In a modern twist on old-fashioned salons, the Up for Discussion lecture series, hosted by the Vermont Book Shop and taking place at Town Hall Theater, aims to create a space for open community conversation this spring. The series, originally an idea hatched by Vermont Book Shop owner Becky Dayton, will feature speakers from both the college and broader community to cover literature, art, film and contemporary issues.
“I wanted to do something locally that gave other people the opportunity to do what I wanted, which was to hear from experts, specifically Middlebury College faculty, but I didn’t just want to be talked to,” Dayton told The Campus. “I wanted to learn something and then have the opportunity to discuss it with like-minded people.”
Dayton added that despite living in Middlebury for three decades, she feels a disconnect between the community and the college.
“I think that that’s a function of college students and faculty being focused on their scholarship, but there has been an opportunity lacking to bring those things together at a casual level where people can cross some of those boundaries, meet one another, socialize, and learn something from one another,” she said.
Dayton decided to partner with the Town Hall Theater to help foster some of this desired connection. Lisa Mitchell, executive director of the Town Hall Theater, secured a grant from Vermont Humanities that not only makes the Up for Discussion series possible, but also free to attend. Attendees can register through the Vermont Book Shop or Town Hall Theater websites, and no preparation is required, but material further exploring each topic will be provided.
There are currently four lectures on the schedule. The first, which took place on March 5, focused on the concept of “awe,” and was led by Associate Professor of History of Art and Architecture Katy Smith Abbot and Assistant Professor of Music Matthew Taylor. Smith Abbot is currently in the process of curating “Invitation to Awe,” an exhibit by Middlebury students and faculty, including Taylor, which will open at the Middlebury College Museum of Art in September 2024.
“I just think it's a really interesting subject, what happens when you experience something awesome,” Dayton said on the concept of awe.
The next lecture in the series, “The Art of Translation,” will take place on Tuesday, May 7 at 5:30 p.m. and will feature Michael Katz, professor emeritus of Russian and east European studies and Chris Keathly, Walter J. Cerf distinguished Professor of Film and Media Culture. The two will discuss the adaptation of film to literature, as well as the translation of film into different languages.
“Youth Sports in Society,” the third scheduled lecture, will be held on Tuesday, June 11 at 5:30 p.m. The lecture portion of the evening will be delivered by Erin Quinn, the director of athletics at the college and Alex Wolff, a sports writer and founder of the Vermont Frost Heaves basketball team.
Wolff said that youth sports span across many areas in the community, and he tries to be explicit about some of the problems in youth sports, while also elucidating their benefits.
“If you wander over to Middlebury High School in the fall, you will see in the stands the entire community, because on the field are kids from all of the towns that feed into the school district. I try to be clear eyed about the problematic parts of youth sports,” Wolff said. “At the same time, there is this very powerful role that community based sports can have in civic cohesion and getting people across economic lines interacting with one another.”
When Dayton reached out to Wolff to participate, he was drawn to the roundtable format.
“In the salons of old, there was an attempt by the host to kind of assemble a group that would create friction in a good way, where people could rub up against each other and ideas could be generated,” Wolff said. “Becky gave me the bandwidth to think of a topic and then try to assemble a couple of other people I could play off of, simply setting the table for discussion.”
The fourth lecture, titled “Living Deliberately: What Thoreau Means Today,” will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 8. Julian W. Abernethy Professor of Literature Dan Brayton and Associate Professor of Environmental Studies Rebecca Gould will speak at the event.
Although there are only four talks scheduled as of now, Dayton hopes to continue Up For Discussion in the future as she works to expand the selection of topics into previously uncovered areas.
