The Creativity Workshop in Prague

From http://www.creativityworkshop.com/prague.html

http://www.creativityworkshop.com/prague.html

Program Overview

• The Creativity Workshop in Prague will help you become more creative in your personal and professional life; to this end, the Workshop uses the tools of creative writing, memoir, art, photography, storytelling, mapmaking, and guided visualization.
• Participants come from many different countries and professional fields, including business, education, psychology, the sciences, and the arts.
• Many people who have taken the Workshop say that it was a transformative experience, helping them to write their books, start new companies, complete long overdue projects, transition to rewarding retirements, and change the way they look at life.

Program Details

• The Creativity Workshop in Prague meets for 5 days, 3 1/2 hours per day (from 10:00 AM to 1:30 PM). You will have the rest of your time free to take in this breathtaking city, famous for its blocks of original Baroque and Art Nouveau buildings.
• Class will be held at Hotel Paris, a beautiful Art Nouveau building in Prague’s historical center, in a section primarily open to pedestrians only. From here, you will be within easy walking distance of Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square.

Read more

Vaclav Havel Makes a Movie

At the ripe, young age of 73, Former Czech president Vaclav Havel is directing his first film, an adaptation of his autobiographical 2007 play Leaving about a "recently retired statesman (Chancellor Rieger) going through the withdrawal symptoms of power within the general framework of Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard and Shakespeare’s King Lear."

Michael Zantovsky speaks with Havel about this and many other things in the current issue of World Affairs.

Besides providing inspiration to maturing would-be filmmakers, the interview is interesting on many levels. When asked if he is a "believer" Havel replies:

It is hard to say. If by believing you mean praying to an anthropomorphic deity who created the world and half controls it and half observes it, then I am probably not a believer. But if you mean that it is not all accidental, that there is a mystery to existence, a deeper meaning, that I do believe in. Actually, I am pretty sure of it.... we ask, why is there anything living? And then we ask, why is there anything at all? And if you tell some advocate of scientism that the answer is a secret, he will go white hot and write a book. But it is a secret. And the experience of living with the secret and thinking about it is in itself a kind of faith. 

On his political leanings:

I am always amused when people try to put me in a drawer and label me as this or that. It is not all that important. What is important to me is the truth. And the truth is that Russia has become a threat to its neighbors. I don’t care whether this be considered liberal, or conservative, or progressive. But it is the truth. I am not a friend of war. But it is the truth that if we had intervened in Kosovo sooner, we might have saved many lives. The same thing holds for Iraq. When the first Gulf War took place, I was all for going all the way to Baghdad. When dictators get appeased, people die.  

Obama and Europe

Arianna Huffington writes about criticism Barack Obama has been receiving because of his popularity in Europe (where a June poll in the Telegraph revealed “a striking level of anti-American feeling” and over 65% of those polled in Italy, France, and Germany indicated support for Obama).

Why wouldn’t we want the President of the United States to be liked and respected by the leaders and peoples of other nations, particularly those of our allies in Europe? One might think that increasing a sense of good will toward Americans and the U.S. would be beneficial to our long-term national security, among other things.

(By the way, I can’t help but wonder which candidate they prefer in McCain’s favorite European "country": Czechoslovakia.)

Under the Linden 2008

This sounds like an interesting event in the Czech Republic this summer:

Mixing screenings, readings, concerts, performances and exhibitions, the intimate nature of this event forms an essential part of its vision. In an increasingly fragmented and alienating contemporary landscape, the need for a meeting on a human scale, for an experience that unfolds over several days in a distinctive space and atmosphere, outside of the turbulence and distraction of the modern urban zone, seems more important than ever, and one felt by many people, in numerous ways, worldwide. Under the Linden is about building an international community of mutual intent, about defending and promoting what matters.

Participants include John Berger, Don DeLillo, and Sally Potter, among others.

Under the Linden: A Gathering for the Enduring Arts takes place on August 20-25, 2008 in Kamenice nad Lipou, Czech Republic. Additional information is available at their web site.