I wrote this missive prior to our 36^th annual Presidents’ Weekend retreat at Asilomar, which this year was held 17-20 February. If you haven’t ever before attended one of these retreats, you NEED to come! It is a learning experience like no other, and you’ll meet PBK-NCA members who have come for decades and always say they are taking home so many new ideas. If you couldn’t make the retreat this year, put it on your 2024 calendar as soon as you get one: it’ll be held 16-19 February 2024. 

During the year, PBK-NCA hosts visits to remarkable sites around our “neck of the woods,” sign-ups for which are available on our Website: www.pbknca.comand in our Newsletter (ably edited by Ray Hendess, my go-to person for historical information about the Association and all things Internet). Our First Vice-President for Programs, O’Neil Dillon (oneilsdillon@gmail.com) and his committee members (Judy Hardardt, James Richardson, Jean James, Becky Beach, Libby Tyler, Tina Hittenberger and Young Professionals Joy Wang and Whitney Roeder), plan most of the almost-monthly meet-ups that PBK-NCA offers throughout the year. Full event information, and means of credit card payment are available on our website https://pbknca.com/Events/. 

If you should have a yen to serve our Association on a committee, please let me know at mltg@aol.com. We can probably match a job to your interests and qualifications. There are also opportunities for one-off activities (at this time of year I’m thinking Audit Committee) and helping with tours/visits. 

I look forward to meeting you at one of our upcoming activities, and I thank you for your continued support of Phi Beta Kappa Northern California Association. 

With best regards, Mary Turner Gilliland, PBK-NCA President

PBKNCA Book Club

There is an ongoing virtual book club open to interested members.

Contact Program VP O'Neil Dillon at oneilsdillon@gmail.com

Currently, the Phi Beta Kappa Northern California Association suggests masking for indoor activities.

Note: The price of the events is for current NCA members; elapsed- or non-members will pay a surcharge. Full event information, and means of credit card payment, are available on our website https://pbknca.com/Events/.  If you want to register for an event but don’t have Internet access, please contact O’Neil, cell 510-207-8761.

If you won’t be able to make an event, contact O’Neil Dillon at oneilsdillon@gmail.com ASAP, or if it is the day of the event call him at 510-207-8761, as there may be others on the waiting list who will then be able to take your place.

No-shows do NOT receive a ref­­­und!

Truhlsen-Marmor Museum of the Eye

March 18, 2023, 10:00 AM @ 645 Beach St., San Francisco (Fisherman’s Wharf). Parking On-street, and right next door at the Hyde St. Parking Garage. Fee $20 ($10 goes to scholarships)

To register, we prefer you pay online via the black "REGISTER" button. But you may mail the coupon and a check by snail mail.  Vaccination, booster and mask required.  Go to https://pbknca.com/event-5038265

Private, docent-led tour of the Truhlsen-Marmor Museum of the Eye® March 18th @10AM.

Look through the pupil of an enormous eye, explore interactive displays and try on a virtual reality headset to see how new technology can impact medicine. Through high-tech exhibits and a renowned collection of ophthalmic artifacts, you’ll discover surprising facts about how your vision works and about the field of medicine devoted to protecting it.  

Through innovative exhibits, school tours, and free resource materials, the museum promotes eye health on a broad scale.

Visitors of all ages will enjoy the interactive displays and:

  Learn how VR is changing ophthalmology 

  Dive deeply into the historical collection

  See the evolution of eye care through the ages

  Learn about the latest innovations saving sight today

  Develop an interest in the study of medicine and ophthalmology    

The museum will be closed to the public during our tour.

Date:  Saturday March 18 @ 10 AM.

Address: 645 Beach St., San Francisco (Fisherman’s Wharf)

Parking, On street, and right next door at the Hyde St. Parking Garage

Directions by Car, Bus, Bike and Foot here

Cost: $20, PBKNCA members. $30, non-members. 

($10 from either goes to Scholarships)

Duration; 45-60 minutes

Minimum:  7, Maximum: 30

Website: https://www.aao.org/museum-of-the-eye

Mayo Family Winery:  Enjoy a wine tasting with us, Sunday, March 19, 2023. Fee YP members, $20; New Initiate members, free.

