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September 24, 2015
For Better or Worse - Regional Economic Outlook Tied to Oil Robert W. Gilmer Houston and the rest of Texas are facing a major economic setback in the form of a collapse in exploration and production of oil -- the end of the shale boom. The rig count is down by more than half, and the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs has been put it train. Robert Gilmer will look at what brought on the collapse in oil prices, the role of supply and demand for oil, Texas and North Dakota as the new swing producer, and how long low oil prices might last. The Houston area has nearly 40 percent of the state's oil-related employment -- white collar technical jobs in office towers, blue collar jobs in machinery and fabricated metal manufacturing -- and we will discuss how these jobs are faring. While times are tough in the drilling business, Houston and the entire Gulf Coast are experiencing a major construction boom in petrochemicals and natural gas liquefaction plants that is built on low natural gas prices. The Houston metro area for example has $30 billion in industrial construction underway. This construction boom provides a partial counterweight to the drilling bust, and combined with continued strength in the US economy, may be just enough to keep Houston and Texas out of recession. We have been fortunate to have already had Dr. Gilmer come and speak to us when he was senior economist and vice president in charge for the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Dr. Gilmer returns to us in his new position as executive director at the Institute for Regional Forecasting (IRF) at the University of Houston's C.T. Bauer College of Business. In these tumultuous times, Dr. Gilmer will bring us up to date with his usual clear and lucid explanations of what is going on around us in the Houston business community. |
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11:30-1 pm
Thursday, September 24, 2015 Janis Sneed Banquet Room Blinn College Student Center Brenham Luncheon/Lecture Fee: $22 Register by September 18 |
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Washington County READ Reception and Readers Theatre
My Boys and Girls are in There by Ron Rozelle The culmination of the READ will be a reception at Unity Theatre with refreshments, a dramatic reading, and a presentation by Mr. Rozelle. Mr. Rozelle is a Texas creative writing teacher and journalist. The book is an intensely human account of the school disaster in New London, Texas, a forgotten but significant event in Texas history. The story illustrates the strong character of Texans we still celebrate today. The 1937 tragedy was covered by cub reporter Walter Cronkite who later said no war story he ever covered was as heart-wrenching. We hope knowledge of this history will reach several generations. This year we are honored to have some of our community First Responders as Honorary Chairs. These leaders represent the people who provide daily assistance here in Washington County: Ricky Boeker, City of Brenham Fire Chief and City Emergency Management Coordinator Kevin Deramus, Washington County EMS Director Otto H. Hanak, Washington County Sheriff Rex L. Phelps, City of Brenham Chief of Police Books will be available at the Nancy Carol Roberts Library, HEB, Blinn Library, and the Book Nook. Beginning this fall, there will be programs around the area centered on My Boys and Girls are in There. 5:30 pm Thursday, October 29, 2015 Unity Theatre 300 Church Street Brenham, Texas Free to the Public. No registration required. |
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November 12, 2015
Is It Forgetfulness or Dementia? Dr. Michael Schlabach As we age as a population, the question we find ourselves wondering is if being unable to remember where we put the keys or the name of that childhood friend is a sign of something serious. Dr. Michael Schlabach will give us insight into that question helping us to understand better the Alzheimer diagnosis. Dr. Schlabach will be addressing these issues:
Dr. Schlabach grew up in Houston and attended Texas A&M with B.S. and M.S. degrees in Biochemistry in 1973 and 1974, MD from University of Texas Medical Branch- Galveston in 1978, where also received residency training in Internal Medicine. He received his Master of Public Health degree from Medical College of Wisconsin in General Preventive Medicine-Public Health in 2003. Now he spends the majority of his time in Internal Medicine seeing patients with administrative duties as Chief Medical Officer of Baylor Scott & White Hospital- Brenham, and Medical Director, Baylor Scott & White Clinic- Brenham. |
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11:30-1 pm
Thursday, November 12, 2015 Janis Sneed Banquet Room Blinn College Student Center Brenham Luncheon/Lecture Fee: $22 Register by November 6 |
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December 4, 2015
Why did they stop painting “pretty” pictures? Doug Cason In the early 19th century, painters began to revolt against the classic codes of composition, draftsmanship, and heroic subject matter. Patronage by the church and state was sharply declining at the same time that artists' views were becoming more independent and subjective. Artists such as Courbet, Corot and others of the Barbizon School were choosing to paint scenes of ordinary daily and nocturnal life that often offended the sense of decorum of their contemporaries and the École des Beaux-Arts (French Academy of Art). These modern artists took seriously the representation of their own time. In place of allegorical figures in togas or scenes from the Bible and mythology, modern artists were concerning themselves with the things around them. When asked to include angels in a painting for a church, Gustave Courbet is said to have replied, “I have never seen angels. Show me an angel and I will paint one.” These artists, however, were not just empirical recording devices. The formal or technical means employed in modern art are jarring and unsettling, and this has to be a fundamental part of the story to be discussed. A tension between the means and the topics depicted, between surface and subject, is central to what this art was. Principally, these artists sought the signs of change and novelty and the scenarios that made up contemporary life. This meant they paid a great deal of attention to the new visual culture associated with commercialized leisure and the spirits of revolution and progress. Douglas Cason is a full time member of the Art Faculty at Blinn College in Brenham and teaches Art Appreciation, Art History, Painting and Drawing. He is originally from Ft. Worth, Texas but now lives in Brenham, Texas. He received his MFA in painting from the University of Houston in Houston, Texas and a BFA from the University of Texas at Austin. Cason’s work is included in various private and public collections including the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and has been shown in state, regional and national exhibitions at Avis Frank Gallery in Houston, Texas; Parlor Gallery in Asbury Park, New Jersey; Antebellum Gallery in Los Angeles, Cole Art Center in Nacogdoches, Texas. Avis Frank in Houston represents Douglas Cason. |
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1-3 pm
Friday, December 4, 2015 Conference Center Blinn College Student Center Brenham Lecture Fee: $20 Register by November 30 |
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(no account is required-payable by credit card) 979.353.1089 lifetimelearningbrenham@gmail.com |
or Mail Checks to:
Lifetime Learning P. O. Box 513 Brenham, TX 77834 registration form (can be filled in on the computer or by hand) |