Chautauqua

Gerrymandering (soft “g”) is the redrawing of electoral boundaries to unfairly favor one group or political party over the other. Named for Elbridge Gerry (hard “g”) who as governor of Massachusetts came up with the idea to manipulate senatorial districts in 1812, it is a relatively common American practice.

It works in two ways, known as “cracking and packing.” Cracking is used by a majority party to spread political opponents out over a larger geographical area, thus watering down their voting power. Packing, conversely, weakens opponents by tightly concentrating them in one district, limiting their voting power to a smaller area. It may not be right, but so far it is not illegal.

Like the weather, everybody complains about gerrymandering, but nobody seems to do anything about it.

That may be changing: In February, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional a reordering of the state’s congressional map by the Republican-dominated state legislature in 2011, saying that it violated voters’ rights to “a free and ‘equal’ ” election as guaranteed by the state constitution.

At 3:30 p.m. Friday, August 10, in the Hall of Philosophy, Justice Max Baer, who serves on that court, and Maureen Lally-Green, dean of the Duquesne University School of Law and former Superior Court of Pennsylvania judge, will discuss “Gerrymandering” as part of the Oliver Archives Heritage Lecture Series.

“You could have run Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck in the Republican districts and they would have won; the same goes for the Democratic districts,” said Baer, who voted with the court’s 5-2 majority to end what he called “extreme partisan gerrymandering.” “The outcome of the election was preordained.”

Baer noted that from 2011 to 2018, Republicans controlled 12 of Pennsylvania’s 18 congressional districts.

“The problem was, if you look at the total votes by party, the Democrats were getting 55 percent to the Republicans’ 33 percent,” he said.

The court ordered that state lawmakers redraw the map so that districts were geographically compact and contiguous and that each district have approximately the same population — and to do it immediately. Baer broke with the majority on the timing, arguing that a year was needed to create a new map.

“You can’t get legislators to commend mothers on Mother’s Day in that period,” Baer said.

The map was redrawn for the 2018 elections, despite threats to impeach Democratic justices and failed appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the action.

It was a rare legal victory for opponents of gerrymandering. State legislators, acting in their own interest, do not want to abandon gerrymandering, Baer said. And the U.S. Supreme Court has been reluctant to get involved in such cases.

In June, it refused to decide a Wisconsin case (Gill vs. Whitford) in which a state district court ruled on behalf of plaintiffs who had argued that the Republican-controlled state legislature had disenfranchised voters through partisan gerrymandering. The Supreme Court found unanimously that the plaintiffs did not have standing because they did not live in the district in question and kicked the case back to the state.

Later in June, the Supreme Court also cited questions of standing and sent back a North Carolina case that a state court had found proved that Republican legislators in that state had imposed unfair advantages for their party. Maryland and Texas have also seen gerrymandering cases turned away because of collateral issues of law.

“We don’t have much guidance from the Supreme Court on gerrymandering,” said Baer, a Democrat elected to Pennsylvania’s highest court in 2003.

The thorniest issue seems to be that while almost everyone agrees that gerrymandering is fundamentally unfair, many maintain that it is legal.

“Pro-gerrymandering people argue that it is constitutional, not that it is fair,” Baer said. “Pennsylvania is unique in that the petitioners brought suit under the the Pennsylvania Constitution, which has a free and fair elections clause. The United States Supreme Court does not.”

Baer said opponents of gerrymandering are in a difficult position with the current U.S. Supreme Court.

“You have four liberals and four conservatives who are going to vote one way,” he said. “Justice Kennedy was the swing vote, but he is leaving. With (Trump administration appointee Brett) Kavanaugh, you could predict that it would lose 5-4, unless Chief Justice Roberts decided to be the swing vote.”

Baer sees no action on gerrymandering by the court for at least a year and believes that plaintiffs would have more luck filing under state constitutions.

Lally-Green said she is optimistic that individuals are becoming energized to take a more grassroots approach to the issue.

“We’re looking forward to our talk at Chautauqua as a way of educating people,” she said. “People are becoming more involved in how their local, state and national governments are being run. Across the board, people are getting more involved in political life through social media, discussions, gatherings.”

Lally-Green said interest in the political process has increased over the last three or four years, specifically regarding partisan redistricting and gerrymandering.

“I think that’s a really good thing,” Lally-Green said.

Like many Chautauquans, Nancy and Steve Bass enjoy attending lectures and taking classes on varying subjects. One speaker who has struck them over their 23 years of coming to Chautauqua is Dan Ariely, James B. Duke Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke University.

The couple of 46 years makes a point to attend Ariely’s lectures whenever they are a part of the programming, but also have read additional studies of his. One aspect of his work that intrigued the Basses was Ariely’s take on “the pain of paying.” According to Ariely, there is a moral tax associated with consumption. When people pay for something, the timing and method of payment affects the enjoyment that people get out of their consumption.

