Spring 2016 COURSES CALENDAR PAGE STUDY TOURS LEGEND A Winter Day on the Island 4 Galveston: Our Fragile, Beautiful Coast 5 Contemporary and Ancient Maya in the Yucatan 5 DAYTIME The Houston Seminar was founded in 1977 for the purpose of stimulating A World of Displaced People 6 PAGE learning and cultural awareness. Each spring and fall the nonprofit group offers lectures and study tours focused on varied topics that Delicious Yucatan 8 may include art, architecture, literature, music, theater, history, politics, philosophy, psychology, religion, the natural environment, and current EVENING 3 trends and events. Primarily Murray 7 Springtime on Buffalo Bayou 9 Siegfried: Wagner's Warrior Hero Finds Love 10 Houston Blues and Women, Past and Present BOARD OF DIRECTORS 13 Gail Adler Josephine John Evelyn Thomas Nolen Diane Cannon Sis Johnson Mary Flood Nugent Jan Cato Letty Knapp Judy Nyquist CALENDAR Cullen Geiselman Carolyn Landen Hinda Simon JANUARY FEBRUARY Lynn Herbert Marley Lott Leigh Smith Molly Hubbard Nancy Manderson Emily Todd S M T W Th F S S M T W Th F S 1 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 ADVISORY BOARD 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Nancy Crow Allen Emilie S. Kilgore Jacqueline Andre Schmeal 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 28 29 Bettie Cartwright Kristi Shipnes Martin Dorothea Shaddock Kathleen Huggins Clarke Gaye V. McCullough Barbara Sklar Sandy Godfrey Ann Norwood Josephine Powell Smith MARCH APRIL Kate Hawk Beverly (“Sam”) Ramirez Ginger Teague Nancy F. Haywood Louisa Stude Sarofim Gay Tigner S M T W Th F S S M T W Th F S Pamela Howard Anne Schlumberger Lucie Wray Todd 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Brochure designed by Bach6 Marketing & Branding, LLC 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 www.Bach6.com | 512.402.2515 The Houston Seminar website is designed and maintained by 27 28 29 30 31 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Bach6 Marketing & Branding, LLC. Cover: NOAA, illustration ©Jack Javech STUDY TOURS: A Galveston Double Header A Winter Day on the Island Galveston: Our Fragile, Beautiful Coast SATURDAY, JANUARY 23. Limited enrollment. THURSDAY, APRIL 14. Limited enrollment. Architect Ed Eubanks will lead this tour of Galveston Island. This day in Galveston will focus on the coastal environment through a variety He will tell us about the families who were instrumental in of experiences. Bob Stokes, president of the Galveston Bay Foundation (GBF), the early development of Galveston and those who have will accompany us and tell us about measures being applied to protect the carried on their early cultural ambitions. bay and its estuaries. We will tour the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s sea turtle facility in the former officers’ barracks of historic Our day trip via motor coach will include visits to the newly- Fort Crockett. We will visit Artist Boat’s Coastal Heritage Preserve, where restored Galveston Arts Center and recently-completed fragile ecosystems are restored by planting indigenous vegetation, and guided Bryan Museum. We will stop at the Harbor House Theater to kayak trips teach children and adults about the land and sea. see Grant Mitchell’s documentary “The Great Storm” about the 1900 hurricane that changed Galveston forever, and tour We will then pause for lunch before heading to a privately-owned working John Staub’s 1928 William C. Helmbrecht house. We will have cattle ranch. The property, ranch land since the late 19th century and twice lunch at the exclusive Galveston Artillery Club. restored following hurricane damage, has extensive gardens for migratory birds, butterflies and hummingbirds, as well as wonderfully-restored historic Longtime Houston and Galveston architect Ed Eubanks houses. While there we will have refreshments. has been active in such Galveston groups as the President’s Cabinet and Development Board at the University of Texas Bring a hat, wear comfortable shoes and carry your best binoculars. (We will Medical Branch, the Development Board of the Galveston definitely be looking at birds!) Historical Foundation, Knights of Momus, Grand 1894 Opera House, Galveston Arts Center, and the Ronald McDonald Founded in 1987, the mission of the GBF is to preserve, protect, and enhance House at UTMB. the natural resources of the Galveston Bay estuarine system and its tributaries. Bob Stokes has been president of GBF since 2004. STUDY TOUR: Contemporary and Ancient Maya in the Yucatan FEBRUARY 27 TO MARCH 5, 2016. Four-night option and seven-night option. At time of printing, this tour has nearly filled. Please visit our web site, houstonseminar.org, for further details on the trip and registration, or call 713-666-9000. Courses for Spring 2016 Primarily Murray THREE WEDNESDAYS, JANUARY 20, FEBRUARY 