Located in Chicago, The New Intellectual Forum is one of the longest-running Objectivist salons in the country. Since 1988, it has been meeting monthly in members homes, with parties twice a year, including a Solstice Celebration this Saturday, December 4.
Get togethers consist of a presentation, usually by one of the members, on topics ranging as far as the members’ imaginations go: from the nature of number to extreme sports, from examining heroes to international law. The discussion assumes a basic agreement with Ayn Rand’s ideas, and reason, civility and good fellowship rule the roost.
Festivities usually begin at a local restaurant where members meet for dinner at 6 PM, usually on the third Saturday of the month. At 8 PM, all retire to a member’s home (most often of late, John and Marsha Enright’s on the South Side), where snacks are shared and drinks are provided. Between 8 and 8:30, participants assemble for the presentation, which may be anywhere from fifteen minutes to one hour, followed by lively discussion.
A break for food and drink usualy follows, and members enjoy continuing conversation, often into the wee hours.
New members and out-of-towners are welcome! Contact Marsha Enright for more information.
Continue reading “New Intellectual Forum's Solstice Celebration”
Category: Events
Marilyn Monroe at the Brooklyn Museum
If you share Ayn Rand’s admiration for Marilyn Monroe, you may enjoy this reflective article about a showing of Monroe photographs at the Brooklyn Museum in New York. It begins:
Daryl F. Zanuck, the movie mogul who controlled 20th Century Fox, once observed, ?I didn?t discover Marilyn Monroe. Nobody did. Marilyn Monroe discovered herself.?
She was indeed a self-creation. It is difficult to see the later Marilyn in the photos of the fresh-faced Norma Jeane Baker on the beach (photographer unknown, 1945) taken when she was only 19. By the end of her career ? in the photos of ?The Last Sitting? (1962) taken by Bert Stern ? she looks tired, perhaps drugged and obviously in pain. Just look at the eyes.
They were taken only two days before she died.
After her death, Marilyn became a tabula rasa for thinkers like Ayn Rand, who wrote, ?Anyone who has resented the good for being the good and given voice to it is the murderer of Marilyn Monroe.?
See the full article for more information.
Ayn Rand's Night of January 16th in New York City
Forwarded to us by the play’s director:
Watchdog Theatre Company Presents
Night of January 16th
by Ayn Rand
A Stage Reading
directed by Christopher Conant
November 16th & 17th @ 8:00 PM
78th St. Theater Lab
236 W. 78th St.
Tickets: $10. Call 917-407-9313 to reserve.
Equity Approved Showcase
www.watchdogtheatre.org
Ayn Rand’s gripping courtroom melodrama puts the audience in the jury box, as Karen Andre stands trial for the murder of her lover. Before this trial is over, tears will be shed, tempers will flare, and each revelation will be more shocking than the last. At the end, Ms. Andre will go free or die, and only the audience can decide her fate.
Richard Salsman on the Secret of Reagan's Success
Forwarded by Atlasphere member Robert Begley:
The Secret of Reagan’s Success
Lecture by Richard M. Salsman
Was U.S. President Ronald Reagan (1981-1989) a hero? Why did he once describe himself as an ?admirer of Ayn Rand?? Were Reagan?s ?supply-side? policies pro-capitalist? Did those policies truly revive the U.S. economy in the 1980s or instead deliver a ?false prosperity?? What was Reagan?s worst economic policy error – and why did he make it? Why were Objectivst-inspired economists Reagan?s worst domestic enemies? Did Reagan?s foreign policy end the Cold War and dissolve the Soviet Union – or were those outcomes ?inevitable,? regardless of Reagan? What was Reagan?s worst foreign policy mistake – and why did he make it?
In this lecture Mr. Salsman provides answers to these intriguing questions.
DetailsWhen: Thursday, November 11 at 7:00pmWhere: 243 East 34th St. 2nd Floor (Off corner of 2nd Ave.)Admission: $20 regular admission, $15 for studentsRSVP: info@nyheroes.org
Richard M. Salsman is president and chief market strategist of InterMarket Forecasting, which provides quantitative research and forecasts of stocks, bonds, and currencies to guide the asset allocation decisions of institutional investment managers, mutual funds, and pension plans. He is the author of numerous books and articles on economics, banking, and forecasting from a free-market perspective, including Breaking the Banks: Central Banking Problems and Free Banking Solutions (American Institute for Economic Research, 1990) and Gold and Liberty (American Institute for Economic Research, 1995). Mr. Salsman’s work has appeared in The Intellectual Activist, the New York Times, Investor’s Business Daily, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and Barron’s.
Ayn Rand Institute's Andrew Bernstein in So Cal
The Ayn Rand Institute has announced two coming events in Southern California featuring writer and lecturer Andrew Bernstein.
The first is a debate at USC on Friday, Nov. 12, 2004 titled “Capitalism: Is There a Moral Alternative?” Dr. Bernstein will be debating Dr. Peter Robinson at 6:30 in SGM-123 (Seeley G. Mudd).
