Letter
from the
President of the Foundation.
December, 2007
Dear Friends of the Robert
Schalkenbach Foundation ,
Greetings! When fiction first entered the categories of literature,
many in the intelligentsia attacked it as a development that would
further dumb down the populace. This class of individuals would
now be in rapturous delight were sales of Charles Dickens dramatically
to increase. Why, even more reading of Danielle Steele (an alumna
of my college, which dedicated the cover story of its magazine
to her advice on the art of writing) might spark a smile – at
least if it accompanied a decline in the watching of TV and DVDs
and the playing of video games.
Not only do most people receive their information these days
in different forms from those of yore, they do so with the help
of media that are, in the main, more conducive to retaining theories
and data as well as being open to changing casts of mind and opinion.
No less a luminary than Harvard Medical School now reports (in
writing!) that “memories are best created and then strengthened
when information is processed as an association that involves all
of your senses.” Reading and writing, however illustrious,
illustrative and Joyce/Faulkner’ian, are essentially abstract
and literally linear. Conferences and films provide, even bombard,
us with data simultaneously, and they engage more of the senses.
Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” may contain
more than a couple of “convenient untruths”, but he
deserved his half of the Nobel Peace prize for energizing the populace
to take the scientific evidence seriously and to create a mass
movement to counter global warming.
And this is an RSF year-end fund-raising letter because….?
Because, although the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation is perhaps
best known as a publisher and purveyor of the writings of Henry
George and his followers through time – and this work is
and ever shall be important to our mission and institutional identity – we
have always been engaged in much more besides. Indeed, the RSF
accomplishments in 2007 of which I am most proud are the Scranton
Conference on “Two Views of Social Justice: a Catholic/Georgist
Dialogue” and more – lots more – progress on
our film now tentatively titled “Access Denied”.
Partnering on the formal program with CGO and Scranton University,
we have widened both our audience and our perspectives by speaking
and listening to such scholarly and convivial Catholics. The University
of Scranton is expected to publish a conference volume based on
the proceedings, but even the best editor cannot convey with sufficient
success either the energy in the room during the presentations
or the interactions they inspired. Gathering together adds significant
value to even the most intellectual of enterprises.
A product of our partnership with Cinema Libre Studio and its
award-winning director Philippe Diaz, “Access Denied”,
I am convinced, will touch the hearts and open the minds of a broad
spectrum of viewers. Why do the equity of equal access to Nature’s
bounty and the economics of taxing rent matter so much? Because
without them, we have poverty, the crime and casualty of massive
poverty. We want to change the world. This film can help us. Its
searing and human portrayal of poverty in the midst of plenty can
bring people to our books. And, in doing so, it can create a global
movement for change.
Please use the following click on the "Donations" link below
to help us with our global mission by contributing as you can.
We are grateful for your financial support and the important incentive
your interest gives us to keep moving forward.
Best wishes for 2008,
Adele Wick
RSF President
Donations
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