Dr. Sylvanie Wallington, Harvard Educated Astronomer, will speak about Dark Matter. Over the last 80 years astronomers have observed that the motion of some stars in galaxies and other celestial behavior cannot be explained without there being much more total mass in the universe than we detect from observations. Things don’t “add up” unless there is some mysterious “dark matter” that cannot be directly observed since it neither emits nor absorbs light. And this “missing mass” is not insignificant: it makes up about 85% of all the mass in the universe! As such, it plays a crucial role in our understanding of the structure and evolution of the universe. Dr. Wallington presents the evidence for this dark matter in simple layman’s terms. We follow the scientific trail that led to our understanding of dark matter in the universe by examining how astronomers gather light from celestial objects, how they use that light to understand the motions of stars and galaxies, and how they calculate the gravity needed to explain those motions. Step by step, we build the case for this mysterious substance, whose existence is widely accepted by the scientific community. Dr. Wallington is a graduate of Princeton University, and has a Ph.D. in astronomy from Harvard, where she specialized in the theoretical modeling of gravitational lenses. After a number of years of teaching she left the field and currently works as a web designer and programmer. She has lived in Old Greenwich with her husband and two children for more than a decade, during which time she has given a number of astronomy talks in the public schools. Arranged by Bob Smith

Myanmar, formally called Burma, is a country in southeast Asia bordered by Bangladesh and India to the west, by China to the north, and by Laos and Thailand to the east. The country has been under military control since a coup in 1962, but is starting to implement democratic changes and emerge from isolation. It was visited by President Obama in November of 2012 in recognition of the changes that have taken place. Because it was cut off from the rest of the world for many decades the country has been able to preserve its culture better than many other countries.


During this trip Bill visited Yangon (formerly Rangoon), Mandalay, Began, and the region around Inle Lake. The program is divided into three sections: an introduction; a presentation on Buddhism, practiced by an estimated 89% of the population; and a section on the people of Myanmar who were friendly and very accepting of tourists. This multimedia, storytelling program contains about 250 still images and video clips. These are blended with music, live narration, and locally recorded sounds to bring a visit to this wonderful country to life.

Bill is well qualified to present lectures and programs on photography. He is a retired PhD analytical chemist and spectroscopist who worked for 34 years helping to design spectroscopic instrumentation for the chemical laboratory. His work included the design of the software user interfaces for a number of products. At the same time he pursued photography as a serious hobby. This combination of experience in science, spectroscopy, computers, and photography allows Bill to understand the technical aspects of photographic equipment plus the associated computer software, and relate them to the needs of the photographer.

Bill’s interest in photography began in high school, but really started to develop after he finished graduate school, moved to Connecticut, and joined his first camera club in 1969. He first joined PSA in 1970 and began entering exhibitions soon after. He now has 5 stars in four divisions of PSA (Projected Image, Photo Travel, Photojournalism, and Nature). He also has ten galaxies in the Color Class of the Projected Image Division and three galaxies in the Photo Travel Division. He has also earned numerous awards in local competitions. He has received the distinction of Master from PSA (MPSA); the distinction of Artiste from the Federation Internationale de L’art Photographique (AFIAP); and has been awarded the honor of Master Member by the New England Camera Club Council (MNEC). He has also received four Bronze Stars for contributions to the PSA Journal.

Bill is a member of the Photographic Society of America, the New Haven Camera Club, and the Connecticut Association of Photographers. He is on the Executive Board of the New England Camera Club Council. He is a frequent lecturer for camera clubs and other organizations on travel and photography, and is a frequent judge.

Bill shifted his picture taking from film to digital following a trip to Kenya in 2000 where he shot his last photographs on film. In the last few years he has been pursuing a hybrid approach to his photography where stills, video clips, and sound files are combined to create essays and travel presentations with more production values than is possible using only still photographs. Bill likes to combine photography with travel to interesting places.

Arranged by Andre Gilbert

Hanifa Washington studied Communication Theory, and Russian and Soviet Studies at Beloit College in Wisconsin. Her studies pushed her to be critical of mass media, to examine the motives of human communication on varying platforms, as well as exuberantly explore the evolution of anthropologic linguistics in varying human societies.

