docent at MIA for ten years. Previously he was the pastor at Luther Seminary. He has degrees from Dartmouth and Harvard and is a longtime member of MISF.

History Study Group
2019-02-21 19:00 - 21:00 | Curran’s Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in Minneapolis
We will conclude the book 1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus (2006) by Charles C. Mann. This has been a really great book. I can think of one-thousand-four-hundred-and-ninety-one reasons you should read it and then come and share your views. I will be glad to recount them all on the 21st.

Philosophy Study Group, Session 2
2019-02-20 19:00 - 21:00 | Curran’s Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in Minneapolis
The MISF Philosophy Study Group will once again meet in two sessions. Session 1 will be on Monday, February 18, and session 2 will be Wednesday, February 20. Both will discuss Part IV, the last section of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values by Robert Pirsig. Pirsig, a Minneapolis native, wrote this surprise bestseller in 1974, which has so far sold more than five million copies.
It has become a classic and an important touchpoint for many, while others regard him as a pseudo-philosopher in the same class as Ayn Rand and Carlos Castaneda. Here’s your chance to toss in your opinion. (Tossing note: opinions only.)

Philosophy Study Group, Session 1
2019-02-18 19:00 - 21:00 | Curran’s Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in Minneapolis

Philosophy Study Group, Session 2
2019-02-06 19:00 - 21:00 | Curran’s Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in Minneapolis
The MISF Philosophy Study Group scheduled for Wednesday, January 30, has been rescheduled for Wednesday, February 6. It will be at 7:00 pm at Curran’s Restaurant in Minneapolis. We will be discussing Part III of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values by Robert Pirsig. No matter how you feel about the book, this meeting is something that you should value highly.

Philosophy Study Group, Session 1
2019-01-28 19:00 | Curran’s Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in Minneapolis
The next MISF Philosophy Study Group meeting will be in two sessions. Session 1 will be on Monday, January 28, and session 2 will be Wednesday, January 30. Both will be at 7:00 pm at Curran’s Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in Minneapolis, and both will cover the same ground: Part III of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values by Robert Pirsig. You can come to either one or to both.
Persig is now getting into the heart of his arguments about quality. Want to see quality in action? Then come and experience the amazingly clever and insightful ripostes of our members as they skillfully wield their intellectual bludgeons on each other.

The Romansh in Minnesota
2019-01-26 10:00 - 11:30 | Washburn Library, 5244 Lyndale Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55419
Among the mid-19th century waves of immigrants from northern Europe to the U.S, and Minnesota, the Romansh people from Switzerland were a small but influential group, Often counted with Swiss immigrants as a whole, or with German, French, or Italian immigrants, their story in Minnesota, though carefully saved in family histories, has not been well known publicly.
Barbara Sommer, with support through a Gale Library Fellowship from the Minnesota Historical Society, has researched and written a short history of the move of Romansh people from the canton Graubünden to Stillwater, Le Center, St. Paul and other areas of Romansh settlement in Minnesota.This program will cover information gathered by Sommer about Minnesota’s Romansh immigrants and their families, including the story of her great-great grandmother.
Barbara is a 4th generation Minnesotan, a public historian with a specialty in oral history, and a published author. She became interested in her Romansh heritage when told by a family member many years ago to remember “We are Roman” – a statement often made by people of Romansh background. Interested in learning more about what this meant, in 2017 she applied for a Gale Library Fellowship from the Minnesota Historical Society. With this support, she researched and began to document Minnesota’s little known Romansh story. The results of her work are available on MNopedia (http://www.mnopedia.org/group/romansh-minnesota).

History Study Group
2019-01-16 19:00 - 21:00 | Curran’s Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in Minneapolis
Our new book is 1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus (2006) by Charles C. Mann. This book can be had for around $15 in paperback and $14 as an ebook. For the 16th we will read the first five chapters. The author uses recent research to upset many of the assumptions that people have had about Native Americans before the arrival of European explorers.
You will not be upset, however, by reading and discussing this book with the literate, intelligent, witty, cosmopolitan, friendly, gracious, and good-looking folks who show up at our meetings. And you could be one of them by just coming.

Board Meeting
2019-01-16 16:00 - 17:30 | Highland Park Library, 1974 Ford Pkwy, St Paul, MN 55116

Philosophy Study Group
2019-01-07 19:00 - 21:00 | Curran’s Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in Minneapolis
We will start reading one of the most influential books written by a native of Minneapolis, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values (1974), by Robert Pirsig. This book may already be in your library or, if not, it can be had for less than $8 (the 25thanniversary paperback edition of 2006), or for $8 as an ebook. For January 7th we’ll read Parts I and II.
This is an ambitious assignment: about a chapter a day. But the chapters are short and the book is basically a philosophical novel. Do the best you can and we’ll adjust next time if necessary. Please note that attendees are expected to supply their own tools. And be sure to wear clothes you won’t mind getting dirty… just kidding. Really, all you have to do is bring your motorcycle.

History Study Group
2018-12-19 19:00 - 21:00 | Curran’s Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in Minneapolis
We will conclude our book Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann. This will be an opportunity to forget the busyness of the holidays with all its commercialism, family scheduling, meal planning, and figuring out what to give to whom; and spend some time talking about murder, corruption, and our abuse of Native Americans.

