Log In


Reset Password
Arts and Entertainment

Life, death to be lecture subjects

Series to kick off Jan. 29 with Roland Halpern
Halpern

Quality of life issues for human beings nearing death, for birds in a threatened ecosystem and for domestic animals after a natural disaster are some of the topics in the winter-spring lineup of free lectures at Fort Lewis College.

Local experts and two speakers from Colorado organizations headquartered in Denver are on the roster for the 10 free town-grown presentations, which will take place Thursday evenings through April.

On Jan. 29, the FLC Life-long Learning series will resume at 7 p.m. in 130 Noble Hall. Regional campaign and outreach manager for Compassion & Choices Roland Halpern will travel from Denver to Durango to explore the right-to-die movement.

“Advances in medicine and technology have lengthened our lives,” Halpern said, “but there is a growing concern over the quantity of one’s life versus its quality. Just because we can prolong life almost indefinitely, should we?”

Halpern will examine how death-with-dignity laws work, including one to be introduced in the Colorado Legislature this winter and which the Denver Post has already endorsed. He will also discuss similar laws in other states and consider to what degree Americans value autonomy and self determination.

Halpern holds degrees from Hiram College and Regis University and has had a long career in crisis resolution and death-with-dignity issues. In 2005, when Compassion in Dying merged with Compassion & Choices, he moved from Hawaii to Denver to continue his work with the nation’s oldest and largest organization seeking to improve choice at the end of life.

As outreach manager, Halpern speaks widely on end-of-life issues and options.

Each Life-long Learning presentation is designed to last about one hour with 30 minutes for questions or discussion.

The winter series includes:

Jan. 29: To Every Season: Death with Dignity, by Roland Halpern.

Feb. 5: Papua New Guinea: People, Birds, and Conservation, by ornithologist Donald Bruning.

Feb. 12: Care of Domestic Animals in the Event of a Natural Disaster, by local animal champion John Porter and Director of La Plata County Department of Emergency Management, Butch Knowlton.

Feb. 19: Climb Your Own Everest: Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone, by mountaineer Jon Kedrowski

Feb. 26: Humans and the Extinction Crisis: Population, Sustainability, and the 21st Century, by Taralynn Reynolds, Center for Biological Diversity.

March 5: The Pueblo Indian Occupation of the Mesa Verde Region: by Mark Varien from the Village Ecodynamics Project.

March 12: Rock Music and American Generations, Part II. What happened to Rock Music? by retired Los Angeles broadcaster and radio executive Bob Griffith.

March 19: The Great Celestial Cover Up, by Gary Rottman, retired professor and former associate director of Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

April 2: Health, Helping, and Healing: What’s Nature Got to Do with It? by Lee Frazer, assistant professor in the FLC Department of Exercise Science.

April 9: Racial Bias in the Criminal Justice System, by Nathan Woodliff-Stanley, executive director of the ACLU of Colorado.

jreynolds@durangoherald.com. Judith Reynolds is a Durango writer, art historian and arts journalist.

If you go

The spring 2015 Life-Long Lecture Series will kick off at 7 p.m. Jan. 29 with “To Every Season: Death with Dignity,” featuring Roland Halpern. All lectures will take place in Noble Hall Room 130, and the series is free.



Reader Comments