She is steeped in digital media creation and studied Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed at length- a form of popular theatre that empowers communities to problem solve constructively. Hanifa studied Russian for 7 years and traveled to Moscow and St. Petersburg in 1996. She graduated with her BA in 2001 and went on to work heavily as a youth development specialist in the experiential learning sector. She was a co-founder the first worker owned cooperative in Portland, Maine and has a reverence for sustainable, organic food sovereignty.

Hanifa served as the cook and educator on the Amistad throughout a ten-month tour of the Caribbean. She was part of the Amistad’s historic arrival in Cuba and completed the schooner’s homecoming to Mystic, Connecticut. During this high-profile public diplomacy initiative with the direct involvement of the United Nations, US State Department, and the Cuban government, Hanifa fulfilled her professional work duties with efficiency and skill, but she did so while bolstering crew morale at critical moments, and she did so while always reminding the crew of the greater purpose of the voyage they had undertaken.

Even during the most difficult moments – and there were many — she never lost her spirit of optimism, and she embraced with wonderment the extraordinary events unfolding — from conducting the Haitian student sail programs (after the devastating earthquake) to participating in formal receptions with the leaders of Cuba and the US diplomatic core. And every so often, she’d agree to perform music for the crew, for the students and a few times at public events.

She went on to sail over 250 days at sea, also working with the South Carolina Maritime Foundation and Ocean Classroom Foundation. Hanifa returned to Amistad in a coordinating role January 2011, and helped to create the vision and curriculum for the Amistad’s DR based programming, and new Connecticut based summer programming. This past winter she coordinated Amistad’s first winter programs from the Amistad Center of Santo Domingo.

Arranged by Bob Smith.

J. Michael Lennon, the official biographer of Norman Mailer, knew Mailer for thirty-five years, and in writing this biography, he has had the cooperation of Mailer’s late widow, Norris Church, his ex-wives, and all of his children, as well as his sister, Barbara. He also had access to Mailer’s vast, unpublished correspondence and papers, and he interviewed dozens of people who knew Mailer. Norman Mailer: A Double Life gives us the man in full, a remarkable and unique figure in the context of his times.

Norman Mailer was one of the giants of American letters and one of the most celebrated public figures of his time. He was a novelist, journalist, biographer, and filmmaker; a provocateur and passionate observer of his times; and a husband, father, and serial philanderer.

Perhaps nothing characterized Mailer more than his unbounded ambition. He wanted not merely to be the greatest writer of his generation, but a writer great enough to be compared to Dostoevsky and Tolstoy. As Michael Lennon describes, he even had presidential ambitions, although he settled for running for mayor of New York City. He championed personal freedom and civil liberties, calling himself a “left conservative,” and yet he was Enemy #1 of the Women’s Movement. He was as pugnacious in real life as in print, engaging in famous feuds and fights. Although he considered himself first and foremost a novelist, his greatest literary contribution may have been in journalism, where he used his novelistic gifts in tandem with self-revelation to explore the American psyche. In that regard, the subtitle of his Pulitzer Prize– and National Book Award–winning Armies of the Night is telling: “History as a Novel, the Novel as History.” He would return to certain subjects obsessively: John F. Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, sex, technology, and the intricate relationship of fame and identity. Michael Lennon’s definitive biography captures Mailer in all his sharp complexities and shows us how he self-consciously invented and reinvented himself throughout his lifetime.

Arranged by Alex Garnett.

Jay Dirnberger. member of the Westport Y’s Men. will speak about “Drones” and how these precision guided, remote controlled pilotless aircraft have taken out some of the U.S.’s worst enemies.

Arranged by Bob Smith.

William B. Cogar received his doctorate in history from Oxford University and is the former Director at The Mariners’ Museum in Newport News, VA. A former History Professor at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD, he also lectured at the Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, England. Besides directing the Naval Academy Museum, Dr. Cogar was also Vice President for Collections and Research at Mystic Seaport. He is the author of various books and articles, including a multi-volume Dictionary of Admirals of the U. S. Navy. He also edited and was a contributor to Encyclopedia of Naval History (London: 1996). Bill retired recently from the Mariners Museum as President and CEO.

