This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.

Chautauqua Series Comes to Clinton

To promote civic dialogue as well as educate residents on different issues affecting the community, the Clinton Human Rights Committee has scheduled four lectures to be held through early August at the Henry Carter Hull Library.

In the early 20th century, a popular event in rural communities was what is called a Chautauqua (Shaw-taw-kwa) — a gathering of speakers, musicians, and storytellers meant to bring civic engagement to small towns. Recently Tom Shultz, the chairperson of the Clinton Human Rights Committee, decided to bring the idea to Clinton.

“I’d heard that parents were asking for help with things like asking the library if there were books on trans issues so they could understand better and just people talking about different ideas,” said Shultz.

"I was already familiar with the Chautauqua idea even though they kind of went out of style a long time ago. I began as a history major and I thought it just seemed like a good idea and a great metaphor for where we are now,” said Shultz.

Shultz described the metaphor he was referring to by explaining that Chautauquas went out of style as radio became popular and people had less of a reason to leave their houses to hear news or stories. In modern times, Shultz said that as people have become more used to bickering over social media, they have become less involved with their physical community. Schultz said he hopes by holding in person Chautauquas it will draw people out to move more civic dialogues about issues.

“If it works well, we will do more next year. When we were planning this, we had a big list of topics then whittled it down to these four, so we do have some more ideas for topics,” said Shultz.

Four different community events are planned for the rest of July and early August dealing with food poverty, welcoming refugees, and transgender awareness.

Then next event in the series is on July 27. Director of Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services (IRIS) Chris George will lead “… a discussion of the ways our town and organizations are playing a role in refugee resettlement. Learn about how IRIS is helping refugee families integrate into their new communities and how you might help.”

The final event will be held on Wednesday, Aug. 3 and is titled Trans: 101. A press release says the event will feature Jillian Celentano, MSW, author and transgender community advocate. Jillian is a therapist, educator, and mentor for transgender children and young adults. Her book Transitioning Later in Life: A Personal Guide was informed by her transition at age 55. Celentano hold a bachelor’s in psychology and a master’s in social work, and she has co-authored two transgender studies at Yale and currently volunteers with the Yale Gender Program.

The first event in the series was held on July 13 (after press time) and featured Clinton police chief Vincent DeMaio talking about community policing.

“It went really, really well. The chief did a great presentation,” Shultz said.

Schultz said that he would hopefully like to see the attendance grow for the next events in the series.

“If we can get more people coming out that would be great,” said Shultz.