Philosophy Study Group (session 2)
2018-12-13 19:00 - 21:00 | Curran’s Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in Minneapolis
We are turning to the topic of philosophy of science with an examination of a book considered a classic in this field: The Logic of Scientific Discovery by Karl Popper. First published in Germany in 1934, Popper rewrote it for the English edition in 1959. He later added chapters on quantum mechanics and corroboration as well as more appendices. We will cover Part I for this meeting. The price of this book new is all over the place, but it is generally available in paperback for around $17. As an ebook, it is for sale in epub format on Google books for $16, but is $26 for Kindle (or rent it for $8 for a month). It can be found for less – but not a lot – as a used book. Note, however, that not all editions contain the extra material. The best deal, easily, is on archive.org: free. Another great deal: We don’t charge anything to come to our meetings, unless you include reading the book…which you will surely do.

Philosophy Study Group
2018-12-10 19:00 - 21:00 | Curran’s Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in Minneapolis
We are going to discuss Plato’s dialogue Phaedrus for this meeting. If you don’t already have a copy of this dialogue, it is readily available online. Project Gutenburg (http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1636) has it in several different ebook-type formats, but if you prefer plain text or PDF, you can go to http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/phaedrus.html.
There are also summaries and outlines available, such as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaedrus_(dialogue) andhttp://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/Phaedrus-outline.html. Commentaries on the dialogue are so numerous that you have probably been deleting them from your inbox. If you don’t have time to read the entire dialogue, reading a summary is acceptable. Feeling guilty about doing so is also acceptable.

Philosophy Study Group
2018-11-26 19:00 - 21:00 | Curran’s Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in Minneapolis
We will finish our book, Ethics in the Real World: 82 Brief Essays on Things that Matter, by Peter Singer. The sections we haven’t read yet are Sex and Gender; Doing Good; Science and Technology; and Living, Playing, Working. If any of these interest you, be sure to join us.

History Study Group
2018-11-21 19:00 - 21:00 | Curran’s Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in Minneapolis
Our next book is Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI (2017) by David Grann. It was a finalist for the National Book Awards and was named book of the year by several organizations. The New York Times called it “disturbing and riveting.” It is available in paperback for around $14 and as an ebook for about $12. We will read through the first thirteen chapters for the next meeting. Be sure and drop by on the 21st. We will be much less disturbing but just as riveting.

(***Program Changed***) Beauty Spots: The deeper story behind Midwestern small town parks
2018-11-17 10:00 - 11:30 | Washburn Library, 5244 Lyndale Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55419
This talk will explore how, after the Civil War, many Minnesota towns created picturesque parks that gave a town distinctive character — a central square, a riverbank recreation area or a picturesque streamside retreat complete with rustic wooden bridges. Far away from larger cities, Minnesota’s small towns staked a claim to settlement with remarkable works of landscape architecture and design. But their founders never fully understood the native cultures that came before them — people with a different sense of beauty and promise in the land.
Frank Edgerton Martin, MSLA, is a consulting writer for architecture and design firms and a historic landscape preservation planner. He often works with architects and landscape architects in historic landscape preservation projects. He is a contributing writer to the Star Tribune “Streetscapes” series, which runs each Saturday.

Philosophy Study Group
2018-10-29 19:00 - 21:00 | Curran’s Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in Minneapolis
We will continue reading Ethics in the Real World: 82 Brief Essays on Things that Matter by Peter Singer. This time we will cover the sections on Animals, Politics, and Global Governance. The discussion will be conducted under guidelines laid down by the United Nations Committee on Reasonably Adequate Verbal Exchanges (RAVE) as interpreted by the discussion moderator. It should be a blast.

The Theatrical Experience
2018-10-27 11:00 - 11:30 | Washburn Library, 5244 Lyndale Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55419
Distinguished Guthrie Theater actor Nathanial Fuller will lead an interactive dialogue about his experience as a performing artist as it relates to the experience of the audience. Theater is the shared energy between the production and the audience. The audience becomes part of the art. Nat will talk about what actors as artists are aiming for, and how the audience can participate to heighten the experience.
Nathaniel Fuller has been a professional Actor in the Twin Cities since 1976. In addition to his work in many of the local theaters, he has acted with the Guthrie Theater in each of the past thirty seasons, where he has appeared in over ninety productions. Among his favorite roles are King Lear in King Lear, Nat Miller in Ah! Wilderness, and Otto in The Magic Fire. He has toured throughout the Nation in Guthrie productions of Candida, K, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Molly Sweeney and Ah! Wilderness. He is currently rehearsing for another of his favorite roles, Ebenezer Scrooge in the Guthrie’s 2018 production of A Christmas Carol.

History Study Group
2018-10-17 19:00 - 21:00 | Curran’s Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in Minneapolis
We are going to finish reading 1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West by Roger Crowley. While we don’t expect a war that could be called holy, we do expect a discussion that will be wholly engaging and that will encompass much of significance that was happening at the time.
Concerning the nominations of books for the group to read: there are still six slots open. The deadline is September 30. There IS something rather holy about that.

Philosophy Study Group
2018-10-10 19:00 - 21:00 | Curran’s Restaurant, 42nd and Nicollet in Minneapolis
We are reading the book Ethics in the Real World: 82 Brief Essays on Things that Matter by Peter Singer. This is the sort of book you can jump around in, so that’s what we’re going to do. For the tenth we’ll read the following sections: Beyond the Ethic of the Sanctity of Life, Bioethics and Public Health, and Happiness. At least one good thing about discussing a book on ethics is that everyone is more likely to be well-behaved
