San Francisco Zen Center presents "Tales From the Study of the Embodied Mind" with poet and activist Brenda Hillman and biodiversity scientist Healy Hamilton May 6, 2010

What: Special presentations by Professor of Poetry at St. Mary’s College Brenda Hillman and Biodiversity scientist at the California Academy of Sciences Healy Hamilton. Brenda Hillman has received many awards including the 2005 William Carlos Williams Prize for poetry and Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. She is also a member of the permanent faculties of Napa Valley Writers’ Conference and of Squaw Valley Community of Writers. Hillman is also involved in non-violent activism as a member of the Code Pink Working Group in the San Francisco Bay Area. Hillman has published eight collections of poetry including Cascadia (2001), Pieces of Air in the Epic (2005), and Practical Water (2009).



Dr. Hamilton received her masters degree from Yale University and her Ph.D. in Integrative Biology from the University of California, Berkeley. For both degrees she conducted extensive field research in Latin America, and she continues expedition research today across a range of marine environments. Dr. Hamilton is a former U.S. Fulbright Fellow and a Switzer Foundation Environmental Leadership Grantee. She is also the founding director of a program that integrates biological and spatial data for biodiversity research, conservation and education.



Public Information: $20 in advance; $22 at the door; Zen Center members $15; Student price $10 with valid ID. Tickets available through Brown Paper Tickets at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/99902 Series tickets are $200 and include (4) pre-receptions. Call Michael Braithwaite at (415) 354-0437 www.sfzc.org



Media Contact: Stephanie Clarke, Hamilton Ink PR - (415) 381-8198 - steph@hamiltoninkpr.com



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About The Expert’s Mind

Celebrating the 40th anniversary of Shunryu Suzuki-Roshi's classic book Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, The Expert’s Mind is a monthly discussion series that asks leading scholars, sculptors, poets and scientists to reexamine, explore, and challenge established ideas. Equating expertise with curiosity, both the experts and the audience are invited to shift perspective and remember the value found in re-thinking. The result is energetic conversations that probe eco-poetics, ethnomusicology, sculptural landscapes, Jungian psychology, liver pathology and linguistics.

About the San Francisco Zen Center

San Francisco Zen Center was established in 1962 by the Soto Zen master Shunryu Suzuki Roshi (1904-1971), author of the modern spiritual classic Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. SFZC has long been a quiet force of cultural dynamism and change. The Expert’S Mind highlights Zen Center’s history of reconsidering conventional wisdom, and its dedication to pushing the boundaries of cultural traditions and modes of thinking.

Official Website: http://www.sfzc.org