Throughout their years at Chautauqua, Nancy and Steve Bass have joined the 1874 Society, comprised of Chautauquans who gift $1,874 to $3,499 a year to the annual fund, and have volunteered to serve as advocates raising money for the Chautauqua Fund. When the couple was recently approached about joining the Bell Tower Society, or making a recurring monthly gift to the fund, they saw it as a convenient way to offer their support.

“(The Bell Tower Society) is a very practical way of maintaining our contributions (to Chautauqua),” Steve Bass said. “I think it is an example of decreasing the pain of paying.”

The Basses are New York City natives currently residing in Cleveland who, up until this year, have spent brief amounts of time at the Institution every summer for more than two decades. They have owned a house south of the Institution for 19 years and think the more time they can find to spend at the Institution, the better.

“A week is great, two weeks are better, three weeks are really a lot better, and maybe a summer would be unbelievable,” Steve Bass said. “We both have responsibilities back in Cleveland, so we’ve been traveling back periodically every couple of weeks, but we get our mail here, so this is home for the summer.”

Nancy Bass said the couple is “busy all day long” as they dive into lectures to learn from speakers like Ariely, but they appreciate more than just the programming at the Institution.

“We come over by boat every morning, which has been a lot of fun,” Nancy Bass said.

The Basses said their morning routine has been an important part of their experience at the Institution. Before they ride their boat over for another day of activities, Nancy Bass goes to the gym and Steve Bass goes for a bike ride. This portion of their day starts at 6:30 a.m., which then includes coffee, reading and getting ready for the day until 10:15 a.m.

During their first full season at the Institution this summer, Nancy and Steve Bass were particularly interested in the week on Russia. They loved hearing from speakers like journalist Masha Gessen, Sen. Chris Coons, former Ambassador William J. Burns and other speakers throughout the week.

More recently, they were captivated by Arthur Brooks, president of American Enterprise Institute, who gave a lecture in the Amphitheater about work, life and happiness. Like Ariely, the Basses have heard Brooks speak at the Institution before and now seek to dive into other aspects of his work.

The couple said they have enjoyed everything this season. The Institution has brought them a great deal of joy, and they are happy to continue donating.

“It’s important for us to (contribute to the annual fund),” Nancy Bass said. “We have a certain amount of money we want to allocate toward charities and (other things) every year, and we did some revamping because Chautauqua’s really important to us. So this is one of our big contributions for the year.”

For more information on how to join the Bell Tower Society or volunteer as an advocate for the Chautauqua Fund, contact Leah Stow, assistant director of the Chautauqua Fund, at 716-357-6405 or foundation@chq.org.

Before her recent trip to Ohio, Lily Hoang knew exactly what she hoped to discuss in her Brown Bag: the American tourist as an identity.

Hoang is the Chautauqua Writers’ Center prose writer- in-residence for Week Seven. She will give her Brown Bag talk — “The Politics of Movement: A Traveler, a Tourist and a Writer Walk into a Bar — ” at 12:15 p.m. Friday, August 10, on the front porch of the Literary Arts Center at Alumni Hall.

Hoang is the author of multiple books, including A Bestiary, Changing and The Evolutionary Revolution. Her work has received recognition through the Cleveland State University Poetry Center’s Nonfiction Book Prize and PEN Open Books Award. She also teaches at UC San Diego and is editor of Jaded Ibis Press.

The idea for her talk sprung from a desire to think more deeply about the economy and politics of tourism, Hoang said, and how to travel ethically. She was also inspired by the Week Seven theme, “The Arts and Global Understanding.”

Originally, Hoang thought she would talk about tourism more globally. She recently finished living in South Africa for 11 weeks. While she was there, she also toured African cities.

Even in those 11 weeks, she found there was a difference between being an American living abroad and an American touring abroad.

She also wanted to look at tourism even before an American sets foot abroad, but is in the process of choosing a vacation destination. For example, she wanted to look at the ethics, from an American perspective, of going to Paris versus Cairo.

A recent trip to the “heartland” of America — Ohio — changed the course of her discussion, Hoang said.

Hoang is an avid traveler, and has been to many places across the United States. After her talk in Chautauqua, she will leave for South America for six weeks.

Yet what she experienced “a great deal of” during her stay in Ohio surprised and affected her.

She experienced racism.

“I actually felt like Ohio was somehow a more hostile territory for me, as an American, as a person of color, than going to other countries,” she said. “And that was a really sad realization and a sad moment.”

Now, her talk will grapple with a new question: What does “American tourist as an identity” even mean in the United States?

If a person happens to be in Paris on the first Sunday in October, they may be able to catch Avivah Wittenberg-Cox speaking (in French) at Le Monde Festival, Le Monde newspaper’s annual conference.

This year’s theme is love — aimer. Wittenberg-Cox will be participating on a panel that, when translated from French, is titled, “To love, to work, to live well until you are old.” Le Monde’s timing is apt, as the French translation of her latest book, Late Love: Mating in Maturity, is to be published in September.

