Main Library

Using beautiful photographs and touching, funny anecdotes, Greg will share with us some of the “Lessons from Spirit” that he’s been blessed to receive while on the road. After nearly two decades of traveling to the world’s most sacred places, Greg has realized that travel has the potential to be a profoundly powerful spiritual catalyst and accelerant.

Greg Roach is the founder of Spirit Quest Tours, which he started after a life-changing experience in Egypt. Building on his many years of personally exploring sacred places, Greg has created a vibrant enterprise that helps bring positive change to the world through travel, entertainment and education. Greg blogs regularly about his travels for Spirit Quest Tours, as well as podcasting and speaking nationally on spiritual travel and sacred sites. A very popular speaker, Greg is a traveler, writer, filmmaker, inventor, entrepreneur, guide and spiritual pilgrim. His latest writing is featured in “Modern Alchemists from the Land of the Pharaohs” along with Nicki Scully, John Anthony West and Normandi Ellis. Greg has taught and lectured all over the world at numerous prestigious institutions, including Cambridge University (England), San Francisco State, USC, and the University of Sofia. He speaks regularly on spirituality, comparative religion, sacred sites and the potential of digital technology as an artistic and storytelling tool.

Former Catholic priest Charlie Hardy is 75 years old and has no money or political experience. But none of that dissuades this 21st-century Don Quixote from running for the US Senate in his home state of Wyoming. Charlie’s courage to take a principled stand against money in politics attracts a ragtag group of young volunteers and together they jump aboard a 1970 Crown school bus, campaigning across the Wild West state in a bid to shake up this country’s political establishment.

Reed Lindsay is an award-winning independent documentary filmmaker and journalist whose work has been published in more than 20 major newspapers and magazines, aired on numerous radio stations, and broadcast on television news networks throughout the world. In 2014, Reed won a Gracie Award for Fists of Fury, a short film about a 15-year-old girl in Kolkata, India, striving to be a champion boxer. He was one of the first journalists to enter Libya after the uprising, and co-directed an hour-long film entitled Benghazi Rising that was nominated for a Rory Peck Award as best documentary in 2011. He reported on the Egyptian rebellion from beginning to end, and was co-winner of an Emmy for his contribution to the HBO documentary In Tahrir Square. Reed grew up in Ketchum, Idaho, where his production company, Belly of the Beast Films, is currently based.

Across the world, artificial intelligence (AI) is helping autocrats consolidate power and fundamentally altering the relationship between citizen and state. The promise of Arab Spring and digital revolutions has given way to mass surveillance and growing repression. China is driving the proliferation of AI technology to authoritarian regimes as a key component of its geopolitical strategy. From Pakistan to Zimbabwe, a dangerous authoritarian vision of the future is taking shape. Democracies must think seriously about how to counter these trends and shape better practices.

For a preview of Steven’s work, and if you are interested in preparing for his talk, here is a recent paper that he has published on this subject.

Steven Feldstein is Associate Professor and Frank and Bethine Church Chair of Public Affairs at Boise State University, and nonresident fellow with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Democracy and Rule of Law Program. He served as a deputy assistant secretary for democracy and human rights at the U.S. Department of State (2014-17).

Learn about the inspiring 500 mile solo journey “The Camino de Santiago” across Northern Spain that
local Personal Trainer and Nutrition Specialist, Brenda Powell, embarked upon a year ago, and hear how
it has transformed her life. She will share her personal story of transformation: the challenges, pitfalls and inspirations she encountered along the way. Join her as she shares about the interesting history of the Camino and why hundreds of thousands are embarking on this and other spiritual
journeys in the world. One year later she is still walking the sacred path, this time by helping others discover and design their own personal Camino journeys through life.

Brenda will also be previewing a very exciting program and guest speaker who will be coming to Sun Valley in January – Greg Roach.  Greg and Brenda will be co-presenting a forum on “The Alchemy of Sacred Travel” Greg is the owner of SpiritQuest Tours and has spent over 25 years guiding trips to the most sacred sites on the planet.  His dynamic presentations stir the soul and get you excited to plan your own sacred journey!

Medicine. Law, Architecture: You’ve dedicated your lives to your professions. Yet many remain unprepared or in denial when it’s time to step down. “How to Not Flunk Retirement” is one blueprint for success that creates the strategies in transitioning from your profession to a new life. This lecture will focus on three areas.

 

1. Take a hard look at yourself. What are the psychological and practical aspects in determining the right time to step down?
2. The constant cash flow from being employed is going to vanish. What are the financial requirements for preparing for retirement?
3. Who do you want to become? Transitioning to life after a busy career.

Doctor Scranton is a Board Certified orthopedic surgeon who trained at the University of Pittsburgh, where he was an Assistant Professor for three years. He joined Orthopedics International in Seattle in 1979 and became the team physician for the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, 1980 – 1997. He was President of the NFL’s Physician’s Society in 1997, President of the American Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Society in 2001 and served as President of the North American Orthopedic Educational Society from 2006 – 2012. He enjoyed orthopedic practice for 36 years, founding a mission in Vietnam to treat landmine victims and disabled children the last 13 years of practice. He retired to Ketchum, Idaho in 2016. He is the author of “Playing Hurt: Treating the Warriors of the NFL,” (Potomac Press, 2001) and is currently working on a novel.