“Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope.”  – Martin Luther King, Jr. -1929-1968 – Social Activist-Minister

 

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” – Nelson Mandela – 1918-2013 – President of South Africa 1994-1999-Humanitarian-Social Activist

 

“Strong women don’t have ‘attitudes’, we have standards.” – Marilyn Monroe-1926-1962- American Actress – Model – Singer

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS
(notes provided by the unconventional and unorthodox Paul Conforti)

This meeting was conducted via Zoom.

Bucket Money for January is for Food For Kids

While we are in Zoom hiatus, please send your bucket money donations to Lou:

Lou Simpson

1408 S Hillcrest St

Urbana IL 61801-5002

 

Service Opportunity 2: (tentative) Books 2 Prisoners, Tuesday February X (date is a mystery to be soon revealed) at the Urbana Independent Media Center.

 

PROGRAM

Tom Ulen introduced educator, historian, author and next-door neighbor, Professor Kristin Hoganson. (She is married to a previous CU Sunrise presenter, Professor Charles Gammie whose topic was the origins of the moon.)

Professor Hoganson’s presentation centered on her 2019 book The Heartland: An American History.

Professor Hoganson (Kristin) teaches in the department of history at UIUC. Her classes include courses on historical methods and writing, the United States in world context, U.S. foreign relations, the United States in an age of empire, local history in global context, food history, and U.S. nation building through 1877.

In 1999, Kristin moved to Champaign County. Listening to a weather report on WILL she was fascinated that the local report included weather updates for Brazil, Argentina and China. All with a focus on agricultural commodity trading on the global stage. She began to dig into what “the Midwest” was all about and how what the rest of the country/world calls “fly over country” is actually front and center when it comes to international agri-business.

From draining the swampy land early settlers to this area found, starting livestock herds, and growing crops, the rest of the country and then the world started to take notice of the productivity of “the Heartland”. Indeed, London-based venture capitalists of the 1800’s invested in the creation of the Illinois Central Railroad to bring grain and livestock to Chicago and New Orleans and onto Great Britain and the world.

Far from back-water, The Heartland, is an American history of this local land, its people, and how it all came together to play an important role in the identity of this country.

 

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  Jan 20th Jan 27th Feb 3rd Feb 10th
Introductions Diana Dummitt Ata Durukan Mary Hodson Bob La Charite
Reflection Eddie Bridges Paul Conforti Diana Dummitt Ata Durukan
Greeters Diana Dummitt Ata Durukan Mary Hodson Bob La Charite
Ed Perry Joe Rank Rod Roberts Tod Satterthwaite
Notetaker Perry Hodson Conforti Perry

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UPCOMING SCHEDULE (with program committee member responsible listed in parentheses)

 

January 20th – Jeremy Greer will discuss his epic 212 mile hike of the John Muir Trail (Ondine)

January 27th – Brant Houston, Professor and Knight Chair in Investigative & Enterprise Reporting, UIUC (Bob)

February 3rd – TBD 

February 10th – TBD (Cary)

February 17th – TBD

February 24th – Tom Teper will discuss the new home for special collections at the undergraduate library at UIUC (Joe)

March 3rd – TBD 

March 10th – Ginger Mills and Marlin Livingston, Cunningham Children’s Home, will discuss housing refugee children from the border (Mary)

March 17th – AG Michael Harris will discuss visiting Rotary Clubs around the world (Mary)

March 24th – TBD (Tom)

March 31st – TBD

April 7th – TBD

April 14th – TBD (Bob)

April 21st – TBD (Cary)

April 28th – Jordan Dziura, the Executive Director at Illini Media Co., will discuss the Daily Illini’s 110th anniversary, upcoming reunion for IMC alums, and the future of college media (Charlie)

May 5th – TBD

May 12th – TBD (Joe)