TLU News

Texas Lutheran's Krost Symposium to examine social activism

September 14th, 2007

Contact David Legore Associate Professor Phone: 830-372-6021 E-mail: delgore@tlu.edu

SEGUIN – During its 28th annual Krost Symposium, Texas Lutheran University will host various authors, photojournalists, musicians and other performers who use their art to express fervor for social issues such as the death penalty, access to education, and war. This year’s symposium, “The Creative Journey and the Art of Activism,” is an open forum of lectures and performances that will extend over a four-day period on the TLU campus in Seguin, beginning Oct. 25.

The symposium will open at 9 a.m., Oct. 25 in Jackson Auditorium with the Frank Giesber keynote lecture by David Oliver Relin, author of the New York Times bestseller Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time, a look at access to education in Pakistan.  Relin’s book was named the nonfiction winner of the 2007 Kiriyama Prize, The 2007 Pacific Northwest Booksellers' Book Of The Year, Time Magazine Asia Book Of The Year, People Magazine Critic's Choice, and a BookSense Notable Title. Relin lives in Portland, Oregon, and for two decades has focused on reporting about social issues and their effect on children.

At 10:45 a.m. on Oct. 25, the TLU dramatic media department will present the opening performance of  “Shrapnel” by Atlanta-based playwright, author and actor Lauren Gunderson. Shrapnel is a collection of short, interweaving plays on the theme of a modern American war. Each short play is named after a different metal and presents the complexity of a violent, splintered world.  Gunderson will introduce and discuss the play with other symposium guests and the TLU audience.  The play will be repeated throughout the four-day event.

Scott Langley, a free-lance photojournalist based in Boston, will present his dramatic death penalty photography documentary at 2:30 p.m. on Oct. 25. Langley is an active grassroots organizer against the death penalty and has served as an Amnesty International USA State Death Penalty Abolition Coordinator. His death penalty documentary project has been exhibited by Amnesty International in Germany and Denmark, at Harvard University and Cornell University, and in North Carolina and Washington D.C.  He currently works on an international level to end executions and to educate people about the death penalty, traveling within and outside the U.S. to speak about capital punishment, his work, and about his photography documentary project.

Looking at visual art and education, Dr. Nuha Khoury will present a lecture at 4 p.m. Oct. 25.  Dr. Khoury is dean of Dar al-Kalima College in Bethlehem, Palestine, the first Christian college in the Middle East to offer advanced training in arts, multimedia, communications and tourism-related studies.

Also on Oct. 25, Austinite Sara Hickman will present a 4 p.m. concert, “Music for Life.” Hickman has twice been a guest on NBC’s Tonight Show, hosted her own VH-1 special, and produced an independent video that won first place in the USA Film Festival.  Along with her talent as a performer, Hickman is a wife and mother who has been involved with the Hill Country Youth Ranch in Ingram, the Mothers' Milk Bank, Safe Place, Habitat for Humanity, House the Homeless, the SPCA, the Race for the Cure, and many other animal and human rights organizations.

Each day of the four-day Krost Symposium, the TLU dramatic media department will present “Dead Man Walking,” the famous play about the death penalty written by Tim Robbins. Following the 8 p.m., Oct. 25 performance, special guests Sister Maureen Fenlon and Kristin Houlé will discuss this major social issue.  Fenlon is the national coordinator of the Dead Man Walking School Theatre Project and pioneered work to humanize the U.S. prison system in the 1970s. Houlé, who has served as a program associate for Amnesty International USA’s program to Abolish the Death Penalty in Washington D.C., is a 2007 Soros Justice Fellow with the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (TCADP), based in Austin.

On Friday, Oct. 26, Rev. Al Staggs will present “The Legacy of Dietrich Bonhoeffer,” which brings the life of one of the great heroes of the twentieth century to the stage. In the one-man dramatic presentation, the audience is brought into the prison cell where Bonhoeffer awaits execution and listens to his struggles with evil, injustice, and God.

TLU Associate Professor David Legore, director of this year’s Krost Symposium, said, “In response to division and discord, humans yearn for balance and harmony.  Perspectives vary.  Strategies differ. Beliefs and values clash.  Amidst the chaos and debate, art, activism, and creativity collide—often in conspicuous, complex, and controversial ways. This relationship and the resulting impact on our world is the focus of the 28th Annual Krost Symposium.”

The Krost Symposium annually brings scholars, authors, government officials and others to the TLU campus to discuss relevant issues with the community at large. It is a component of the Texas Lutheran University Krost Life Enrichment Program, which is designed to promote spiritual, physical, social and intellectual development at TLU.

For a complete schedule and more information about the Krost Symposium call visit the Texas Lutheran Web site at www.tlu.edu or call 830-372-8020.

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