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Year 32, No. 3
Celebrating 32 Years of Community News
Academy of Natural Sciences Awards Medal to Author of “The Sixth Extinction”
September 14 – September 20, 2016
An Evening with Charlie Zahm
Free Talk and Book-Signing with Elizabeth Kolbert on Sept. 21 cientists have documented five mass extinctions of life in the last half-billion years and now are monitoring the most dramatic die-off of species since the demise of the dinosaurs. In her Pulitzer Prizewinning book “The Sixth Ex-
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Pulitzer Prize-winning author Elizabeth Kolbert to receive the Richard Day Hopper Memorial Medal for outstanding contributions in interpreting natural science. tinction: An Unnatural History,” author Elizabeth Kolbert explains how people have altered the planet like no other species has before and how that is driving another mass extinction. In recognition of her outstanding contributions in interpreting natural science, the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University will award Kolbert the Richard Hopper Day Memorial Medal at a public Town Square event on Wednesday, September 21. Kolbert will give an illustrated presentation and then sign copies of her book. The event begins at 6:30 p.m. and is free. To register, visit the Academy’s website at http://bit.ly/2bGJR20. In “The Sixth Extinction,” Kolbert presents evidence in a clear, scientifically documented, sometimes comical way that is accessible to wide audiences. She writes that besides creating issues related to climate change, people are destroying habitats such as rain forests, leaving animals and plants without a place to live. What’s worse, she writes, is that these things are happening simultaneously, leaving the planet more susceptible to a sixth mass extinction. “What Elizabeth has done in The Sixth Extinction and her earlier writings is pull together what scientists have been researching and saying for some time now,” said Academy President and CEO George W. Gephart, Jr. “She presents the evidence in an engaging and even startling way. She makes us think about what it means to be human.” Kolbert has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1999. Her 2005 New Yorker series See Free Talk with Author Elizabeth Kolbert on page 11
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Charlie Zahm (shown) will be joined by Baltimore fiddler Tad Marks, who has toured extensively across the U.S. and Europe with top-name groups and is considered one of the finest fiddlers on the East Coast. Photo/Bill Ecklund he Lansdowne Folk Club presents an evening with Charlie Zahm, one of the strongest voices in the musical worlds of the Celts, Early America and the Civil War on Thursday, September 22. Held at the Twentieth Century Club, 84 S. Lansdowne Avenue, Lansdowne, PA. Doors open at 7 p.m. and show begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $17 when purchased in advance online or with an advanced phone reservation
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See An Evening with Charlie Zahm on page 3
“To the Cross and Back” – A Religious Leader Crosses the Line to Humanism ith heart-wrenching honesty and stories of trauma, tragedy, prejudice, uncertainty, survival, and ultimately discovery, author and speaker Fernando Alcántar recounts his incredible journey at the next Freethought Society
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Fernando Alcántar’s “To the Cross and Back” presentation is free and open to the public and takes place Monday, September 26 at the Ludington Library, at 7 p.m. presentation. From a poor Catholic boy on the dusty streets of Mexico to the globetrotting missionary and high-profile Christian leader in the United States — Alcántar eventually left his celebrated life behind to advocate for the liberating power of reason and equality. His presentation takes place on Monday, September 26 at 7 p.m. in the community room at the Ludington Library located at 5 South Bryn
Mawr Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA. A SEPTA stop is located across the street from the library. Alcántar’s free and open-to-thepublic presentation “To the Cross and Back” is based on his book of the same name. Once a renowned, high-profile religious leader, Alcántar wants to use this book to come out as both humanist and gay to help strengthen a national narrative of understanding, tolerance and acceptance. He also wants to help give a voice to those hiding in the shadows, afraid to publicly question their religious and sexual identity for fear of isolation and retaliation. In his presentation, Alcántar will take the audience on a journey of discovery, analyzing the cultural barriers and psychological consequences of organized religion which lead to bigotry, prejudice, and harm. Through his personal story ascending up the ranks of Christian leadership in North America, Alcántar will See “To the Cross and Back” on page 4