Calling all Young Professionals! We're hosting a wine tasting event, on March 19th in Glen Ellen, CA at Mayo Family Winery. Join us to taste some wonderful family produced Mayo Wine, while connecting with other PBKNCA Young Professionals in the area. 

Date: Sunday, March 19, 2023

Time: 12:00 pm start time

 

Mt. Burdell (Novato) Nature Walk Saturday, April 15, 11:00 AM – 1:00 or 2:00 p.m. Fee: $20 members, $30 non-members. Full amount goes to scholarships.

On the hike, we should see many wildflowers - among them blue-eyed grass, brodiaea, mallow, buttercups, cream cups, mules ears, poppies, and whatever else the experts among us can identify. Birders might sight lazuli buntings, lark sparrows, house wrens, red-tailed hawks, and turkey vultures. In addition to enjoying Mt. Burdell’s several different species of oaks, we will encounter “bouncy trees” and an acorn granary tree. Those interested in agriculture might meet cows who use the open space this time of year as pasture, but move out of our way with a bit of encouragement

History Cruise on the USS Potomac May 27, 2023, 10:30 AM, Fee $53

The USS Potomac was first commissioned "The Coast Guard Cutter Electra" on June 30, 1934.  She was subsequently re-commissioned "The USS Potomac" in 1936, after being chosen to become the Presidential Yacht, enjoyed by then president Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  As Roosevelt's "Floating White House," the Potomac is docked in Jack London Square.  The history tour will include the story of the ups and downs (literally) of the ship, how it was adapted to serve the needs of a physically handicapped President, and all the while we will be enjoying the very special views one can get only from the waters of the San Francisco Bay.

37^th Annual Asilomar Conference – February 16 – 19, 2024

Registration $150 members, $180 non-members. Plus Asilomar fees.

If the news of the day is getting you down, take heart – it’s once again time to reserve your weekend of learning, inspiration and fellowship on the magnificent Monterey coast!

Right now, Deirdre is working on the final details of this year's event. But she already has some ideas for next year!

To register, go to https://pbknca.com/event-5159419

“A faithful study of liberal arts humanizes character, and allows it not to be cruel.”  -- Ovid

If you have questions on this year’s program, please contact  dfrontczak@scu.edu. For registration or logistics matters, please contact Barry Haskell at bghaskell@comcast.net. Registration is $125, which goes mainly to scholarships. Cost will be similar to last year, about $550 per person, double occupancy, and includes all nine meals and parking. All registered participants will receive forms to reserve their Asilomar accommodations, including meals; please check your email. (Remember, to be part of the PBKNCA package, do not reserve directly with the facility.)  Make reservations at PBKNCA.COM or via the form on page eight.

Please join us once again for the annual Asilomar Conference, where we gather to learn, engage in discussions, and to listen to one another in new ways.  A preview of the 2023 event. More info is at PBKNCA.COM:

Deirdre Frontczak, Asilomar Chair

Friday, 7:30 p.m. Nico Orlandi, Ph.D, Philosophy and Feminist Studies, U.C. Santa Cruz The Concept of a Woman 

This talk explores a view that many of our ideas are akin to simple labels in thought. Our labels act as a sort of headline under whose umbrella a variety of information about that idea is catalogued  -- for example, the notion that women are adult human females, or that they tend to play a particular role in human reproduction. I suggest that the ideas we associate with the label do not, in fact, constitute that thing;  i.e., that it is not a conceptual truth that “women” are adult human females.  This insight has direct implications for current public debates on trans inclusion – or on other womanly roles -- since the concept of “woman” does not imply a certain reproductive nature. This position also allows us to make sense of “conceptual engineering” – an idea that we will explore in this talk.

Nico Orlandi is a philosopher of mind and cognitive science, whose work draws on research in cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and computer science. A central theme is understanding what kind of capacity perception is, and what kind of relationship it affords with the environment.  Current  projects concern Bayesian and predictive coding models of perception; and conceptual development, along with the significance of fMRI research for understanding cognition.  Dr. Orlandi completed undergraduate studies in Florence, a doctorate at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, andhas taught at both Rice University and Stanford. A first-generation college student, Dr. Orlandi has earned previous PBK Teaching Excellence awards.  

