Presentations
I started speaking in public as a teenager, reading scripture in Sunday church services. When I was in high school, my dad enrolled me in a Gabriel Richard public speaking course; I was the only non-adult, and I came in second to a fiery Irish woman who truly had the gift of gab.
The following are some of my presentations. They are entertaining, informational, spiritual. Some include PowerPoint or video images.
Contact me to schedule a program for your group.
The following are some of my presentations. They are entertaining, informational, spiritual. Some include PowerPoint or video images.
Contact me to schedule a program for your group.
How Could So Many Murder
So Many?
Content: Germany's economic, social, and political situation after World War I and into the 1930s was fertile ground for radicalism. The Nazi Party and Hitler sated the popular demand. "How Could So Many Murder So Many?" includes a short video of the engaging, interactive Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in East Berlin then discussion of the victims, abettors throughout Europe, and similarities and differences between then and now.
Cagegories: People, International history, Education.
Visuals: PowerPoint images and 5-minute video
Length: 50 minutes plus discussion
Audience comments: moving, thought-provoking
Suitable for: any adult or teen audience
Contact me to schedule this for your group
So Many?
Content: Germany's economic, social, and political situation after World War I and into the 1930s was fertile ground for radicalism. The Nazi Party and Hitler sated the popular demand. "How Could So Many Murder So Many?" includes a short video of the engaging, interactive Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in East Berlin then discussion of the victims, abettors throughout Europe, and similarities and differences between then and now.
Cagegories: People, International history, Education.
Visuals: PowerPoint images and 5-minute video
Length: 50 minutes plus discussion
Audience comments: moving, thought-provoking
Suitable for: any adult or teen audience
Contact me to schedule this for your group
The yellow blots on this map in the Informaction Centre at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (Holocaust Memorial) show 500 of thousands of sites related to Nazi persecution: camps, ghettos, mass shootings, and deportation points throughout Europe, Scandinavia, eastern Russia, the Balkans, and northern Africa.
Left: The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe is deceivingly placid around the edge, but walking only a few steps among the concrete, coffin-size stellae shows how people and societies can find themselves "over their heads" in economic hardship, seperatism, corruption, torture, and death.
Left: The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe is deceivingly placid around the edge, but walking only a few steps among the concrete, coffin-size stellae shows how people and societies can find themselves "over their heads" in economic hardship, seperatism, corruption, torture, and death.
First the Nazis went after the Jews, but I was not a Jew, so I did not object. Then they went after the Catholics, but I was not a Catholic, so I did not object. Then they went after the trade-unionists, but I was not a trade-unionist, so I did not object. Then they came after me, and there was no one left to object. --Pastor Martin Neimoller, Confessional Church and pacifist
Under Angels' Wings:
People Who Helped Me on My Journey
Content: When traveling to eight nations for 116 days in 2010, I eschewed hotels as much as possible, staying in homes half the time, sailing aboard ships 35 percent, and in commercial lodgings only 15 percent. Through philosophical conversation with people from eight nations, we discussed universal wants and desires--signs of humanity's global commonality.
Categories: People, International, Spiritual, Adventure
Visuals: PowerPoint images
Length: 20 to 25 minutes
Audience comments: touching
Suitable for: Church services, luncheon groups
Contact me to schedule this for your group.
People Who Helped Me on My Journey
Content: When traveling to eight nations for 116 days in 2010, I eschewed hotels as much as possible, staying in homes half the time, sailing aboard ships 35 percent, and in commercial lodgings only 15 percent. Through philosophical conversation with people from eight nations, we discussed universal wants and desires--signs of humanity's global commonality.
Categories: People, International, Spiritual, Adventure
Visuals: PowerPoint images
Length: 20 to 25 minutes
Audience comments: touching
Suitable for: Church services, luncheon groups
Contact me to schedule this for your group.
Robert Weir (right) with the Gold family in Himmelfporten, Germany. I met Karsten Gold (left) on a commuter train, and he invited me to supper, prepared by Hiltrud (center), which included a geography lesson and a bedtime story that I read to their three sons.
It's About the Resurrection
Content: One paradigm of Lent and Easter is that we must sacrifice because Jesus did for our sins. The modern Unity paradigm says that Lent is a time to let go of any thought structure that no longer serve our spiritual god and rejoice in Jesus' great accomplishment: the resurrection.
Categories: Spiritual, Religious
Visuals: None
Length: 20 minutes
Audience comments: spiritually connecting
Suitable for: Church services, luncheon groups
Contact me to schedule this for your group.
Content: One paradigm of Lent and Easter is that we must sacrifice because Jesus did for our sins. The modern Unity paradigm says that Lent is a time to let go of any thought structure that no longer serve our spiritual god and rejoice in Jesus' great accomplishment: the resurrection.