If Chautauquans will not be in Paris, no problem.

At 5 p.m. Thursday, August 9, at the Chautauqua Women’s Club, Wittenberg-Cox will be discussing the English publication of Late Love, which she said is about love in the second half of life. The book was published in February.

Those who heard her Amphitheater lecture on Aug. 1, — “Gender Balance?: Because it’s the 21st Century” — may wonder if the two are connected. They are, and she will happily explain how.

Wittenberg-Cox is CEO of the gender diversity consultancy, 20-first, which she established as a result of her experiences training and coaching women through the European Professional Women’s Network.

Realizing that it wasn’t women who needed fixing in male-dominated workplaces, she began working with progressive companies to develop more inclusive, gender-bilingual leadership and management skills and styles. In delving into late love, Wittenberg-Cox has been taking a more holistic and integrative approach to leadership counseling.

Late Love is part of a trilogy, Wittenberg-Cox said.

“I’m just starting to work on another book called Late Work. … The third will be Late Self,” Wittenberg-Cox said. “… All of it is under an umbrella that I’m calling ‘Thriving to 100.’ ”

When she spoke in July 2016 as part of the Chautauqua Professional Women’s Network series, which she launched and leads, Wittenberg-Cox said that because people are living longer, it’s time to think in terms of a multiphase life replacing the “old,” three-phase model comprised of education, work and retirement. The number of people who are age 100 and older has more than doubled each decade since the 1950s, according to the World Health Organization.

“As everybody is saying, we’re going to have to get much better at managing career transitions,” Wittenberg-Cox said. “And my suggestion is we’re also going to have to get much better at managing personal transitions, because 70-year marriages might not be. And even if they are, they’re going to themselves go through multiple transitions. We’re all going to have to become good at managing evolving relationships over life. … We change, we mature.”

In Late Love, Wittenberg-Cox describes four phases.

“Late work and late self have the same transitions,” Wittenberg-Cox said. “It’s basically leaving, looking, loving and leaping. And it’s hard to leap. … Late Love is about conscious uncoupling and about conscious recoupling. … Who do you want to love? Who do you want to stay with? Who do you want to surround yourself with?”

Wittenberg-Cox began the research for Late Love in 2014. It includes anonymous information gathered from interviews with couples that were conducted at Chautauqua.

From noon to 2 p.m. Tuesday, August 7, on Bestor Plaza, the Chautauqua Foundation will hold various festivities to celebrate Chautauqua Institution’s birthday leading up to Old First Night. The Institution turns 144 this year, and the Foundation hopes all Chautauquans will get into the birthday spirit.

“Chautauqua’s birthday celebration is especially exciting because the already-magical grounds come alive in an even more magical way,” said Leah Stow, assistant director of the Chautauqua Fund. “Old, long-lasting traditions with new activities sprinkled in throughout the day make for a fun celebration that Chautauquans of all ages can enjoy.”

Traditionally, Chautauquans light up their porches on OFN evening, so the foundation will be selling luminaries with LED candles for $5 each. The community is also invited to make a gift to the 2018 Chautauqua Fund and be entered into a drawing for an OFN giveaway, an afternoon half-day pontoon boat rental from Sports Club. The winner will be announced Tuesday night in the Amphitheater.

On Tuesday, August 7, and for a limited time, a special matching gift opportunity is available to those joining the Bell Tower Society by establishing a recurring gift at a minimum of $25 per month to the Chautauqua Fund. For each new qualifying Bell Tower Society membership, the Edward L. Anderson Jr. Foundation will donate an additional $250. Current Bell Tower Society members who increase their monthly commitment beyond $25 per month or their prior level of support, whichever is more, will also qualify. This match will be offered for the first 60 donors who qualify.

Other festivities on the plaza include a Chautauqua Community Band performance at 12:15 p.m. on Monday, Aug 6; a Day of the Dead mask coloring craft to go along with the animated film, “Coco,” which will be shown on the plaza Tuesday evening; as well as yard games like cornhole, KanJam and a photo booth with props. A special preview of Tuesday’s evening’s Family Entertainment Series performance by Theatre of Varieties will take place during the afternoon’s festivities.

Longtime Chautauquan and supporter of the Chautauqua Fund Herb Keyser will be selling lemon tarts, and 100 percent of the proceeds will benefit the fund. Children are invited to host a lemonade stand or musical act to raise funds.

“Tuesday will be a wonderful day to celebrate Chautauqua and its founding,” said Megan Sorenson, associate director of the Chautauqua Fund and Foundation Communications. “With a longstanding tradition of people making a ‘birthday gift’ to support the Chautauqua Fund on Old First Night, we also want to express gratitude for the community support that makes Chautauqua’s diverse programming and this whole enterprise possible each year.”