(*Note:  Orlandi's pronouns are "they / them." It was not a syntactical error.)

Saturday Morning, 9:30 a.m. Kerry Driscoll, Ph.D., Associate Editor of the Mark Twain Papers, U.C. Berkeley Mr. Clemens and the Saturday Morning Club of Hartford

This presentation tells the little-known story of Mark Twain’s involvement with a group of young local women between the ages of 16 and 20 established in 1876 to “Promote Culture and Social Intercourse.” He assisted in the club’s founding and eventually became—as one member fondly recalled—its “patron saint.” He addressed the group on at least fifteen occasions (significantly, always in the role of “Mr. Clemens” rather than his nom de plume) and persuaded other literary friends to do the same. The writer’s devotion to the Club is most tangibly expressed in the exquisite pins he commissioned from Tiffany Lamp Company in 1880 and presented as gifts  to its members. Dr. Driscoll will discuss Clemens’s role as confidant and mentor to these young women and explore the innovative methods he devised for cultivating their self-expression—offering a fascinating glimpse of the more serious side of our nation’s most celebrated humorist. 

Kerry Driscoll is an Associate Editor at the Mark Twain Papers and Project at U.C. Berkeley.

Prior to that, she was a long-time professor of American Literature at the University of Saint Joseph in Connecticut. Kerry is the author of Mark Twain among the Indians and Other Indigenous Peoples (UCalifornia Press, 2018), which received the Louis J. Budd Award for Outstanding Scholarship from the Mark Twain Circle of America. Her presentation, “Mr. Clemens and the Saturday Morning Club of Hartford” is an excerpt from her current book project. Dr. Driscoll is a contributing editor for the Mark Twain Annual and a trustee of the Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, CT.

Saturday Afternoon, 1:30 p.m. David B. Feldman, Ph.D., PBK, Psychology, Santa Clara University The Science of Hope  

More than three decades of research show that hopeful thinking is an essential ingredient in well-being and goal accomplishment. Numerous studies show that people with higher hope report lower anxiety and depression, and experience their lives as more meaningful and satisfying, than those with lower hope. Moreover, college students with higher hope achieve higher GPAs, lower drop-out rates, and accomplish their personal goals more often than those with lower hope. For the past 20 years, Dr. David Feldman’s research has helped clarify the meaning of hope and the mechanisms through which it appears to increase achievement and life satisfaction. In this talk, Dr. Feldman will offer a definition of hope, discuss why hope is important in a variety of life domains, and offer insights for kindling hope.

Dr. David B. Feldman is a professor of counseling psychology at Santa Clara University. Considered one of the nation’s foremost experts on this topic, his research and writings have addressed such topics as hope, meaning, and growth in the face of highly stressful circumstances. He has authored four books, including The Science and Application of Positive Psychology and Supersurvivors: The Surprising Link Between Suffering & Success. His work has been published in numerous scientific journals as well as featured in popular publications, including SELF, 'O': The Oprah Magazine, Time, and Harvard Business Review. Finally, he writes regularly for Psychology Today and hosts the program 'About Health' on KPFA Radio. For more information, please visit http://www.davidfeldmanphd.com. 

Saturday Evening, 7:30 p.m. Tom Greene, Ph.D. Astrophysics, NASA Ames Research Center The James Webb Space Telescope: NASA's Greatest Observatory and its Fantastic Science

The James Webb Space Telescope is the most complex and powerful astronomical space observatory ever built. It launched on Christmas Day in 2021 and has recently been commissioned in its final orbit in the Sun – Earth system. The large 6.5-m diameter JWST primary mirror and its infrared instruments will allow it to see some of the very first luminous objects that formed in the Universe shortly after the Big Bang. Other major science themes of JWST encompass studying the assembly of galaxies, the birth of stars and planetary systems, and planetary systems and the origins of life. JWST will be the premier astrophysics space observatory for NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), and scientists from all over the world will use it for 10-20 years or more. It employs several unique technologies, and the mission was in development for over 20 years. This talk will illustrate the mission's science goals and highlight some aspects of its design, technologies, and initial science results. 

