Charles Coe, poet and teacher, will discuss wordsmiths throughout American history who have often challenged the political and social norms of their times.

An African American citizen who as a child experienced segregation and racial injustice in his hometown of Indianapolis, Coe has long had a personal interest in the subject of racial justice.

Nora Fiffer has made a career of engaging audiences through her work as a writer, director, producer, and actor in theatre and cinema. Firelight Theatre Workshop, which she co-founded in Peterborough NH in 2017 and for which she continues to serve as co-artistic director, is known for immersive productions in which the audience is often amid the action. The staging quite literally makes room for the audience.

Although the American musical is often thought of as escapist entertainment, it has dealt with serious social issues. In fact, at key moments in history, the musical has been in the forefront of the national conversation about race, politics, and sexuality.

Jonah Wheeler, now 22 years old, was barely out of high school when he was first elected to the New Hampshire state legislature representing the Peterborough area. He is going to tell us his story to demystify the process of getting elected. His grassroots approach involved talking friend to friend, neighbor to neighbor. People listened to him. And he won the election. Running at the state or local level doesn’t require big money, Wheeler says. You could do it yourself!

Dr. Annie Brewster, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, will discuss her work using storytelling as a therapeutic tool. As the founder and executive director of the nonprofit Health Story Collaborative, her work focuses on creating forums for storytelling to help individuals and communities navigate illness, trauma, and loss. The Collaborative was born of her personal experience as both a practicing doctor with a strong desire to make the healthcare system better and as a patient, diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2001.

Shilpa Jindia, a writer and attorney with a background in law, media, and human rights, will discuss how the controversy about protests of the Gaza war on university campuses in the United States obscures a larger war on academic freedom and freedom of speech. She believes that student politics and protest are a proud tradition on university campuses in America, dating back to the 1960s, and are a vital part of social movements fighting for justice and equality.

In her talk, Christian McEwen, a three-time MacDowell Fellow, is a freelance writer, workshop leader, and cultural activist. She addresses the question, “What might it mean to listen to the past?” The first sound recording was made fewer than 200 years ago. But for centuries before that, it was possible to encounter previous generations through their music and songs, catching – in the arc of our own voices – the distant echo of those who’d sung them first, or tracking the words of our ancestors through letters or journals or fragments of poetry.

The ancient behavioral practice of yoga is becoming increasingly popular as a strategy to promote and maintain health, wellness and physical fitness. Practitioners of yoga experience improvements in physical flexibility, self-efficacy, respiratory function, stress tolerance, emotional control, mind-body awareness and mindfulness -- outcomes that currently are not readily available within the repertoire of modern medicine.

Everyone is born to sing. Communities thrive when they sing together, and all of us feel better when we sing in community. Allison Aldrich Smith founded Animaterra Women’s Chorus in 1997 in Keene, NH, and it quickly grew to 65 sisters in song, a community of friends who believe singing can change the world.

After relentless pressure from his wife and kids, Peter Zheutlin reluctantly agreed to get a family dog. When his wife suggested “a rescue dog,” he pictured a St. Bernard with a whisky barrel under its chin. But once they welcomed Albie, a yellow Lab, into their home, Zheutlin fell in love, developing a deep spiritual connection.