For more information about the role of philanthropy at Chautauqua, or this family-friendly celebration of Chautauqua’s birthday, please contact Leah Stow, assistant director of the Chautauqua Fund, at 716-357-6405 or foundation@chq.org.

Who better to give a tax talk than a featured guest on an episode of NPR’s weekly comedy show, “Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me!”?

“I’ve put in every joke I know about taxes,” T.R. Reid said.

Returning to Chautauqua to speak at 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 4, in the Hall of Philosophy as part of the Chautauqua Women’s Club’s Contemporary Issues Forum, Reid will give a talk titled, “A Fine Mess: Making Taxes Make Sense.” It is based on his 2017 book, A Fine Mess: A Global Quest For a Simpler, Fairer, and More Efficient Tax System.

In addition to having written another nine books in English and three in Japanese, the former Washington Post journalist, foreign correspondent and chief of the Tokyo, London, and Rocky Mountain bureaus, is also a documentary film reporter, long-time NPR commentator and lapsed lawyer.

Since retiring from the Post, Reid has traveled the world to assess how other countries have dealt with important and urgent public policy problems. His “comparative policy analysis” approach — investigating “best practices” among the world’s advanced free-market industrialized democracies — is filling a void.

“It can be hard in America to compare our systems to others because of American exceptionalism.” Reid said. “We’re the best.”

Although people don’t think so, Reid said that the United States has a lot in common with other countries. Pizza, reality TV and Santa Claus are just a
few examples.

A Fine Mess is the second of Reid’s books to date about global best practices. He said that The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care, a New York Times best-seller, came out during the debate about Obamacare.

In his review of The Healing of America, demographer and journalist Phillip Longman wrote that “T.R. Reid has done a service to his nation by showing in his latest book just how uninformed this conventional wisdom (about health care) is.”

At that time, Reid said, “the majority of Americans said we have the best (health care) in the world. Now, fewer than a quarter would say so. (The Healing of America) is still selling well.”

As Reid analyzed the health care systems of Germany, Japan, Switzerland, Taiwan and the United Kingdom, a crew from PBS “Frontline” followed him. His experiences are documented in the film “Sick Around the World.”

Along the way, he also did some reporting for NPR, including, “Japanese Pay Less for More Health Care” and “Taiwan Takes Fast Track to Universal Health Care.”

“Frontline/World” had previously produced a film, “India: A Second Opinion,” about Reid’s experience having his “bum shoulder” treated successfully at an Ayurvedic clinic in Tamil Nadu.

When his publisher said, “Let’s catch the next wave — taxes — because of all the rich countries, the U.S. has the least fair and simple tax system,” Reid agreed.

“So my book, A Fine Mess, is the same basic idea,” he said.

In it, Reid said he points out where the United States’ tax system is not doing well, including where the tax code is complicated, inefficient and unfair.

“The average American spends at least 12 to 20 hours and $230 doing taxes,” Reid said. “It takes 10 minutes in other countries. In Britain, three minutes is the average time. There’s no shoebox of receipts and bills to dig through on a nice weekend in April. … You never see an H&R Block.”

See reid, Page A4

The IRS was “very helpful” when Reid called.

“I asked about an instruction that was so complicated, it was funny,” he said. “The woman said, ‘But there are so many of them.’ I put five in the book. We have a problem here. We have not done this well.”

According to Reid, any idea that the right, left, or center of the political aisle has come up with to fix the United States tax system — including zero corporate income tax, Sen. Bernie Sanders’ proposed reforms, the Wall Street speculation tax and the flat tax — has been tried elsewhere.

Regarding the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which President Trump signed into law on Dec. 22, 2017, Reid said that it can be assessed according to his comparative measure. During his talk on Saturday, he will answer the question, “How does it stack up?”

Reid began doing multinational comparative policy analysis when he wrote his book The United States of Europe: The New Superpower and the End of American Supremacy.

The Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle selected it for inclusion in its booklist, and in June 2005, Reid spoke in the Hall of Philosophy and led the CLSC Roundtable discussion about it.

At the turn of the century — when 12 European countries were giving up their individual currencies, adopting the euro and forming a monetary union — Reid became The Washington Post’s London bureau chief.

He said that as Tokyo bureau chief, he had a theory that Japan and Britain are the same country — “like island twins separated at birth.”

“They both have very expensive figurehead monarchies, but everyone likes them,” Reid said. “In each, there’s a strict class structure, and everybody’s voice changes as they move up in class. They also like lukewarm tea. Both countries have a ‘special relationship’ with the United States.”

For the British, he said, “the (English) Channel is as wide as the Atlantic.”

“Japan’s staple food is rice, they use Chinese characters, it’s a totally Asian country, but they want to feel close to the U.S,” he said.

According to Reid, his editor liked this theory and sent him to London to see if it was true.

