Author: Quaker House

Week Eight: from Emily Provance, Friend in Residence If there’s ever a time to delve into brain and soul, the time is now.  This week at Chautauqua, the institutional theme was “The Human Brain: Our Greatest Mystery.”  The interfaith lectures centered on the human soul.  We talked about the extraordinary power of the human brain, […]

from Emily Provance, Friend in Residence During worship Sunday morning, I watched a carpenter ant crawling across the cover of a hymnal.  It started in one corner, made its way to the next, then turned ninety degrees rather than crawl right off the top.  At the next corner, it turned again, then again at the […]

by Emily Provance, Friend in Residence“I was trying to make a vase,” the woman said, “but the clay wanted to be a creampitcher. It had a lip around it, no matter what I did. So now I have a cream pitcher. Andit’s beautiful.” The next night, well after dark, I found myself in the ceramics […]

from Emily Provance, Friend in Residence In the weekly Quaker House brown bag discussion, our speaker, Callid Keefe-Perry, talked about the similarities between Quaker worship and improvisational comedy theory.  In one of those moments of perfect synchronicity, Callid’s internet connection dropped out repeatedly, leaving the rest of us to slide in and out of improvisational […]

from Emily Provance, Friend in Residence In front of Quaker House, there are two trees.  One has green leaves, and the other has red.  I don’t know enough about horticulture to explain this.  There’s also a squirrel—I call her Friend Squirrel—who delights in leaping between them.  Sometimes, when I’m working on the balcony, she comes […]

Week Three: Trust from Emily Provance, Friend in Residence The official theme of the week was “Trust, Society, and Democracy.”  I heard a lot about society and a lot about democracy but very, very little about trust.  The only explicit addressing of this topic was the week’s first speaker, Richard Edelman.  He established the Edelman […]

from Emily Provance, Friend in Residence Space architecture.  Science Fiction.  Digital religion.  Genetic engineering.  Every speaker we heard this week agreed on one thing about the future: whatever it’ll be, we’re all in it together, and that is not necessarily a good thing. The week’s theme was set up surprisingly well by Ted Chiang, who […]

Week One: Integrity from Emily Provance, Friend in Residence Certain types of communication can cross a lot of boundaries.  For example, The Glenn Miller Orchestra, which came to Chautauqua Thursday night.  Everybody turned out, from infants to elderly, and everybody danced in their seats.  In fact, one woman, who looked about eighty-five, refused to sit […]

(Emily is our Season long Friend in Residence — and is seeing Chautauqua for the first time. Here are some of her impressions (Ed.) from Emily Provance, Friend in Residence One thing I notice right away is the amount of space that drivers leave for pedestrians.  I’m used to places where a car will swish […]

Reflections of a Fifth Generation Chautauquan (and Quaker House Committee member) Submitted by Shari Castle I am a 5th generation Chautauquan.  There are so many reasons why I come back year after year.  But you may never have been here.  So Why Should You Come? The Programming You get the arts, education, religion, and recreation […]