My Speaking Schedule for 2009-2010

Book Review Lecture Series "The Power and Scope of Intuition," at the Women's Exchange on Friday afternoons. $15 includes with wine and cheese; details at www.womens-exchange.org

September 13, 2009
Cutting-edge work in neuroscience has recently provided remarkable evidence for what used to be called "women's intuition." Marco Iacoboni, Mirroring People: The New Science of How We Connect with Others.

October 30, 2009
Evolutionary biologists and neuroscientists agree that our innate, intuitive capacity to relate to how others feel is fundamental to human evolutionary success and to the development of sophisticated moral systems. Frans deWaal, Primates and Philosophers: How Morality Evolves.

November 13, 2009
Intuition plays a remarkably substantial role in sophisticated rationality and complex decision-making. Guy Claxton, Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind: Why Intelligence Increases When You Think Less and Sharon Begley, Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves.

Sermon "Neuroscience and Morality, Part 2" Lake Shore Unitarian Society, 10:30 a.m. November 22, 2009, in Winnetka. Details at www.lsunitarians.org . Remarkable new studies of how the brain can change offer a powerful critique of despairing cynicism about humanity. It is possible to grow toward greater compassion, responsibility, happiness, and serenity than any of us have achieved to this point. We are not stuck with who we have always been: through intention and attention, the brain can rewire itself in astounding ways. I will be exploring the moral and spiritual implications of this new research.

Adult Ed Series on talking to kids in gay-inclusive ways about what sexual fidelity is and why it still matters, based on my book For Fidelity: How Intimacy and Commitment Enrich Our Lives. 11 am in parish hall, 1111 N. Wells, Chicago; January 10, 17, 24, 31. Details (including where to find free parking) at www.lasallestreetchurch.org For something about this book, see www.CatherineMWallace.com. Sunday worship is 9-10:30; the pastor (who is dynamite) will be preaching about sexual ethics. This is my own congregation--a progressive, diverse, post-denominational, activist little place. The beautiful old church is on LaSalle Blvd, not Wells.

Lectures to Writers on Writing at Off Campus Writers Workshop in Winnetka, 9:30-12 on March 4 and March 11, details at www.occ.bizland.com. Our skills with wordcraft are pure gift. And they are a way of making money. How do we handle that duality? There's a lot at stake--perhaps more than we ordinarily reality. Sources will be Lewis Hyde, The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World and my book on consumerism, compassion, and altruism, Selling Ourselves Short: Why We Struggle to Earn a Living and Have a Life. This is part of a years-long series I've been doing for OCWW on aspects of writing and spirituality.

I'll be updating this list from time to time. Hope to see you there! I can promise that in any of these places you will meet friendly and interesting people--quirky, thoughtful types who ask terrific questions.

fall 2009 workshop is full

My fall workshop is now closed. If you would like to be wait-listed for January, please email me with your phone number. You can do that through the contact page on my author website, www.catherinemwallace.com, or you can post a comment anywhere on this blog. That comment will be sent to my personal email by the blogger folks, and of course I won't publish your message on this site! But I do always need to talk to people who are interested in my group, so that we can both be reasonably confident that it's a good fit all the way around.
Cheers,
Cate