Upcoming events.
The Examiner Club generally meets on the fourth Wednesday evening of each month from September through May, with occasional shifts to accommodate holidays or presenters’ requests. Members convene at the Union Club in Boston, with special meetings and “field trips” at the Arnold Arboretum and other locations. This page will list the presentations for the current and upcoming year, as dates and speakers are settled. Check in regularly for details.
Upcoming Presentations for Fall 2024
September 25 Lisa Lynch. “50 Years of Breakthroughs and Barriers: Women in Economics, Policy, and Leadership.”
October 23 Robert Kuttner, “The 2024 Elections.”
November 20 Susan Linn, “A work-in-progress performance of “WHAT THE DUCK?!?” that is part stand-up comedy and part philosophical musing on the human condition.
December 18 Marion Dry, “Singing a New Song: From the Opera Stage to Community Organizer.”
Past Presentations
Spring 2024
January 24 Kevin Gallagher. “And Yet it Moves: Poetry, Science, and Greed.”
February 28 Lee Pelton. “Health Equity and The Importance of Zip Codes.”
March 27 Ellen Hume. “Lost and Found: Coming of Age in the Washington Press Corps.”
April 24 Tom Kelly. “Performance Now and Then.”
Visual and musical illustrations to explore what we mean when we perform.
May 22 Deborah Weisgall. “The Fact/Fiction Gene, or Deborah, Don’t You Remember?”
Fall 2023-Winter 2023
September 6: Nancy Gertner on “Prosecuting a President,” talking about the pitfalls, the rationale, and even tentative predictions about the current criminal cases. She will also talk about what these prosecutions demonstrate about our electoral process.
October 18: Jim Stone on “Accelerating Wealth Inequality: Why It Matters.” Some years back, Jim spoke to the Examiners about the worrisome acceleration of wealth inequality, especially at the top of the distribution, in the U.S. and elsewhere. Since then, the problem has worsened but continues to receive insufficient attention.
November 15: Stephen Flynn on “Strategies for Preventing, Countering, and Responding to Nuclear WMD Terrorism.” The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine appointed Stephen chair of a congressionally mandated committee to study what Stephen calls “this high-stakes risk.” The Oppenheimer movie has brought the topic back into public consciousness, he says, and he will present a preview of the committee’s work.
December 20: Andrea Leers on “New Wood: How an old material became a 21st century technology?”
Climate change challenges us all to reduce our impact on the environment. Andrea points out that building construction and operation consume 40% of our global energy and contribute 48% to our CO2 emissions. She will discuss mass timber, an engineered product, that may be key to a more sustainable future.