Wasch Center Seminars

Common Ground

In a time when the world as we have known it appears to be coming apart, it is useful to recall the many periods over millennia when conflict and unrest have shaped and reshaped our lives on this great blue marble suspended in space. We can identify with earlier generations’ struggles to survive, and perhaps derive a measure of comfort from their resilience.

Each semester, the Wasch Seminars set out to open our collective eyes to some of the competing themes in civilization’s unfolding narrative. For example, Franklin’s famous warning, “A Republic, if we can keep it,” applies to historical phenomena as diverse as our own Revolution’s tumultuous aftermath; to 19th–20th-century efforts to create utopian societies; and to the tragedy of the Trojan War in Homer’s Iliad, revisited here for a reminder of its enduring meaningfulness.

In further story-telling efforts, our fall 2026 seminars consider such diverse topics as environmental preservation, Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, nature’s material forms as art, and fresh takes on human nature through the modernist filmmaker’s and artist’s eye and brush. Story- telling also entails exploring the lives and very different, but equally extaordinary, accomplishments of two sisters with ties to Connecticut, and offers a chance for aspiring writers to create epic tales of their own.

History recounted is cultural history: the interaction of people, places, and passions played out in the open or in obscurity. In the Wasch Seminars wide-ranging ideas are shared and debated. Since its creation in 2009, this program has achieved a depth, breadth, and diversity in its offerings that are rare, if not non-existent, among similar programs for adults in our area. As you continue to take advantage of this resource for personal growth and enrichment, please consider bringing friends and family members along. We count on growing numbers to ensure the program’s success for many years to come.

With appreciation,

Richard Friswell & Krishna Winston, Program Directors

Banner: Odysseus and Diomedes capturing Dolon, ‘Iliad,’ book 10 (ca. 390-370 BC), British Museum