Reid credits former British Prime Minister Tony Blair wiith convincing him to take the European Union seriously. Reid said Blair reminded him that there was a time prior to American independence when there were 13 colonies, and by compared that period to what Europe was in the process of doing.

“Great Britain was about to host an annual summit meeting of the European Union, and Tony Blair wanted to summon the big press,” Reid said. “So I went to all the meetings and covered the EU. In January 2002, the coming of the euro was a big deal. There were lots of predictions of chaos. It worked within a week beautifully.”

Deciding that he “wanted to write about what those countries do well and what (the United States) should replicate, and what they don’t do well and we shouldn’t do,” Reid embarked on his comparative policy analysis of Europe.

Throughout his career, Reid has written books that include The Chip: How Two Americans Invented the Microchip and Launched a Revolution, Ski Japan! (hailed as “the definitive English guide to Japan’s great ski resorts”), Reimagining Japan (essays about Japan’s role in the world) and Confucius Lives Next Door: What Living in the East Teaches Us About Living in the West.

As Reid’s career progressed, it became clear that having majored in the classics at Princeton University was useful.

“I was pretty good at Latin and Greek,” he said. “The classics are good preparation for law, journalism and any writing field.”

Reid said Latin and Greek are rigorous, the grammar is carefully thought out and they’re applicable to English. From Latin, Reid said he learned about the structure of a language, which helped him master Japanese, as well as study Chinese and learn Korean.

For a year after Princeton — before he was drafted during the Vietnam War, assigned to a nuclear submarine out of Newport, Rhode Island, and then ordered to Washington, D.C., to write Admiral Hyman G. Rickover’s speeches and co-write his book — Reid taught Latin at the Gilman School for boys in Baltimore.

“Eventually, I got really interested in East Asia,” Reid said. “About 30 years after Princeton, National Geographic hired me to to write pieces on the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. I was paid more than Princeton cost. … My father didn’t demand the money back.”

When Reid entered college, his father, T.R. Reid Jr., was serving as the Republican state chairman for Michigan. Reid said his father had told him that Princeton had taken 500 students too many and would be looking to flunk them out, so he’d better study.

“As it turned out, it was very hard to flunk out of Princeton then,” Reid said. “You had to work at it.”

Perhaps in partial retribution, during the fall of 1963, Reid and five other college students (three from Princeton and one each from Columbia and Michigan State) played a hoax on Princeton’s administration by creating a fictitious high school student who applied to and was accepted by the university.

Consequently, Reid was invited to perform as a challenger on the widely-watched TV show, “To Tell the Truth.” He accepted and appeared on television on Sept. 14, 1964.

Be assured, when Reid says his tax talk is full of jokes, he means it.

The IRS was “very helpful” when Reid called.

“I asked about an instruction that was so complicated, it was funny,” he said. “The woman said, ‘But there are so many of them.’ I put five in the book. We have a problem here. We have not done this well.”

According to Reid, any idea that the right, left, or center of the political aisle has come up with to fix the United States tax system — including zero corporate income tax, Sen. Bernie Sanders’ proposed reforms, the Wall Street speculation tax and the flat tax — has been tried elsewhere.

Regarding the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law on Dec. 22, 2017, Reid said that it can be assessed according to his comparative measure. During his talk on Saturday, he will answer the question, “How does it stack up?”

Reid began doing multinational comparative policy analysis when he wrote his book The United States of Europe: The New Superpower and the End of American Supremacy.

The Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle selected it for inclusion in its booklist, and in June 2005, Reid spoke in the Hall of Philosophy for the CLSC Roundtable.

At the turn of the century — when 12 European countries were giving up their individual currencies, adopting the euro and forming a monetary union — Reid became The Washington Post’s London bureau chief.

He said that as Tokyo bureau chief, he had a theory that Japan and Britain are the same country — “like island twins separated at birth.”

“They both have very expensive figurehead monarchies, but everyone likes them,” Reid said. “In each, there’s a strict class structure, and everybody’s voice changes as they move up in class. They also like lukewarm tea. Both countries have a ‘special relationship’ with the United States.”

For the British, he said, “the (English) Channel is as wide as the Atlantic.”

“Japan’s staple food is rice, they use Chinese characters, it’s a totally Asian country, but they want to feel close to the U.S,” he said.

According to Reid, his editor liked this theory and sent him to London to see if it was true.

Reid credits former British Prime Minister Tony Blair with convincing him to take the European Union seriously. Reid said Blair reminded him that there was a time prior to American independence when there were 13 colonies, and compared that period to what Europe was in the process of doing.

“Great Britain was about to host an annual summit meeting of the European Union, and Tony Blair wanted to summon the big press,” Reid said. “So I went to all the meetings and covered the EU. In January 2002, the coming of the euro was a big deal. There were lots of predictions of chaos. It worked within a week beautifully.”

Deciding that he “wanted to write about what those countries do well and what (the United States) should replicate, and what they don’t do well and we shouldn’t do,” Reid embarked on his comparative policy analysis of Europe.

