LEESBURG, Florida — Beacon College has announced its speaker lineup for the 2024-2025 Salon Speaker Series. As the College’s flagship community education outreach program for lifelong learners in its eighth season, the series brings to the forefront authors, scientists, historians, poets, actors, and musicians from around the state and country to educate, edify, and entertain.

Each Salon Speaker Series event is free and open to the public. Tickets are available at https://www.beaconcollege.edu/news-events/salon-series/ with each ticket including a free catered meal (vegetarian option available). Meals are served beginning at 6:15 p.m. The speaker begins each presentation at 7 p.m.

Dr. David Head: A Very Mysterious Business: George Washington and the Rumored Rebellion on Aug. 28, 2024, at the Venetian Center, Leesburg
In March 1783, as negotiations to end the Revolution were well underway, an anonymous letter circulated through the Continental Army’s camp near Newburgh, New York. It called for the officers to meet — outside the chain of command — and act boldly to strong arm Congress to deliver on their long overdue pay and desperately needed pensions. Challenged to preserve civilian supremacy over the military, Washington rose to occasion, but he never shook his suspicion that someone plotted to use the army as a pawn in a political game. Dr. David Head shares how the episode, now known as the Newburgh Conspiracy, reveals the danger of conspiracy thinking — in Washington’s time and in ours.

Dr. Ray Nault: Japanese Woodblock Art on Sept. 18, 2024, at the Venetian Center, Leesburg
This presentation celebrates the history and techniques of Japanese woodblock printing. Sharing from his seven-year experience of working in a traditional studio, Dr. Ray Nault won’t spend time dwelling in the past. Instead, he’ll demonstrate how the 20th century changed the relationships of the designer, carver, and printer, and in doing so opened up an incredible avenue for experimentation and creativity.

Dr. Leigh Camacho Rourks: Appallingly Funny: Humor and the Taboo from War Literature to Social Media on Oct. 16, 2024, at the Venetian Center, Leesburg
From gallows humor to coarse jabs, humans have a habit of laughing at the most inappropriate things. While humor is cultural and generational, in every group there is someone joking through their pain, their fear, their weariness, their boredom, and even their hate. And someone else who doesn’t quite “get the joke.” Whether it is the margins of medieval illuminated texts filled with dirty quips scrawled by bored monks or the comedic war novels and poems which refuse to treat death with the solemn respect it disserves, literature and pop culture is rich with examples of “inappropriate” jokes and “offensive” humor. In this presentation, Dr. Leigh Camacho Rourks asks what it is about the taboo that makes us want to crack a joke.

Christopher Irving: The Future Happened Yesterday on Nov. 21, 2024, at the Venetian Center, Leesburg
Advancements in astronomy (such as the James Webb telescope), technological innovations (such as the SpaceX program), robotic advancements (like those happening at Boston Dynamics), and controversial tech products (like Elon Musk’s Neuralink) create a potentially growing dilemma for sci-fi literature and cinema. Maybe. How can we keep the fiction in science-fiction as our ability to understand the universe is growing exponentially? Christopher Irving will examine how sci-fi literature and its cinematic representations are both expanding and retreating due to our continued demystification of the universe. Where, if anywhere, does progress direct (or maroon) both literature and cinema of this genre?

Candy and Greg Dawson: A Ukrainian Symphony of Survival: From Holocaust to Putin’s War on Dec. 9, 2024, at the Venetian Center, Leesburg
Greg and Candy Dawson shed light on the little-known dawn of the Holocaust, the slaughter of a million Jews in Ukraine who were shot in open pits even before Auschwitz and other death camps began gassing Jews. They tell this through the story of Greg’s mother and her younger sister, both piano prodigies, who miraculously escaped a Nazi death march and survived the war by assuming non-Jewish identities and performing for the Nazis. They fast-forward to the war in Ukraine and an equally miraculous full-circle sequel to his mother’s story. Amazingly 80 years after a Christian family in Ukraine sheltered his mother and aunt, his family facilitated refuge in America for the descendants of that family fleeing Putin’s war.

CFCArts Big Band: Hand-Drawn Jazz on Jan. 30, 2025, at Lake Deaton United Methodist Church, Wildwood
For as long as animators have been bringing stories and characters to life, they have looked to jazz composers to lend a sense of energy, improvisation, and whimsy to their creations. Featuring the diverse and dynamic CFCArts Big Band, “Hand-Drawn Jazz” will be an exploration and a celebration of the intersection of jazz and animation. With music from so many of your favorites like “The Pink Panther,” “Toy Story,” “The Incredibles,” “Cowboy Bebop,” and “Encanto,” this will be a musical experience full of great music and a few creative surprises.

Kimberly Wehle: How to Read the Constitution and Why on Feb. 10, 2025, at the Venetian Center, Leesburg
Author, journalist, television legal analyst, and constitutional law scholar Kimberly Wehle reveals the essence of America’s Constitution with a presentation based on her book, “How to Read the Constitution — and Why.” In clear, simple terms, Wehle unpacks its significance and relevance today. By incorporating excerpts from the Constitution, she highlights its erosion and why it’s crucial for every American to grasp this “red flag” moment in our democracy.

Dr. J. Michael Butler: State, Local and National Campaigns: The Civil Rights Movement in Florida on March 13, 2025, at the Venetian Center, Leesburg
Dr. J. Michael Butler emphasizes the importance of the civil rights movement in Florida. Like other states, Florida has a complex civil rights history. Understanding this legacy is crucial to understanding contemporary race relations in America as a whole.

Martina Mathisen: Cleopatra, The Last Pharaoh of Egypt on April 3, 2025, at the Venetian Center, Leesburg
Cleopatra will spring from the pages of history as Martina Mathisen channels the legendary ruler. Cleopatra’s story is more amazing and incredible than a fiction author could imagine. Mathisen will share her astounding story, audacious spirit, and astonishing guile in this educational, entertaining, and engaging presentation. Meet a queen strikingly different from the Hollywood impression of her.