Past Pierson Teas 2014-2015

Thursday, September 11th, 4:00 pm Tea with Abhishek Majumbar

Playwright and Artistic Director of The Indian Ensemble Abhishek Majumbar. The Indian Ensemble is performing “Thook”, an imaginative theatrical story about global food systems and food security at the Iseman Theater. Majumdar and some cast members will be at Pierson to discuss the production, food security and the challenges of taking Indian theater to international arenas.

Thursday, September 18th, 4:00 pm Tea with Kia Corthron

Playwright Kia Corthron came to national attention in the early nineties with her play, Come Down Burning. She is the author of more than fifteen plays, including Breath, BoomThe Venus de Milo is ArmedTap the Leopard; and A Cool Dip in the Barren Saharan Crick. She has also written episodes for the acclaimed television series’ The Wire and The Jury. She is one of the winners of this year’s Windham Campbell Prize.

Wednesday, September 24th, 4:00 pm Tea with Chandrahas Chodhury

Novelist Chandrahas Choudhury grew up in Bombay and his native Odisha, was educated at the Universities of Delhi and Cambridge, and now lives in Delhi. He writes a weekly column on Indian politics, society and literature for Bloomberg View. Choudhury’s essays and book reviews have appeared in The NationalThe Wall Street JournalForeign Policy, and The New York Times

Thursday, October 2nd, 4:30 pm Tea with Robert C. Post

Yale Law School Dean Robert Post spoke with Master Davis about his new book “Citizens Divided: Campaign Finance Reform and the Constitution.”

Tuesday, October 7th, 4:00 pm Tea with Erica Frenkel 

Erica Frenkel is the Vice President of Gradian Health Systems, a New York-based social enterprise working to bring safe anesthesia to hospitals all over the world. 

Thursday, October 16th, 4:00 pm Tea with Samantha Grant

Samantha Grant is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, journalist, and educator. Through her San Francisco based production company GUSH productions, Sam has created work for clients including MTV, ABC, PBS, CNN, NPR, FRONTLINE, FRONTLINE/World, and Al Jazeera International.

Thursday, October 30th, 4:00 pm Tea with Amira Yahyaoui

Amira is a Tunisian human rights advocate and founder of the award winning Al Bawsala, a public policy and accountability NGO. While still a teenager, Amira was banned from her homeland for her activism and fled to Paris where she was stateless for several years. Following her country’s revolution in 2011, Amira returned to Tunisia for the transition and writing of the Tunisian constitution. 

Thursday, November 6th, 4:00 pm Tea with Ludger Viefhues-Bailey

Ludger Viefhues-Bailey serves as co-chair (with Joseph Prabhu) of the philosophy of religion section of the American Academy of Religion. Before coming to Le Moyne he was associate professor for Methods and Theory in the Study of Religion at Yale University, where he taught from 2002-10.

Wednesday, November 12th, 4:00 pm Tea with Eran Riklis

Eran Riklis has been active in the movie world since 1975, and has directed shorts, commercials and TV series. He lives in Tel Aviv but regards himself not only as an Israeli but as a world director, which he has proved in filming Playoff (2011) in Germany and Zaytoun (2012) in Israel but for the English-speaking market.

Monday, January 19th, 4:00 pm Tea with Michael Twitty

Michael decided to fully trace out his family history through the story of Southern and American food. Using genetic research, historic interpretation, nature study, heirloom gardening and interviews with contemporary voices in food, his journey led him back to his family’s origins in West and Central Africa and a front ring seat in the debate over race and food in American life.

Thursday, January 29th, 4:00 pm Tea with Jack Hedin

Jack Hedin is the owner and operator of Featherstone Farm in southeastern Minnesota, which produces 160 acres of fresh market, certified organic fruits and vegetables for distribution throughout the Midwest. Hedin received an undergraduate degree from Yale University in 1989 before becoming interested in sustainable agriculture.

Thursday, February 12th, 4:00 pm Tea with Deborah Harkness

Deborah’s career in fiction began in September 2008 when she began to wonder “if there really are vampires, what do they do for a living?” “A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES” is the unexpected answer to that question. The book debuted at #2 on the New York Timesbestseller list, and was also a bestseller in the UK, France, and Germany.

Thursday, March 5th, 4:00 pm Tea with David Neeleman

David Neeleman is the founder of JetBlue Airways Corporation and Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras S.A and serves as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Azul SA, the holding company of Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras S.A since January 2008. His career in the airline industry began in 1984 when he co-founded Morris Air Corporation where he served as President of Morris Air Corporation and implemented the industry’s first electronic ticketing system and pioneered a home reservationist system that is now the foundation of JetBlue’s call center.

Thursday, March 26th, 4:00 pm Tea with Barbara Smith

Barbara Smith is an American lesbian feminist who has played a significant role in building and sustaining Black Feminism in the United States. Since the early 1970s she has been active as a critic, teacher, lecturer, author, scholar, and publisher of Black feminist thought. 

Thursday, April 2nd, 4:00 pm Tea with Michael J. Gerhardt

Michael J. Gerhardt has advised congressional leaders and White House officials on numerous constitutional issues, including judicial nominations, recess appointments, impeachment, and the filibuster. Professor Gerhardt frequently participates in academic workshops and colloquia around the country, and he is regularly interviewed as an expert on constitutional law by network and cable television, major newspapers, and National Public Radio.

Thursday, April 16th, 4:30pm Tea with Emily Bazelon

Emily Bazelon is a staff writer at The New York Times Magazine, the Truman Capote Fellow for Creative Writing and Law at Yale Law School. Before joining the Times Magazine, Bazelon was a writer and editor for nine years at Slate, where she co-founded the women’s section DoubleX. She continues to co-host the Slate Political Gabfest, a weekly podcast. Bazelon has previously been a Soros media fellow and has worked as an editor and writer at Legal Affairs magazine and as a law clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit. She is the author of Sticks and Stones, a book on bullying, published by Random House.

 
Wednesday, April 22th, 4:30pm Tea with David Duchovny

With degrees from Princeton and Yale, Duchovny initially intended to join the ranks of English-lit academics before switching to acting. After a variety of supporting film and TV parts—including a flashy role as a cross-dressing DEA agent on the surreal series Twin Peaks—he landed his signature role as an alien-obsessed FBI agent on The X Files in 1993. During the series’ eight-year run, he made the leap to big-screen leading man (Playing God, Evolution, the X Files feature film). In 2007, he began starring in the Showtime series, Californication. His performance in that series netted him a Golden Globe win in 2008.