Throughout his career, Reid has written books that include The Chip: How Two Americans Invented the Microchip and Launched a Revolution; Ski Japan! (hailed as “the definitive English guide to Japan’s great ski resorts”); Reimagining Japan (essays about Japan’s role in the world); and Confucius Lives Next Door: What Living in the East Teaches Us About Living in the West.

As Reid’s career progressed, it became clear that having majored in the classics at Princeton University was useful.

“I was pretty good at Latin and Greek,” he said. “The classics are good preparation for law, journalism and any writing field.”

Reid said Latin and Greek are rigorous, the grammar is carefully thought out and they’re applicable to English. From Latin, Reid said he learned about the structure of a language, which helped him master Japanese, as well as study Chinese and learn Korean.

For a year after Princeton — before he was drafted during the Vietnam War, assigned to a nuclear submarine out of Newport, Rhode Island, and then ordered to Washington, D.C., to write Admiral Hyman G. Rickover’s speeches and co-write his book — Reid taught Latin at the Gilman School for boys in Baltimore.

“Eventually, I got really interested in East Asia,” Reid said. “About 30 years after Princeton, National Geographic hired me to to write pieces on the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. I was paid more than Princeton cost. … My father didn’t demand the money back.”

When Reid entered college, his father, T.R. Reid Jr., was serving as the Republican state chairman for Michigan. Reid said his father had told him that Princeton had taken 500 students too many and would be looking to flunk them out, so he’d better study.

“As it turned out, it was very hard to flunk out of Princeton then,” Reid said. “You had to work at it.”

Perhaps in partial retribution, during the fall of 1963, Reid and five other college students (three from Princeton and one each from Columbia and Michigan State) played a hoax on Princeton’s administration by creating a fictitious high school student who applied to and was accepted by the university.

Consequently, Reid was invited to perform as a challenger on the widely watched TV show, “To Tell the Truth.” He accepted and appeared on television on Sept. 14, 1964.

Be assured, when Reid says his tax talk is full of jokes, he means it.

The Nebres family is always moving, and their time at Chautauqua Institution as Family Scholarship recipients was no exception.

“The days were incredibly full, and there were so many moments when we would just sit in amazement at the beauty of the grounds and all we could accomplish in a a single day,” Danielle Nebres said. “We ended each day thinking surely this was the best day ever, and then the following day would bring more surprises.”

Each season, the Institution offers first-time Chautauquan families an opportunity to immerse themselves in the Chautauqua experience. The Family Scholarship program, funded through Chautauqua Foundation endowments, covers gate pass costs, tuition for Special Studies classes, children’s activities and housing for one week.

The Nebres family spent Week Four, themed “Russia and the West,” on the grounds. Dance brought the family to the Institution. Libby, 12, and Charlotte, 10, are both students at the School of American Ballet in New York City and auditioned for the School of Dance summer ballet mini-intensive weekends.

When they were accepted, it created a challenge for the Nebreses — the intensives were scheduled for two different weekends, which required the family to commit to staying at the Institution for a week in between. While attempting to secure lodging for their stay, Danielle Nebres said she stumbled upon the Family Scholarship.

“Applying for the Chautauqua Family Scholarship was an exciting process for our family,” Danielle Nebres said. “The application included a few essay questions to help learn more about our family and what we would like to experience at Chautauqua. This helped us start a conversation with our kids about our interests. …  It was fun for the kids to think about trying out some new hobbies and hear what classes their parents were interested in taking.”

During their time at the Institution, the Nebres attended Special Studies courses, 10:45 a.m. morning lectures and 8:15 p.m. evening performances. Joe and Danielle Nebres enjoyed sending their three children off to programming while they began the day with coffee and morning worship. Danielle Nebres, a stay-at-home mom and Girl Scout troop leader, signed up for courses in conversational French and sailing; Joe Nebres, an online media production supervisor, participated in harmonica and sailing classes.

“Being at Chautauqua feels like you’re on family vacation on a college campus where you can audit high-level academic courses or attend only the lectures you’re interested in,” Danielle Nebres said. “… There is so much to do, but it’s also the perfect place to do nothing at all.”

Outside of the lectures and classes, the Nebres made an effort to attend as many artistic performances as possible.

“Someone at the dance school recommended that the girls sign up for the (Pilobolus) master class, and it really changed the course of our week,” Danielle Nebres said. “The kids were so inspired by the class and that evening’s Pilobolus performance that we kept taking them back for more. The performances were stunning and left us all awestruck. The girls felt so special to have had class with them. Joe and I even joined a couple of their classes.”

Their son, Nathan, 4, joined the family in their dance excursions, as well as the family’s bike rides. Before this summer, Danielle Nebres said, her daughters couldn’t ride bikes, but now it’s almost impossible to tell they just had the training wheels removed.

Libby and Charlotte, when not in ballet class, took to the lake.

