the 27th Annual Casper College Humanities Festival and Demorest ...

Non-Profi t Organization
U.S. Postage
Paid
Permit No. 112
Casper, WY 82601
125 College Drive
Casper, WY 82601
Change Service Requested
CASPER COLLEGE 27TH ANNUAL
HUMANITIES FESTIVAL AND DEMOREST LECTURE
FEBRUARY 21 - 24, 2012
Welcome to the 27th Annual Casper College
Humanities Festival and Demorest Lecture
This year’s lecture topic is “Sin.” To encourage dialogue about human
experiences, both local and national scholars in the humanities will present
the history, multiple definitions, motivations, and societal implications
associated with the notion of sin.
For more information: www.caspercollege.edu/events/humanities
Casper College
Humanities Festival and Demorest Lecture Agenda
February 21 - 24, 2011
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday lectures are free and open to all. Thursday’s dinner and
Friday’s theatre production require purchased tickets.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21
Natrona County Public Library, Crawford Room
6:30 p.m. The Scarlet Letter book group discussion
led by Tammy Frankland, Ph.D. Casper College
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22
Fort Caspar Museum
6:30 p.m. Welcome by Walter Nolte, Ph.D., Casper College President,
Valerie Innella, Ph.D., Casper College Humanities Festival Committee Chair
and Rick Young, Director, Fort Caspar Museum
The Crimes of Casper, A History of Sin in the City
Charlotte Babcock, Author
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23
Gertrude Krampert Theater Complex, Casper College unless otherwise noted
8:45 a.m. Welcome to the Casper College Humanities Festival and Demorest Lecture
Dave Cherry, Ph.D., Casper College
9 a.m. Before There Was Sin
Barbara Mueller, Ph.D., Casper College
10 a.m. Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights: Sin, Sex, and Sickness
Laurinda Dixon, Ph.D., Syracuse University
11 a.m. Bad Actors: Late Ancient Christianity and the Sinfulness of the Theatre
William Conte, Ph.D., Casper College
2 p.m. Stealing Ganymede
Joseph Campbell, Ph.D., Casper College
4-5:30 p.m. Casper College Visual Arts Department Faculty Exhibition Reception
Goodstein Gallery, Goodstein Visual Arts Center
5-6 p.m. Diversity Dinner “Sinful Delights”
Roberts Commons Ballroom
6 p.m. Carnival Music
Casper College Percussion Ensemble led by Neeraj Mehta, Casper College
7 p.m. Defining Sin in Western Religions
Keynote Demorest Lecture, a roundtable moderated by Paul Flesher, Ph.D.,
University of Wyoming with Rabbi Sam Wiseman, Father August,
and Bishop Kendall Jacob
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24
Gertrude Krampert Theatre Complex, Casper College
9 a.m. Dumped
Cindy Grafton, Author; reading by Emily Brantz, Casper College student
10 a.m. The Art of Sloth
Chad Hanson, Ph.D. Casper College
11 a.m. Sinful Strings
Equinox Trio
2-4 p.m. Sins Against the Nazi State:
The Ten Commandments as Rewritten by Adolf Hitler
Lance Jones, Casper College
4 p.m. Panel Discussion
Moderated by Holly Wendt, Ph.D., Casper College
7:30 p.m. The Scarlet Letter Theatre Production
Talk back after the performance with Director Douglas Garland
For more information: www.caspercollege.edu/events/humanities

SIN Speakers and Presentation Details...
Keynote Demorest Lecture – Defining Sin in Western Religions
A roundtable moderated by Paul Flesher, Ph.D.
University of Wyoming
Roundtable Speakers: Rabbi Sam Wiseman, Temple Beth-El; Father
August, St. Patrick’s Catholic Church; Bishop Kendall Jacob, The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Evil actions, sometimes called “sins,” take place for a variety of reasons,
from planned intent to harm others to accidental activities to “victimless”
crimes. People “know” what they think a sin is, but rarely take time to reflect
on how they know. They do not consider the role of society or the role of individuals, whether
powerful or disenfranchised; at other times, they do not understand how attitudes can change
and shift the classification of an act from sinful to not sinful. This humanities festival roundtable
will provide participants a look at different views on the question of wickedness and sin, and
provide them with a moment to step back and reflect on how this category works in their lives
and in the social worlds in which they participate. The roundtable also allows religious leaders
from a few major Western religions to probe the concept of sin in their respective theologies.
Tammy Frankland, Ph.D.
Casper College Dean,
School of Health Science
The Scarlet Letter
Book Group Discussion
Frankland will engage
participants with a
thoughtful discussion of
this work that was part
of her own scholarly
graduate studies.
The library will begin
distributing books to interested readers in
January.
Charlotte Babcock
Author
The Crimes of Casper, a History
of Sin in the City
Babcock, a Casper
historian and author,
will share her research
on “Casper’s wild,
sometimes lurid, frontier
days: the hanging, the
beautiful and bad dance
hall queen, the adulteries, murders, crimes
of passion, a lynching, and bar brawls,” from
her book, Shot Down: Capital Crimes of
Casper (High Plains Press, 2000).
Barbara Mueller, Ph.D.
Casper College
Before There Was Sin
This presentation
will provide a historic
background for sin by
demonstrating how
ancient Egyptian, Greek,
and Roman societies
maintained order and encouraged
personal moral responsibility before
the concept of sin was formalized by modern
Judeo-Christian religion. The attitudes among
the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans toward
what we call sin and guilt today were very
complex requiring varying degrees of
personal responsibility. There seemed to
be a persistent conviction, however, that
public misfortunes were due to human
transgressions, and the Gods must be
placated to set things right again.
Laurinda Dixon, Ph.D.