Dr. Thomas Greene is an astrophysicist in the Space Science and Astrobiology Division at NASA's Ames Research Center. He conducts observational studies of exoplanets and young stars and develops astronomical technologies and instrumentation. Dr. Greene is a co-investigator on the NIRCam and MIRI science instruments of the James Webb Space Telescope and serves on the JWST Users Committee.  At NASA Ames he has served as the Director of the Center for Exoplanet Studies, Project Scientist of the SOFIA mission, and Chief of the Astrophysics Branch. Previously, he worked at Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center, and taught at the University of Hawaii. Dr. Greene received his Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Arizona and currently co-chairs the National Academy of Sciences’ Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics.

Sunday Morning, 10 a.m. R. Jay Wallace, Ph.D., PBK, Philosophy, U.C. Berkeley and PBK Visiting Scholar, 2021-22 Why Is Everyone So Angry? 

Dr. Wallace’s topic is the dominance of anger in our political culture and discourse, a phenomenon on which Nietzsche's Genealogy of Morals may shed some light. Nietzsche thought that large parts of aristocratic societies were consumed with “ressentiment,” a hostile attitude on the part of the dispossessed toward those who are structurally privileged. This negative emotional orientation eventually gives rise to a new scheme of moral values, which are adopted precisely because they enable the masses to make sense of their prior hostility and animus. So we have an original attitude of antagonism, and then a specific set of moral views become prevalent because of the way they render this hostile orientation intelligible to those who are subject to it. 

Something similar may be occurring in contemporary social processes. These are characterized by a tendency to forming negative group identities, whereby we come to understand who we are by defining ourselves in opposition to other groups. This leaves us with a hostile orientation toward the Other that doesn't really make sense, morally or intellectually. Under these circumstances, we tend to accept narratives of grievance, which attribute to The Other moral infractions that justify and render intelligible our opposition to them, and thereby satisfy an emotional need. But the process of accepting such narratives turns our antagonism into chronic anger, which is characteristically an attitude of emotional opposition to moral wrongs. 

Jay Wallace works in moral philosophy. His interests extend to all parts of the subject, and to such allied areas as political philosophy, philosophy of law, and philosophy of action. His research has focused on responsibility, moral psychology, normative ethics, and the theory of practical reason. Recently he has written on promising, resentment, hypocrisy, love, regret, and anger (among other topics). He was an undergraduate at Williams College, where he received the B.A. degree in 1979. He did his graduate work at the University of Oxford (B.Phil. 1983) and at Princeton University (Ph.D. 1988).  Wallace was a PBK Visiting Scholar for 2022.

Sunday Afternoon, 1: 30 p.m. Programming Note: At the start of this talk, we will take 15 minutes to hear from members of our Young Professionals Committee about mentoring opportunities for recent PBK graduates.

NCA YP has just launched our first-ever Mentorship Program!

This personal and professional development initiative offers mentorship for any and all members who would like to be a mentor or mentee. The goal of this program is to provide a structure to support meaningful relationships between mentors and mentees while creating opportunities for personal and professional growth. With flexibility in mind, the mentors and mentees are welcome to customize the program to meet individual and group needs.

Thank you for your interest in participating in our 2022 Mentorship Program! Please note that we are no longer accepting survey responses at this time. We will re-open our survey in 2023. Please stay tuned and follow us on social media for more updates and fun future events.  

Sunday Afternoon, 1: 30 p.m. Forest Rohwer, Ph.D., PBK, Microbial Ecologist, San Diego State University and  PBK Visiting Scholar, 2021-22 Viruses and the Health of Coral Reefs

Coral reefs have dominated tropical near-shore, marine environment for 100s of millions of years, so their rapid decline in recent times is distressing.  The main coral stressors are overfishing and warm water events associated with climate change.   In this talk, Dr. Rohwer will address the ways these stressors change virus-microbe-coral symbioses and cause coral disease and reef decline. He will then  discuss tools to remediate both the overfishing and climate change problems with the goal of restoring coral reefs.

