Lynda Sexson headlines year's first Mountains and Rivers Lecture

by MSU-Bozeman News Service

8/29/01   

 The Mountains and Rivers Lecture Series,  a year-long series of free lectures focusing on the environment and its impact on the people who live here, will launch its second year Sept. 19 with a lecture by Lynda Sexson, writer and MSU professor of humanities.

Sexson’s  lecture on “M is for Mountain: Landscape and Language,” will begin at 7 p.m. at the Bozeman Public Library 

Sexson is an award-winning writer as well as a  pioneer in the movement that recognizes spiritual meaning in everyday objects in peoples’ lives. Sexson’s landmark book “Ordinarily Sacred” will be the featured subject of a panel at the American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting in November.

Sexson is also an internationally-recognized writer of innovative fables and fiction. She has written two volumes of stories: “Margaret Of The Imperfections,” which was a winner of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Prize;  and “Hamlet's Planets: Parables,” illustrated by Gennie DeWeese. Most recently, Sexson has published essays on nature, time, Julian of Norwich, and Isak Dinesen. Her awards include a National Writer's Voice residency, the President's Excellence in Teaching, the Wiley Faculty Award for Meritorious Research, the Phi Kappa Phi Award for outstanding teaching, and the Montana Award in the Humanities for service to the humanities.            

Sexson’s lecture sets the tone for the free yearlong lecture series that will pair experts from the community and MSU, according to Betsy Gaines, development director for MSU's College of Letters and Sciences (CLS). The series, co-sponsored by CLS, will focus on the theme of mountains for the fall semester and on rivers for the spring semester.

"These two things, rivers and mountains, define our area," Gaines said. "We want to look at these issues from   multi-disciplinary views -- from  literary, economic, cultural, ecological perspectives."

 The site of the lectures will alternate from the Bozeman Public Library and room 346 of Leon Johnson Hall on the MSU campus -- one more indication that the series is a collaboration between community and university, Gaines said.

The depth of resources available locally is impressive, Gaines said.

“And the topics discussed focuses on the root of the reasons many of use  choose to live here.”

For more information on the lecture or series, contact: Betsy Gaines at 994-7805.

Send questions or comments to Carol Schmidt: cschmidt@montana.edu. Or you can send letters to Carol Schmidt, MSU Communications Services, 416 Culbertson Hall, Bozeman, MT 59717.

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