We have two full weeks of programming ahead in what is the Assembly’s busiest time of year—July 4! For the week of June 29-July 5, we look forward to welcoming Betsy Wills for a lecture Wednesday evening (July 2) on “Finding Your Hidden Genius: The Power and Permanence of Our Natural Abilities,” with a book signing to follow. Wills is the cofounder of YouScience, a national online psychometric-assessment service in Nashville. She regularly guest lectures at Vanderbilt University and the Stern School of Business at New York University. Her book, Your Hidden Genius, was released earlier this year.

Supercomputer expert Justin Whitt works for the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where he leads teams in deploying large and complex scientific instruments. In his lecture Thursday morning (July 3), Whitt will address “Blazing a Path to the Frontier: the story of the first exascale computer.” In his current role, Whitt works on the LEGEND-1000 project, which plans to build and operate a large (four stories tall) detector system 1.5 miles underground to search for an unobserved phenomenon called neutrino-less double beta decay. He led the project to deliver the world’s first exascale supercomputer, capable of more than a quintillion calculations each second.

In our fifth week of the season (July 6-12), frequent Monteagle lecturer Oscar Fitzgerald returns to share a talk titled, “Who Won the Vietnam War? Surprise!” For 13 years, Fitzgerald established and directed the Navy’s Vietnam history program, working on classified and unclassified histories of the southeast Asian war. He also managed the Navy’s extensive Vietnam archives and headed the oral history project that drew from more than 40 interviews with senior U.S. and Vietnamese naval officers.

Another well-known Mountain figure, John McCardell Jr., returns to lecture Thursday evening (July 10) about “‘Wicked?’ The Road to Emerald City and the Presidential Election of 1896.” A historian by training, McCardell is perhaps best known for his time serving as Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of the South, a role he held from 2010-2020. As a doctoral student at Harvard University, McCardell wrote a dissertation on “The Idea of a Southern Nation,” which won the Allan Nevins Prize from the Society of American Historians in 1979.

Additional events in the next two weeks include the following:

Tuesday, July 1, 11:45 a.m., Warren Chapel — James Manning lectures on “The Oaklands Mansion: Adaptive Re-use and One Museum’s Community Partnerships.”

Tuesday, July 1, 2:30 p.m., meet at the Auditorium — All-Assembly Outreach Project to build beds for Sleep in Heavenly Peace.

Wednesday, July 2, 10:45 a.m., Warren Chapel — Sandra Randleman lectures on “Caregiving for Elders: What you need to know and should anticipate about caring for your spouse or parent.”

Saturday, July 5, 7:30 p.m., Harton Hall—Outreach Fundraiser: An auction and dance to fund MSSA’s Outreach work.

Monday, July 7, 6:00 p.m., Mall Gazebo—The Final Crossings Gospel Band brings music to the MSSA Mall.

Tuesday, July 8, 10:45 a.m., Warren Chapel—Liz Norell lectures on the Enneagram. An afternoon workshop (2:30-4:00 p.m.) invites attendees to learn more about the Enneagram and engage in reflection/exploration.

Tuesday, July 8, 7:45 p.m., Auditorium—The Sewanee Summer Music Festival performs.

Wednesday, July 9, 3:00 p.m., Harton Hall—Anne Byrn offers a baking demonstration from her book, Baking in the American South.

Thursday, July 10, 10:45 a.m., Warren Chapel—Anne Monfore lectures on “Old Hollywood Movie Stars: Their lives tragedies, and how mental health impacted the lives of Vivian Leigh, Judy Garland, Joan Crawford, Audrey Hepburn, and Gene Tierney.

Friday, July 11, 10:45 a.m., Warren Chapel—Members of the Monteagle Assembly Endowment Fund board discusses what the fund has accomplished in the last year, how it operates, and more.

Friday, July 11, 2:30-4:30 p.m., Shady Dell—Make-and-Take Workshop to create a felted wool trivet, led by Virginia Curry. (Advance registration and fee required.)

Saturday, July 12, 5:30 p.m., Mall — The Art Four Sale musical group will play jazz music from the Mall Gazebo. Bring a lawn/camp chair or blanket to enjoy.

The Mission of the Monteagle Sunday School Assembly is to be a welcoming community of Christian faith where people gather to engage in spiritual growth and renewal, lifelong inquiry and learning, recreational, and cultural enrichment, while being good stewards of our natural resources and our Assembly heritage.