Spring Speaker series
Susan Sackett - Humanism in Star Trek
Sunday, April 26, 6:00 pm
Susan Sackett was personal executive assistant to Gene Roddenberry, creator of the television legend Star Trek, for over 17 years until his death in October 1991. She also served as his production assistant on the first Star Trek film and worked closely with him on the next five Star Trek movies. In addition, she served as Production Associate during the first five seasons of the television series, Star Trek: The Next Generation. Susan and her writing partner, Fred Bronson, sold several stories and a teleplay to that series, including the popular episodes "Ménage à Troi" and "The Game."
She wrote three books about Star Trek: Letters to Star Trek, Star Trek Speaks! (with co-authors Fred and Stan Goldstein) and The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, with co-author Gene Roddenberry.
Another book, Star Trek: The First 25 Years, co-authored with Gene Roddenberry, was not published but became the basis of the 1994 book, Star Trek: Where No One Has Gone Before: A History in Pictures, by J. M. Dillard. Susan's Star Trek memoir, Inside Trek, was published in 2002.
It was Gene Roddenberry who introduced Susan to humanism. She has been president of the Humanist Society of Greater Phoenix since 2000. The chapter received "Chapter of the Year" from the American Humanist Association for 2001.
For more information go to: http://www.insidetrek.com/ .
Nica Lalli - Nothing: Something to Believe In
Sunday, May 17, 6:00 pm
Nica Lalli is the author of a memoir, Nothing: Something to Believe In (Prometheus Books, March 2007), which traces her personal history of non-belief. Raised as a "nothing" and always feeling like an outsider, the book follows Nica through her childhood and into her adult life as she comes to embrace the idea of being nothing rather than fear it.
Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to New Yorker parents in 1964, Nica spent much of her childhood in Chicago. In 1977 her family moved to New York where she attended the LaGuardia High School of Music and the Arts (the Fame school). She studied art at Vassar College and earned a Masters in Fine Art from American University in Washington, DC. in 1992.
She has been a working artist for many years and has shown her work in New York, Los Angeles, Ohio, and Vermont. In 1993, Nica won the prestigious Vassar College Rose Prize for the Creative Arts for her painting. Since 1998, she has been a freelance educator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art working in the Outreach, Access and Family Programs.
Her latest project is a book about parenting and religion, more specifically about secular parenting. The working title is What We Believe: Parenting in a Multi-Faith World. She is looking for parents to share their stories about raising kids outside of religion (or along side it, or with more than one religion...) so if you have a story to share you can contact her at nica.lalli@verizon.net .
Visit her website at http://www.nicalalli.com/ .
PARKING • ADMISSION • FOOD
PARKING
Rathskeller Restaurant: lot on the east side of the building or along the street.
ADMISSION
Admission charge for each program:
$10.00 per person
Friends of the Center: $5 (show FOC card)
- additional donations appreciated
Students: free (show valid student ID)
Donations in any amount to help cover expenses for these programs and to make future programs possible would be greatly appreciated.
Books by all three authors are on sale at CFI Indiana and will be on sale at the programs.
FOOD
Food service will begin at 5:00 pm for all three programs with the program starting at 6:00 pm. Food and beverage bars available. Order from the Rathskeller menu. Go to http://www.rathskeller.com/ for menu and prices.
ADDITIONAL PROGRAMS
JAMES (“the Amazing”) RANDI will be speaking on Monday, April 6, 7:30 pm, Atherton Union Reilly Room, Butler University, 4600 Sunset Ave., Indianapolis. He will be discussing examples of pseudo-scientific claims and will show how ordinary people and even many scientists have been fooled. This program is a part of the J. James Woods Lectures in Sciences and Mathematics. Free and open to the public. For more information go to: www.butler.edu/woodslectures .
On the Sunday evening, April 5, James Randi will be stopping by Center for Inquiry Indiana for a meet and greet reception. This reception will be free and open to the public. Contact CFI Indiana for the exact time of the reception. http://www.randi.org/
