{"id":9267,"date":"2018-09-10T14:55:01","date_gmt":"2018-09-10T18:55:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.stetson.edu\/faculty-engagement\/?p=9267"},"modified":"2020-11-10T13:54:16","modified_gmt":"2020-11-10T18:54:16","slug":"best-selling-author-to-speak-at-values-day-about-the-search-for-happiness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.stetson.edu\/brown-center\/2018\/09\/9267\/","title":{"rendered":"Best-selling Author to Speak at Values Day about the Search for Happiness | Stetson Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

[This story was reprinted in its entirety from\u00a0Stetson Today<\/a>]\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

September 8, 2018<\/em><\/p>\n

Eric Weiner traveled to Iceland \u2013 one of the happiest places on Earth \u2013 for his best-selling book, \u201cThe Geography of Bliss,\u201d and learned something he likes to share with college students.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Eric Weiner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Weiner talks to students around the country and is \u201calways amazed\u201d at how worried they are about their job prospects and what they\u2019ll do with their lives, even in their first year of college.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would really hope that more students are able to remain noncommittal in a way to what their future is,\u201d said Weiner, the\u00a0keynote speaker<\/a>\u00a0for\u00a0Values Day<\/a>\u00a0on Sept. 25. \u201cYou need to have a phase of your life where you\u2019re exploring, and where you\u2019re not pegged down to one channel, one slot in life.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you\u2019ll discover when you get to the Iceland chapter in my book, there are places in the world where you don\u2019t need to be pegged down to one career. You can have five different careers in your lifetime and nobody will find that odd. And I think that\u2019s very liberating,\u201d he said by phone from his home in the Washington, D.C., area.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Geography of Bliss: One Grump\u2019s Search for the Happiest Places in the World\u201d was selected for this year\u2019s\u00a0Stetson R.E.A.D.<\/a>\u00a0on Values Day. Hundreds of copies of the book already have been distributed to students, faculty and staff on campus.<\/p>\n

\"\"Weiner, a former reporter for The New York Times and foreign correspondent for NPR, will speak in Lee Chapel inside Elizabeth Hall at 10:30 a.m. Sept. 25. The university cancels classes and closes offices for Values Day, allowing the Stetson community to reflect and take action on its core values of personal growth, intellectual development and global citizenship.<\/p>\n

After the talk, participants can discuss the book and ask Weiner questions at 12:30 p.m. during the Stetson R.E.A.D., a program founded and developed by Rajni Shankar-Brown, Ph.D., associate professor and\u00a0Jessie Ball duPont Chair of Social Justice Education. Space is limited, so\u00a0please RSVP. Weiner also will be available at a\u00a0Book Signing<\/a>\u00a0from 1:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. in the Lynn Presentation Room of the Rinker Welcome Center.<\/p>\n

From noon to 2 p.m., in front of the Carlton Union Building, a Global Citizenship Fair will take place while, inside the Commons, Stetson Dining will provide a complimentary Community Lunch.<\/p>\n

Then, beginning at 2 p.m., 26 workshops are scheduled across campus, exploring themes of Building Community, Tools and Techniques for Dialogue, Contemplative Practices and\u00a0Storytelling.<\/p>\n

Later that night, Values Day will conclude with a showing of the Marvel Studios\u2019 \u201cBlack Panther\u201d movie at 8:30 p.m. in the Stetson Room in the CUB.<\/p>\n

Cultural Credit is available for students who attend many of these events. Check\u00a0the schedule of events<\/a>\u00a0for details.<\/p>\n

\"Savannah-Jane
Savannah-Jane Griffin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This year\u2019s event focuses on a theme of \u201cBuilding Community; Reflecting on our Values,\u201d which grew out of a campus survey, a workshop and other meetings with students, faculty and staff last spring, said Values Day Coordinator Savannah-Jane Griffin \u201907.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe overwhelming response was: What can we do that unifies our campus?\u201d said Griffin, executive director of Community Engagement and Inclusive Excellence. \u201cUnity was a word that was used a lot, so \u2018Building Community; Reflecting on our Values\u2019 is what came out of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Organizers sought recommendations for a featured book and selected \u201cThe Geography of Bliss\u201d because it embodies global citizenship, said Lindsey Carelli, chair of the Values Day Speaker and Stetson R.E.A.D. Committee.<\/p>\n

\"Lindsey
Lindsey Carelli<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThis is a person who is traveling the world \u2014 he has a specific purpose to explore the concept of happiness and find some of the happiest places in the world and what they entail. But it\u2019s really about drawing knowledge and drawing on the experiences of people all around the world,\u201d said Carelli, assistant director of Interfaith Initiatives. \u201cWe think that aligns with our value of global citizenship.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the end, after traveling from the Netherlands to India and back home to America, Weiner realizes he may have been searching for the wrong thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cA Spoiler Alert,\u201d he warned on the phone, \u201cis that I conclude my search for happiness with a suggestion that perhaps I was looking for not exactly the right thing, not happiness, per se, not a happy life, per se, but a meaningful life. There\u2019s a lot of overlap between a happy life and a meaningful one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weiner said he plans to delve more into that topic during his speech and noted that he has visited Stetson once or twice through the years.<\/p>\n

\"Eric
Aside from his keynote address and other activities at Stetson University, Eric Weiner says of his visit: \u201cI\u2019ll be catching up with my father and I\u2019ll be walking around beautiful downtown DeLand.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

His father, Dr. Sy Weiner, lives in DeLand and established the Bernard Weiner Holocaust Memorial Lecture Series at Stetson. The series honored the life and work of Sy Weiner\u2019s late brother, Bernard Weiner, who was a leader in the development of Holocaust curricula for New York state schools and a founder of the Rockland Center for Holocaust Studies, now the Holocaust Museum and Study Center, in Spring Valley, N.Y.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I saw the invitation to speak, I was like, wow, Stetson, DeLand. I know that place,\u201d Eric Weiner said. \u201cThis is a happy coincidence, or maybe it\u2019s not a coincidence, maybe it\u2019s fate bringing us together.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Cory Lancaster<\/em><\/p>\n

[This story was reprinted in its entirety from\u00a0Stetson Today<\/a>]\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This story was reprinted in its entirety from\u00a0Stetson Today]\u00a0 September 8, 2018 Eric Weiner traveled to Iceland \u2013 one of the happiest places on Earth \u2013 for his best-selling book, \u201cThe Geography of Bliss,\u201d and learned something he likes to share with college students. Weiner talks to students around the country and is \u201calways amazed\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[174,78],"class_list":["post-9267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faculty-excellence","tag-stetson-today","tag-values-day"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.stetson.edu\/brown-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.stetson.edu\/brown-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.stetson.edu\/brown-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.stetson.edu\/brown-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.stetson.edu\/brown-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9267"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blog.stetson.edu\/brown-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9267\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12850,"href":"https:\/\/blog.stetson.edu\/brown-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9267\/revisions\/12850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.stetson.edu\/brown-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.stetson.edu\/brown-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.stetson.edu\/brown-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}