“Libby really enjoyed sailing lessons, and Charlotte loved kayaking,” Danielle Nebres said. “Both have asked to continue those activities. I joined Libby on a guided sail and saw her in action using her new skills. It felt great to see her discovering a completely new hobby.”

While in the lake, Charlotte Nebres discovered underwater clay; she promptly brought the wet, messy glob home — to her mother’s dismay. Fearing that the clay would get discarded, Charlotte formed it into a replica of Miller Bell Tower, dried it out and then painted it the minute the family returned home to Madison, New Jersey, as a gift. 

The family has been “bitten by the bug and are determined to be lifelong Chautauquans,” Danielle Nebres said. 

“Now that we are back home, I have found myself being more likely to strike up conversation and make an effort to connect with others,” she said. “Chautauqua sets the stage for casual conversations with friendly strangers that often become intellectual conversations. It was in those conversations that I was surprised at how quickly you can discover common interests and common ground with others.”

Winners of the Boys’ and Girls’ Club Tennis Tournament won a free meal at the Youth Activities Center.

The tournament ran throughout Week Five and included a singles and doubles division. Younger groups played eight-game pro sets, while the older groups played a 10-game pro set. This means that instead of playing multiple sets, players may play just one.

A pro set is first to win eight games by a margin of two games, instead of first to win six games. A 12-point tie-break is usually played when the score is 8-8 (or 10-10). These are often played with no-ad scoring.

“We had great participation,” said Dan Miller, Club tennis director. “We will do this next year, and I don’t see any changes happening.”

Will Chubb of SAC Boys made the finals in both divisions. He ended up winning the singles championship 10-7.

“There were a lot of really great players in the tournament, and I knew I could fight with them,” Will said. “My opponent in the single finals was really good. A few points that went my way could have easily went his way.”

Will is following in the footsteps of his older brother, Nate, who won the singles tournament a few years ago.

The winner for the Group 6 and 7 division, Jack Bertram, won effortlessly 8-0 in the championship match.

According to Jack, he knew from the warm-up that he would beat his opponent. He also enjoyed the tournament because he got to play with some of his best friends.

The SAC doubles championship was much more closer and competitive. Ian Kellogg and Leo Anderson won 10-8 against Will and Brendan Keogh.

“We were very confident,” Ian said. “We’ve known each other for awhile and just know how to play together.”

Will might have lost the doubles championship, but he still had a positive attitude afterward. He also plans to return and win both divisions next year.

“A loss doesn’t mean you have to quit,” he said. “You just go back and try again.”

Bemus Point native Journey Gunderson has fond memories of Chautauqua Institution growing up.

“My grandmother was the hostess of the Wensley House, working for the program office under Marty Merkley, for about 30 years,” said Gunderson, executive director of the National Comedy Center in Jamestown, New York. “From a young age, I would come over to the grounds all the time to visit my grandmother, but then it was also the source of every one of my summer jobs growing up.”

Some of her summer jobs included working for Boys’ and Girls’ Club, Lakeside Lodge and lifeguarding. “Gunderson’s connections to Chautauqua run deep,” according to a previous Daily article.

A graduate of Ithaca College, Gunderson has held numerous positions at the Women’s Sports Foundation, producer and consultant for Journey Gunderson Web Strategy & Production. After eight years, her latest work came to life when the Comedy Center opened its doors to the public on Wednesday.

The Comedy Center is the first nonprofit cultural institution dedicated to the art of comedy, with over 50 exhibits that take guests through the creative process of comedians like George Carlin and Rodney Dangerfield. The complex, built in Jamestown in honor of late comedian Lucille Ball, is 37,000 square feet and cost $50 million to construct.

On Saturday, Aug. 4, the Comedy Center will hold various events for its opening weekend, such as “Story Pirates: Kids Comedy Show” at 11 a.m., “Block Party with Q Funk” at 5 p.m. and “An Evening of Classic Lily Tomlin” at 8 p.m.

Although the Comedy Center just opened its doors on Wednesday, it has partnered with the Institution on speakers, master classes and workshops since the 2017 season. Lewis Black, W. Kamau Bell, Laraine Newman, Kelly Carlin and others on the Comedy Center advisory board have been part of the Institution’s programming both this season and in previous years.

Institution Chief of Staff Matt Ewalt thinks a continued partnership with the Comedy Center will be “beneficial” for both institutions.

“Already, the National Comedy Center has this incredible resources and relationships,” Ewalt said, “along with a respect for the work of Chautauqua Institution and the conversations that take place on these grounds.”

During the 2019 season, the Institution and the Comedy Center will continue their partnership with a full week of programming. The week, dubbed “What’s Funny?,” will explore how comedy can reflect on the current state of the world and how it can also work to change the world.

