The Courage to Be: Penny Gill

On Tuesday, February 7th, the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College welcomed professor Penny Gill as keynote speaker for its first “Courage to Be” Dinner and Lecture of the Spring 2017 semester.

Summary written by 2017 Student Fellows Claire Harvey, Stefan Stojanov, and Annah Heckman

On Tuesday, February 7th, “The Courage to Be” Lecture Series hosted Penny Gill at the first formal dinner at Bard's Blithewood Manor. Gill encouraged the audience to be more mindful of their “inner circle” of people, to question how certain aspects of daily life in modern America may hinder the growth of personal relationships. As Gill described her recent book “What In the World Is Going On?”, her lecture took on a more personal character. Explaining how susceptible we are to the constant torrent of negative news, she brought to our attention the fear-inducing negative feedback loop that emerges if we do not try to control the effects of such information. While thinking about the greater issues in the world, it is important to remember to invest in the world that immediately surrounds us. Gill wanted us to think about the connections we have in our daily lives and how they can influence us and our growth. Her talk engaged courage in the simplest and most profound form, courage as connection.

https://vimeo.com/203898204

Following her lecture, Penny participated in a Q&A session with the audience, which you can view below:

https://vimeo.com/210657113

Following dinner, we had the pleasure of interviewing Penny. View the video here:

https://vimeo.com/209442067

To learn more about our "Courage to Be" program, click here.