Dr. Cogar’s talk is entitled “Lord Horatio Nelson and The Battle of Trafalgar”. A little over two hundred years ago (1805), the most celebrated figure in naval history, Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson, died at the moment of his greatest victory, the Battle of Trafalgar. Besides being a bold and innovative naval commander and a national hero, Nelson was also vain, arrogant, even cold and cruel. Through colorful illustrations, Bill Cogar will examine Nelson as a sailor, whose qualities made him a naval hero; as a God and how he has been idolized as an inspiration for others; and as a man, whose greatness was balanced by human frailties and weaknesses. Dr. Cogar has amazing illustrations from the various museums he has as sources.

From 1983 to 1998, he was a history professor at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. In 1993, he was appointed director of the Naval Academy Museum, where he embarked on an ambitious program to expand services, revitalize the museum and increase the importance of Naval Heritage. In addition to a series of temporary exhibitions, he completed a comprehensive master plan to modernize the museum with new galleries and permanent exhibits. His efforts resulted in state-of-the-art galleries on World War II, the Cold War Navy, and the Navy in Space. For his service, Cogar was awarded the U.S. Navy’s Meritorious Civilian Service Award in 1998.

In 1998, Cogar joined The Mariners’ Museum as vice president and chief curator, and he worked to make the museum’s collections more accessible both actually and virtually. He supervised the collections, exhibition design and education departments and was instrumental in several major exhibitions.

Cogar joined Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, Connecticut, as vice president for collections and research in 2002, managing the curatorial, photographic, publications, and intellectual property departments as well as the G.W. Blunt White Library.
In 2007, Cogar returned to The Mariners’ Museum as vice president of museum operations overseeing the curatorial, collections management, exhibit design, education, conservation, and photography departments. He also oversaw The Mariners’ Museum Library that houses the finest collection of books, manuscripts, maps, charts, and rare books in North America. In January 2008, Cogar was promoted to executive vice president and chief operating officer.

Arranged by Fraser Wright

Mike is a co-founder of Diligence LLC, which helps its clients confront difficult business challenges. In this role, they provide companies with both intelligence and analysis to enable them to identify, manage and mitigate risks stemming either from the normal flow of business, or from unanticipated contingencies.

During his career as a covert field operations officer for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Mike specialized in counter-terrorism, counter-narcotic and counter-insurgency operations. He engaged in, organized and supervised operations around the globe, working in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, the former Soviet Union and elsewhere. Mike will talk about the top crises facing the USA: cyber-security, Iran, and North Korea.

SMA Contact: Bob Smith

Unemployment is a nasty problem for all parts of American society and it is worse in Europe, especially among young people.

Mr. Dilenschneider will discuss this topic as well as how people at all levels can find work and how they should do it.

After leaving his position as President and Chief Executive Officer of Hill and Knowlton Inc. in 1991 Mr. Dilenschneider founded the Dilenschneider Group,Inc in October 1991 and serves as its Chairman of the Board.

Mr. Dilenschneider began his career in public relations in 1967, and has since worked with a wide variety of organizations. He directed communications activities during the Chilean grape tampering crisis, the US Steel/Marathon merger, the Kansas City Hyatt disaster and the Three-Mile Island accident. Mr. Dilenschneider has been Trustee of Institute Of International Education Inc. since 1989. He served as Member of the Board of Governors of the American Red Cross, and serves on the advisory boards of the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center and the College of Business Administration at the University of Notre Dame.

Mr. Dilenschneider received a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame, and an M.A. in journalism from Ohio State University.

Arranged by: Martin Skala

Pete Radovich and Steve Karasik of CBS Sports, who were central to the production of the Emmy Award winning documentary about the rich traditions of the Army/Navy game called “A Game of Honor”, will speak to us about the making of the documentary.

Arranged by Tom Lom