All year long, Chautauqua Institution provides arts education to students in the surrounding area through programs like the Young Playwrights Project, Chautauqua Opera Invasion’s The Bremen Town Musicians and art gallery field trips. Support from various organizations such as the Goldin Foundation for Excellence in Education make these programs possible.

“What is so nice for Chautauqua specifically is that for years and years, it’s been this summer program,” said Harriet Goldin, founder of the Goldin Foundation. “Which has been fantastic, but at this point in time, it is doing more to share the wealth of all that it is doing.”

The Institution began offering year-round arts education in 2014, serving 511 children from two schools. In 2018, the program now serves more than 7,000 students in 14 schools in Chautauqua County.

“It’s incredible,” Goldin said. “But it isn’t the numbers as much as the quality of the programming (that’s incredible).”

In 2018, the Goldin Foundation awarded the Institution the Exemplary Projects Award not only because of the quality programming it offers students of various ages year-round, but also because it serves as a resource for teachers and families in Chautauqua County and neighboring communities.

Before a program can be named an exemplary project by the Goldin Foundation, it must meet a number of criteria. Among these are that the program must have been in effect for at least three years, cultivate a community of teachers and learners, and provide creative approaches in classrooms, schools and communities.

Although Goldin herself has been visiting the Institution for 20 years, she never knew about the arts education program until last year.

“I think (the arts education program) is one of the ‘unsung heroes’ that needs a lot more exposure for the whole community to learn about it,” Goldin said.

Goldin thinks it is important to “recognize and validate” programs all over the world that are benefiting their communities with awards like the Exemplary Projects Award. An educator by trade since 1962, she founded the Goldin Foundation in 1989 with the intention of recognizing the “unsung heroes” who are committed to the development of young people.

“Wonderful things are happening in their schools,” Goldin said. “We tend to focus on the things that are not so great, but in fact, there’s a lot of innovation, creativity, wonderful ideas and actions that are being implemented (in the schools).”

At Chautauqua specifically, Goldin wants the arts education program to continue to grow and have a positive impact in the surrounding areas. Like all the programs she has given Exemplary Projects Awards to, she believes the Chautauqua arts education initiatives are committed to the education of children, bettering of society as a whole and creating innovative thinkers.

For more information on underwriting opportunities, contact Karen Blozie, senior major gifts officer, at 716-357-6244 or kblozie@chq.org.

On July 23, historian Ralph Young used the Amphitheater stage to discuss dissent and its prominence in American history — from the first pilgrims who voyaged to America in the 17th century to the counterculture movements of the 1970s.

“American history has traditionally been taught emphasizing exploits of presidents, politicians, diplomats and generals,” Young said during his lecture. “But there is a case to be made that ordinary people, that grassroots movements, can move and shape history just as much as the powerful.”

From July 24 to 26 in Smith Wilkes Hall, Young spoke to members of the Bestor Society and Eleanor B. Daugherty Society about dissent in America during the Scholar in Residence program. Starting at 8:30 a.m. each morning until 10:15 a.m., he discussed the roots of dissent in America, beginning in 15th-century Europe to the modern era.

Members of the Bestor Society include Chautauquans who donate $3,500 or more to the Chautauqua Fund each year, and those who join the Daugherty Society have included Chautauqua in their will or have made a planned gift. Since 1991, the Scholar in Residence program has been a way for the Chautauqua Foundation to thank these donors for their support.

“The first thank you, of course, goes to all of you,” said Geof Follansbee, vice president of development and Chautauqua Foundation chief executive officer, as he opened the program on July 24. “It is your philanthropy that allows Chautauqua Institution to flourish.”

The Scholar in Residence program has been funded by the Edward L. Anderson Jr. Foundation for the past eight seasons. The Anderson Foundation supports arts, educational and environmental events and initiatives put on by various organizations.

“Chautauqua is one of the largest recipients from the foundation,” said Steven Anderson, president of the foundation and son of the late Edward L. Anderson Jr. “My dad spent seven weeks a year for 40 years there. … He loved dance, opera and just about everything that went on there.”

Steven Anderson described his father as someone who had a passion for learning, and the foundation carries on his legacy. The Scholar in Residence program explores a different topic every year, and he said his family’s foundation hopes to continue funding for future years.

This season, Young touched on a number of topics throughout the three-day program and how those topics related to the roots of dissent in America. He discussed the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century and connected that movement to the pilgrims settling in the new world.

He went on to talk about the Revolutionary War, Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” and Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” in addition to other issues and events, spanning 600 years of history.

Anderson Jr.’s son, Dave Anderson, thought the program was “excellent.”

“Over the last few years, the Institution has looked at some different things, moving away from geopolitical discussion into other areas,” Dave Anderson said. “I thought this was a great extension of that, and (it) fit very well with the overall week theme as well.”

For more information about special seminars like the Scholar in Residence program or giving opportunities at Chautauqua, please contact Megan Sorenson, associate director of the Chautauqua Fund, at 716-357-6243 or foundation@chq.org.