The second event is a lecture by Dr. Bernstein in Irvine on Thursday, November 11, 2004:
Global Capitalism
The opponents of global capitalism overlook the key points in the debate. The capitalistic nations of Europe, North America and Asia are by far the wealthiest societies of history?with per capita incomes in the range of at least $20,000-$30,000 annually. But capitalism is not merely the system of prosperity; fundamentally, it is the system of individual rights and freedom.
Capitalistic nations protect their citizens? freedom of speech, of the press and of intellectual expression. Similarly, their citizens possess economic freedom, including the right to own property, to start their own businesses and to seek profit. By stark contrast, the pre-capitalist systems of history, and the non-capitalist systems of the present, are politically oppressive and economically destitute; their citizens have few or no rights and, consequently, little or no wealth.
What deeper principles make possible the freedom and wealth enjoyed under capitalism?and lacking in its political antipodes? How has capitalism already greatly enhanced the lives of millions of human beings in formerly impoverished Third World countries? What can the men of the free world do to further promote the spread of capitalism into the repressed nations of the globe? These are the questions Dr. Andrew Bernstein addresses in his talk.
THIS EVENT IS FREE TO THE PUBLIC
LOCATION and DETAILS:
Hyatt Regency Irvine
17900 Jamboree Road
Irvine, California 92614
Bookstore opens: 6:30 PM
Presentation: 7:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Q & A: 8:30 PM to 9:30 PM
Reception: follows until 10 PM
For more information about the event, call 949-222-6550
Camp Indecon 2005
Camp Indecon has just announced plans for its 2005 summer camp. From the announcement:
Camp Indecon will return to Woodland Park, Colorado for the week of July 16 through July 23, 2005. Set high in the Rocky Mountains surrounded by Pike National Forest, the Templed Hills Retreat Center has proven to be an ideal location for lodging, dining, class time, and recreation.
As in 2004, we have reserved the same two lodges, one for children ages 9 through 12 and the other for ages 13 through 17. For more information, please visit our website.
One parent from last year’s camp provides the following endorsement:
After camp this year, Dan Lind wrote, ?My 12 year old daughter just returned from her second year at Indecon, and my endorsement is based on her experience.?
?Over the years I’ve talked with my daughter, Susan, about the empirical basis of knowledge, about logic, about the Law of Identity (‘Sweetie, we might not know everything about something but we DO know that we CAN know and understand things about it’)…At Indecon they actually talk about this stuff.?
Mr. Lind continues, ?Indecon is much more than just instruction. It has the activities and fun and social events one would expect from a summer camp. The principles of independence, confidence and thinking for yourself run through all the activities, and create an integrated, cohesive experience.?
?Susan’s mother died in late 2002. By the time she went to Indecon the first time in the summer of 2003, she had acquired her sea legs, had begun to master the art of navigating her life without the existence of her mom. Indecon tied in nicely as an ‘away from home’ adjunct to the support network she has in our community, and I noticed a deepened sparkle and confidence in her that year.?
?Susan has made friends at Indecon from all over the country, one from Canada who has been at Indecon both years she was there. It has the activities and fun and social events one would expect from a summer camp. I’m hoping these will be a circle of special friends that she’ll retain into her adult life.?
?The value Indecon offers is a great deal more than the cost. I recommend it.?
For additional background information about Camp Indecon, see our interview with Camp Indecon founder Hannelore Bugby.
If you are interested in sending your child to Camp Indecon, contributing to the camp’s scholarship fund, or becoming a counselor, visit the Camp Indecon web site for further details and contact information.
'Night of January 16th' in San Dimas
Ayn Rand’s play “The Night of January 16th” will be showing in San Dimas, California (near San Bernardino) for the next few weekends. It looks like a very enjoyable production, too:
Most people today try to dodge jury duty. But in 1935, people were more than willing to do the job.
That was especially evident when “Night of January 16” hit Broadway the same year. The drama/comedy/murder mystery allowed audience members, even women, to submit their names on paper to possibly be selected to sit on the jury during the performance. The jury decided whether the defendant, Karen Andre, did or did not murder her incredibly wealthy but very mean boss/lover. So, the show has two possible endings.
The same is true for the Alliance for Performing Arts and The Place Theatre production of the play, which debuts Friday night in the fellowship hall of San Dimas Community Church.
“The real nice thing about this is we get it over in one night,” director Melinda Brasch said, jokingly referring to how long court cases take these days.
The theater company has transformed the fellowship hall into a 1930s courtroom. Guests are encouraged to wear 1930s apparel (they’ll get $2 off their ticket prices if they do). Witnesses will be seated among audience members. The jury will be sequestered during intermission and fed snacks.
“Night of January 16,” written by Ayn Rand, takes the audience on a journey through the fateful night in question. It is built in such a way that the evidence of the defendant’s guilt or innocence is evenly balanced and the decision will have to be based on the juror’s own feelings toward the case, Brasch said.