Categories: Spiritual, Religious
Visuals: None
Length: 20 minutes
Audience comments: spiritually connecting
Suitable for: Church services, luncheon groups
Contact me to schedule this for your group.
Great Crossings
Content: Photos and anecdotes about the three ships I sailed aboard in the summer of 2010:
-- Five masted tall ship Royal Clipper across the Atlantic from Barbados to Malaga, Spain;
-- Three-masted sail training vessel Kaliakra from Volos, Greece, to Varna, Bulgaria; and
-- Ferry and cargo ship Translubeca from Lubeck, Germany, to Sankt Petersburg, Russia; plus
-- Various watercraft in Hamburg, Germany.
Categories: Entertainment, Adventure
Visuals: PowerPoint images
Length: 55 minutes
Audience comments: Interesting, delightful, great photos. Read accolades in Kalamazoo Sail & Power Squadron newsletter.
Suitable for: adults, teens, men, women, mariners, landlubbers
Contact me to schedule this for your group.
-- Five masted tall ship Royal Clipper across the Atlantic from Barbados to Malaga, Spain;
-- Three-masted sail training vessel Kaliakra from Volos, Greece, to Varna, Bulgaria; and
-- Ferry and cargo ship Translubeca from Lubeck, Germany, to Sankt Petersburg, Russia; plus
-- Various watercraft in Hamburg, Germany.
Categories: Entertainment, Adventure
Visuals: PowerPoint images
Length: 55 minutes
Audience comments: Interesting, delightful, great photos. Read accolades in Kalamazoo Sail & Power Squadron newsletter.
Suitable for: adults, teens, men, women, mariners, landlubbers
Contact me to schedule this for your group.
Royal Clipper's foremast and square-rigged sails, as seen from the prow.
Common Threads and the Golden Strand
Content: Several common threads, such as the Trinity and virgin birth, are found in the world's various religious traditions, but the Golden Strand is God's universal love for all people. Read excerpts.
Categories: Information, Spiritual
Visuals: None
Length: 20 to 30 minutes
Audience comments: Interesting, spiritual, powerful
Suitable for: adults, teens, church services
Contact me to schedule this for your group.
Categories: Information, Spiritual
Visuals: None
Length: 20 to 30 minutes
Audience comments: Interesting, spiritual, powerful
Suitable for: adults, teens, church services
Contact me to schedule this for your group.
Poster for the Common Threads art exhibit
at Madonna University
in Livonia, Michigan, where
I delivered this presentation at the closing ceremony
in November 2010.
at Madonna University
in Livonia, Michigan, where
I delivered this presentation at the closing ceremony
in November 2010.
Rebuilding Religious Russia
Content: Russians in Pushkin, Moscow, other cities, and rural areas are rebuilding churches, cathedrals, and cultural monuments that lend character to the country's dedication to their religious heritage.
Some of these edifices were destroyed during World War I, World War II, or the Communist Era, but their memories were never removed from peoples’ minds.
And now the people are bringing them back.
Rebuilding Religious Russia takes you on a tour of St. Catherine’s Cathedral in Pushkin; Holy Resurrection Cathedral and Cathedral to Our Lady of Kazan in Sankt Petersburg; and, in Moscow, St. Basil’s Cathedral, Temple of Christ the Savior, and other churches within Red Square and the Kremlin.
Categories: Information, Entertainment
Visuals: PowerPoint images
Length: 50 minutes
Audience comments: Informative, interesting, fast-paced, great photos
Suitable for: adults, teens, historical societies, libraries, churches
Contact me to schedule this for your group.
Some of these edifices were destroyed during World War I, World War II, or the Communist Era, but their memories were never removed from peoples’ minds.
And now the people are bringing them back.
Rebuilding Religious Russia takes you on a tour of St. Catherine’s Cathedral in Pushkin; Holy Resurrection Cathedral and Cathedral to Our Lady of Kazan in Sankt Petersburg; and, in Moscow, St. Basil’s Cathedral, Temple of Christ the Savior, and other churches within Red Square and the Kremlin.
Categories: Information, Entertainment
Visuals: PowerPoint images
Length: 50 minutes
Audience comments: Informative, interesting, fast-paced, great photos
Suitable for: adults, teens, historical societies, libraries, churches
Contact me to schedule this for your group.
The recently reconstructed St. Catherine's Cathedral
in Pushkin's town centre.
The original cathedral had been destroyed and replaced with a statue of Lenin during the Communist regime;
this iteration matches the original and was dedicated
on Sunday, June 27, 2010,
as part of Pushkin's 300th anniversary celebration.
in Pushkin's town centre.
The original cathedral had been destroyed and replaced with a statue of Lenin during the Communist regime;
this iteration matches the original and was dedicated
on Sunday, June 27, 2010,
as part of Pushkin's 300th anniversary celebration.