Forest Rohwer is a Fellow of the American Academy for Advancement of Science and the American Academy of Microbiology, as well as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He led the development of viromics, which involves isolating and sequencing the RNA/DNA from all of the viruses in a sample. From this data, it is possible to determine what types of viruses are present and what functions they are encoding. Dr. Rohwer uses viromics to study ecosystems ranging from the human body to coral reefs and has shown that most genomic diversity on the planet is viral. Dr. Rohwer has published more than 200 peer- reviewed articles, has won numerous national and international awards, and is listed as one of the

World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds. He has also published two books: Coral Reefs in the Microbial Seas and Life in Our Phage World.

Sunday Evening, 7:30 p.m. Claire Waters, Ph.D., PBK, English and Classics, U.C. Davis, and PBKNCA Teaching Excellence awardee, 2022 Mothers of Invention 

What can we understand about a society by looking at the stories it found it necessary to tell? Late-antique and medieval Christian culture produced a surprising number of stories about powerful mothers who ventured forth to discover or uncover foundational elements of the faith: the Holy Cross, the feast days of the Virgin Mary, the rosary. These stories tend to have a strong apocryphal element -- both in the original sense of referring to things secret or hidden, and in its modern sense, indicating narratives of dubious authenticity. They were told as true, and yet could be molded to suit new situations and circumstances. 

This talk focuses on two examples: the “finding” of the Holy Cross by St. Helena, mother of the emperor Constantine, and the “finding” of the Virgin Mary’s psalter (a precursor to the rosary) performed jointly by Mary herself and one of her devotees. Such stories made women, particularly in their maternal role, central to the establishment and growth of the church in ways that both reflected on and extended historical practice. 

Claire Waters is a scholar of medieval religious literature and culture in English, French, and Latin, from saints’ lives and preaching to doctrinal handbooks and miracles of the Virgin Mary. She has a particular interest in the relationship between the audiences of sermons and religious writings, and the creators of those works and has published on such topics as how ideas about women and femininity helped to shape male preachers' view of their own role or how French works that transmit religious teaching, often in verse, present it as a dialogue between teacher and learner -- making the role of “student”, once reserved for the clergy, newly available to laymen and laywomen alike. She holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Northwestern, an M. Phil. in English from Cambridge University, and A.B. in History and Literature from Harvard University.

Monday Morning, 9:30 a.m. Kalyn Simon; M.A. International Studies, University of San Francisco; M.B.A. candidate at Santa Clara University California’s Water Reality

California’s landscape, like many places in the world, is shifting drastically. Climate change is forcing us to face a future that is projected to be much hotter and drier. California is home to some of the most beautiful and prosperous land which produces a majority of the fruit, nuts, and vegetables consumed in the United States. However, the harsh reality is that this produce as well as economic prosperity can only be sustained through access to water. 

Water supply in a future of the changing climate is concerning, but rather than focusing on climate change, we should be focusing on climate action. Rather than focusing on water scarcity, we should be focusing on building coalitions around water abundance through innovation. This presentation will highlight the intersection of climate, agriculture, water and innovation, with a deep dive into an often-controversial topic: desalination and the implications of tapping the ocean as a source of water to support the state and the world. 

Kalyn Simon is Director of Engagement at Natural Ocean Well Corporation in the San Francisco Bay Area. She holds M.A. and B.A. degrees in International Studies from the University of San Francisco and is currently an M.B.A. candidate in the Leavey Business School of Santa Clara University, specializing in Food Entrepreneurship and Agribusiness.   Kalyn also serves as Board Chair and Head of Marketing with Garden to Table,  an urban farm in San Jose building a sustainable local food system that fosters community and healthy lifestyles. Previously, she was Portfolio Innovation Manager at Elemental Excelerator, a nonprofit whose mission is to launch a new model for climate tech deployment and redesign systems at the root of our climate crisis. 

Elemental has invested in more than 100 growth-stage companies and built a platform for scaling equitable, market-driven solutions to climate change.