Syracuse University
Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights:
Sin, Sex, and Sickness
Dixon will review
what sin meant to this
Northern European
painter who incorporated
heavy symbolism into his
rich paintings that deal
with medieval notions
of the creation, human experience, and
consequences of inappropriate living.
William Conte, Ph.D.
Casper College
Bad Actors: Late Ancient Christianity
and the Sinfulness of the Theater
Conte will present a
history of “the anti-theatrical
prejudice” focused
on the censorship of
actors by ecclesiastical
authorities in the
Orthodox Church
centuries ago, theater as a perceived sinful
practice, and why actors were shunned due to
these beliefs until early modern history.
Joseph Campbell, Ph.D.
Casper College
Stealing Ganymede
Campbell will read from
Stealing Ganymede, his
novel published by Rebel
Satori Press (2009) that
delves into the practice of
lust and greed in the act
of human trafficking.
Casper College Percussion Ensemble
led by Neeraj Mehta, Casper College
Carnival Music
This presentation
will provide a brief
history and evolution of
the Carnival in Cuba,
followed by an in-depth
look at how the songs
and percussion rhythms
work together to create the heartbeat of the
carnival procession in Cuba. Throughout
the presentation and demonstration, social
and cultural issues related to the Afro-Cuban
experience will be raised. The final portion of
the presentation will be a performance of the
Cuban Carnival rhythm Comparsa, assisted
by students of the Casper College Music
Department.
Cindy Grafton
Author
Dumped
Grafton’s biographical
work on the sins of her
past and the pursuit of
light after that darkness
will be read by Casper
College Theater Department
student Emily
Brantz. Grafton will then answer questions
from the audience regarding the literary work.
Chad Hanson, Ph.D.
Casper College
The Art of Sloth
Hanson will read from
his work Fly Fishing:
The Art of Sloth. This
presentation will combine
a sociological reflection
on the Protestant work
ethic with the American
approach to leisure.
Equinox Trio
Casper College
Sinful Strings
Equinox Trio will perform
a selection of music that
compares and contrasts
sin in the realm of
instrumental music
through both sinful and
liturgical pieces. The
concept of music as sinful through various
eras will also be reviewed.
Lance Jones
Casper College
Sins Against the Nazi State:
The Ten Commandments as Rewritten
by Adolf Hitler
Jones’s presentation
of sin as viewed by the
Nazis and committed by
the Nazis in the name
of their secular vicious
god, Adolf Hitler, will be a
unique look at a horrible
facet of history for most of the audience. The
Holocaust is the ultimate sin committed by
man against man, at least to date, but is rarely
approached as such. Not being a theologian
but a historian, Jones will approach the topic
from this angle as a new line of thought.
Thus the focus of this session will be
looking at National Socialism as a “religion”
as contrasted with Christianity. Hitler was no
supporter of Christianity. His intent was that
the swastika and the sword replace the
Christian cross and that the teachings of a
gentle man from Galilee be perverted into a
doctrine of racial purity and conquest. Even
the image of the Jewish Christ the Redeemer
was reworked into the Aryan Christ the
Avenger. It is alleged by some that militant
atheists are, in fact, highly religious people as
the strength they put into the denial of God
affirms His existence in their minds. Similarly,
totalitarian movements that seek to replace
religion with the state inadvertently create
a religion out of the state. Where there is
religion there must be sin.
Holly Wendt, Ph.D.
Casper College
Panel Discussion Moderator
Wendt will moderate a
panel discussion with
all scholars participating
in the event. She will
draw upon various
viewpoints and
presentations from
the event and allow for audience and
speaker dialogue.
Three “Don’t Miss” Festival Events...
Faculty Exhibition Reception for “Sin”
Thursday, February 23, 4-5:30 p.m.
Casper College Visual Arts Department
Faculty Exhibition, Goodstein Gallery,
Goodstein Visual Arts Center
Diversity Dinner “Sinful Delights”
Thursday, February 23, 5-6 p.m.
Roberts Commons Ballroom
You may purchase dinner tickets at the door for $11
per person.
“The Scarlet Letter” Theatre Production
Friday, February 24, 7:30 p.m.
Purchased tickets are needed for “The Scarlet Letter”
theatre production.
The 27th Annual Casper College Humanities
Festival and Demorest Lecture is sponsored by...
Casper College
Wyoming Humanities Council
University of Wyoming/Casper College Center
Casper College Department of Theatre and Dance
Eric Unruh, Ph.D., Dean of the Casper College School
of Fine Arts and Humanities
ARTCORE
Casper College School of Health Science
Casper College Department of English
Sodexo
Casper College Honors Program
Casper College Gender Studies Department
Other considerations were provided by...
Natrona County Public Library
Fort Caspar Museum
Goodstein Foundation Library at Casper College
Casper College Office of Public Relations
Humanities Festival Committee
Richard Burk Barbara Mueller
Joseph Campbell Rebecca Nolte
William Conte Terry Rasmussen
Jennifer Cowell Garth Shanklin
Cindy Grafton Carmen Springer-Davis
Lisa Icenogle Holly Turner
Valerie Innella, Chair Georgia Wheatley
Evelyn Miller Jane Young
Sue Moore
Special Thanks to . . .
Casper College Bookstore
Casper College Office
of Public Relations
Casper Journal
Casper Star-Tribune
Lynnde Colling
Todd Cotton
Larry Burger
Lee Demorest
Carolyn Deuel
Janet de Vries
Justin Dreslinski
Arlis Handeland
Teri Hedgpeth
Anne Holman
Nancy Hunt
KTWO TV
KCWY TV
Sean McIntosh
Karen Moenkhaus
Mike McLemore
Linda Nix
Walter and Rebecca Nolte
Kathleen Nottingham
Zach Thatcher
Todd Wykert
Town Square Media