17, AND MARCH 9, 6:30-8:00 P.M. The Museum of Printing History, 1324 West Clay near Waugh Drive, 77019 Despite efforts to standardize and simplify them, the 2016 Presidential PAGE primaries are getting interesting! New GOP rules, designed to avoid divisive primary battles through early “winner 7 take all” contests, may actually benefit an A World of Displaced People insurgent candidate over establishment TWO TUESDAYS, JANUARY 5 AND JANUARY 12, 12:00–1:30 P.M. standard–bearers. Under pressure from The Station Museum, 1502 Alabama at LaBranch, 77004 the DNC, Texas Democrats will conduct their first stand-alone primary election, as delegates were chosen by caucus before In this two-part series we will learn about how the worldwide refugee crisis will the institution of the unique hybrid affect politics, economics, and our lives. process known as “the Texas Two-Step” in 1976. JANUARY 5—The Global Refugee Crisis: Responding to Forced Migration in Europe and the United States. Dr. Idean Salehyan, associate professor of Primary season kicks off with the Iowa political science at the University of Texas in Dallas, will talk about civil wars caucuses on February 1, and the Texas and migration issues around the world. As the son of émigrés who left Iran primaries yield the richest trove of when the Shah’s government fell, he understands the problems close up. His delegates among the dozen states holding book Rebels Without Borders: Transnational Insurgencies in World Politics was contests on Super Tuesday, March 1. Dr. published by Cornell University Press in 2009. Dr. Salehyan has a Ph.D. from Richard Murray will guide Seminar the University of California, San Diego. subscribers through the primary process with an informed perspective and JANUARY 12—Welcoming the Stranger: U.S. Asylum, Refugee Law and Policy. plausible predictions. Elissa Steglich, J.D., is a clinical professor at the University of Texas School of Law and Policy, where she teaches immigration law and practice to students Dr. Richard Murray is the Bob Lanier through hands-on learning. Professor Steglich previously served as legal Professor of Urban Public Policy and services director for the American Friends Service Committee’s Immigrant director of surveying for the Center Rights Program, where she represented unaccompanied children, victims for Public Policy at the University of of human trafficking and low-income immigrants facing deportation. She Houston, where an endowed scholarship graduated from Haverford College and the University of Texas School of Law. in his name was established in 2008. Delicious Yucatan TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 12:00 PM. Caracol Restaurant, 2200 Post Oak Blvd. near Westheimer, 77056. Limited enrollment. The Yucatan peninsula has engendered one of the world’s most fascinating cuisines. Sharing the pantry and culinary processes of its Mexican neighbors, PAGE yet isolated from the great Poblano, Oaxacan and Pacific coast cookery, Yucatecan cuisine was developed on a solid foundation of native Maya dishes Courtesy of Buffalo Bayou Partnership, photo ©Katya Horner made from fresh, local ingredients like sour orange and achiote, and influenced 8 by the flavors of far-flung cities in Spain, Portugal, the Caribbean, Africa and Springtime on Buffalo Bayou Arabia. MONDAY, MARCH 7, 6:30-8:00 P.M. The Dunlavy, 3422 Allen Parkway at Taft, 77019. Valet parking will be provided. In this culinary nod to The Seminar’s spring study tour, award-winning chef Hugo Ortega and his staff will create a special tasting menu featuring the flavors and bright colors of the Yucatan. Caracol’s chef du cuisine will give a lively and informative explanation of the various dishes served. We will discover what In a reprise of our extremely popular fall course, we will explore the amazing Executive Chef Hugo passionately believes: “Mexican coastal cuisine is a source transformation of 160 acres along Buffalo Bayou between Shepherd and of endless study and enjoyment” at what he calls his “beach getaway.” Sabine Streets with the planners and designers who created it. Our outing will begin with light bites and refreshments at The Dunlavy, the park’s new special events space, and an introduction, overview, and current updates, followed by a springtime stroll with our guides Anne Olson, Guy Hagstette, and Scott McCready. Photo ©Nick de la Torre Over more than 20 years, BBP president Anne Olson and the BBP board have raised and leveraged over $150 million in private and public funds for the waterway’s redevelopment. During her tenure Ms. Olson has developed and implemented a comprehensive bayou-enhancement program which includes land acquisition, trail and park development, public programming, and permanent and temporary public art along Buffalo Bayou from Shepherd Drive to the Port of Houston Turning Basin.