The actors in this performance have to be very careful to do their jobs convincingly. If one of the them has to cry, it better look real, or else the jury could decide that person was faking it. Each night could bring about a different verdict.
“If someone happens to screw up, it changes what the jury thinks,” said Randy Merritt, 46, of La Verne, who plays defense attorney Stevens. Keep reading…
When: 8 Fridays and Saturdays; 3 p.m Sundays through Oct. 31
Where: The Place Theatre, San Dimas Community Church fellowship hall, 216 San Dimas Ave., San Dimas
Tickets: $15 general, $12 seniors/students
Information: (909) 596-8811
Additional information about this performance and the group sponsoring it are available on the San Bernadino Sun web site.
Lessons from the Iraq War: Reconciling Liberty and Security
The Objectivist Center and The Cato Institute are co-sponsoring a one day symposium focused on the Iraq War. With opening comments from Cato’s Executive Vice President David Boaz and The Objectivist Center’s Executive Director David Kelley, the day continues with panel discussions on “Reflections on the Iraq War,” “Has the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq Advanced America’s Interests in the Middle East?,” and “The Principles Guiding Military Intervention”. The conference also features Ted Galen Carpenter, Nick Gillespie, Ronald Bailey, Brink Lindsey, Charles Pena, Ed Hudgins, and many others.
The “Lessons from the Iraq War: Reconciling Liberty and Security” symposium is free of charge and will be held October 22, 2004, 8:30-5:00pm at the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C. For more information and registration information, visit The Objectivist Center or the Cato Institute.
Columbus Day Without Guit
The Ayn Rand Institute has announced the following upcoming public event:
Columbus Day Without Guilt
In years past, the anniversary of Christopher Columbus?s 1492 voyage was an occasion to honor the explorer?s courage and to rejoice in the spread of Western civilization across a savage wilderness. More recently, however, advocates of multiculturalism have damned Columbus and the New World?s settlers as brutal conquerors who destroyed a pristine Indian paradise. Columbus Day, we are told, should be spent in atonement and repentance?or be discarded in favor of ?Indigenous Peoples Day.?
Unjustified guilt-mongering about Columbus Day improperly blackens the reputation of Western civilization while obscuring the harsh realities of life in the Stone Age, argues attorney Thomas A. Bowden, senior writer for the Ayn Rand Institute and author of The Enemies of Christopher Columbus.
In this myth-shattering lecture, Mr. Bowden re-examines such controversial topics as the morality of displacing the American Indian tribes (did they really own the land?), the fallacies in the treaty/reservation system (was government too generous?), and the infamous ?Trail of Tears? (what caused so many Cherokee deaths on the way west?).
Rejecting as false all notions of racial superiority and collective guilt, Mr. Bowden instead affirms the objective superiority of civilization to savagery. On Columbus Day, he maintains, individuals of all ancestries should guiltlessly celebrate Western civilization?s core values?reason, science, technology, progress, capitalism, individual rights, law and the selfish pursuit of individual happiness here on earth?at a time when those values are under terrorist assault by America?s declared enemies.
THIS EVENT IS FREE TO THE PUBLIC
LOCATION and DETAILS:
Hyatt Regency Irvine
17900 Jamboree Road
Irvine, California 92614
Monday, October 11, 2004
Bookstore opens: 6:30 PM
Presentation: 7:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Q & A: 8:30 PM to 9:30 PM
Reception: follows until 10 PM
For more information:
Phone: 949-222-6550
E-mail: events@aynrand.org
UPDATE: Bowden has also published an op-ed on the topic:
Columbus Day: The Cure for 9/11
On October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus discovered the New World, opening a sea route to vast uncharted territories that awaited the spread of Western civilization. Centuries later, the ensuing cultural migration culminated in the birth and explosive growth of the greatest nation in history: the United States of America.
On September 11, 2001, that nation came under attack by Islamic totalitarians who hate the distinctive values of Western civilization that America so proudly embraces–reason, science, individual rights, and capitalism–and who targeted the World Trade Center and the Pentagon as symbols of those values.
These attacks could not be dismissed as aberrant acts by a lone band of zealots, not after it became clear how widely that same festering hatred of Western values is felt in the Muslim world, where Osama bin Laden is embraced as a folk hero, terrorists continue to receive help from sympathetic governments, and the United States is perpetually damned as the Great Satan.
America has responded since Sept. 11 with various military and political maneuvers. Notably missing, however, has been any clear principled statement of what we are defending, and why we deserve to win.
Without moral certainty, America cannot prevail.
See the full article for additional commentary on this subject.
Summer Seminar Request for Proposals
The Objectivist Center is soliciting proposals for lectures, courses, workshops, artistic performances, exhibits and other program elements for the 16th annual Summer Seminar. The Seminar is planned for early July 2005 at a location to be determined in the Eastern or Midwestern USA.
The Request for Proposal, recently posted to the TOC website, outlines the guidelines for submitting a proposal.