Laurel Magazine

Summer Writing Workshop at Albert Carlton Cashiers Community Library
2025-07-03 13:00, 2025-07-10 13:00, 2025-07-17 13:00 (America/New_York) | Albert-Carlton Community Library, 249 Frank Allen Rd, Cashiers, NC, 28741, United States
Beginning on June 5 at 1:00 p.m. and continuing every Thursday until August 28, ACCCL staff member Michael Redman will lead a writing workshop that is free and open to everyone, regardless of previous writing experience.
The workshop will be a place to be introduced to techniques, perspectives, and exercises to help you develop your writing. It will also provide a safe,welcoming environment for you to share your own thoughts, ideas, and questions.

Kids Zone at Hudson Library
2025-07-03 15:30, 2025-07-10 15:30, 2025-07-17 15:30 | Hudson Library, 554 Main St, Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
Kids Zone features a variety of fun and interesting programs where kids can explore art, nature, science & more! Best for ages 5 and up.

Nature Center Nights | Hunters in the Sky at Highlands Nature Center
2025-07-08 18:30 - 19:30 | Highlands Nature Center, 930 Horse Cove Rd, Highlands, NC, 28741
Birds of Prey are fascinating, but are sometimes misperceived due to their predatory instincts. Meet some live raptors and learn about their day to day struggle to survive in our constantly changing world.
This program features Carlton Burke of Carolina Mountain Naturalists.
All ages welcome
FREE | Registration required
(Weather dependent)

Tinker Time for Tots at The Literacy and Learning Center
2025-07-09 11:00 - 12:00, 2025-07-16 11:00 - 12:00, 2025-07-23 11:00 - 12:00 | The Literacy & Learning Center, 675 S 4th Street, Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
The Literacy & Learning Center is excited to bring back another season of engaging workshops tailored for preschoolers and their parents. The aim is to empower parents by demonstrating inventive ways to utilize everyday household items for their children’s educational benefit.
These sessions will showcase practical activities that parents can seamlessly incorporate into their daily routines, fostering a rich learning environment at home.

Tech Time at Hudson Library
2025-07-09 13:00 - 15:00, 2025-07-23 13:00 - 15:00 | Hudson Library, 554 Main St, Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
Have you ever received the gift of a new digital device, like an iPad, smartphone or laptop, but had no idea how to use it? Hudson Library has the perfect solution-
Tech Time sessions offer one-on-one help on any personal digital device. Tech Time is a chance for residents of all ages to bring their devices and ask any questions. Learn how to set up an email account, mute your cell phone, back up and store files, and more.
Tech Times are free. No library card is required and no appointment is necessary. Services are offered on a first-come, first-served basis.

Zahner Conservation Lecture Series | Cohabitate; Living with Nature at Highlands Nature Center
2025-07-10 18:00 | Highlands Nature Center, 930 Horse Cove Rd, Highlands, NC, 28741
Sonya Carpenter, Co-founder and President of Co-habitate Inc.
The Highlands Plateau is rich in biological diversity and appreciated for its natural beauty. Development pressure is increasing in Highlands, and threatens to have a negative impact on our natural resources. Therefore, neighbors must work together to ensure the natural resources we all appreciate such as clean air and water are protected. We as a community must create a culture in which native species are celebrated, encouraged, and harmoniously integrated into public and private landscapes. This is the vision for the new community-based organization, Co-habitate, which is dedicated to engaging and educating our neighbors on the intrinsic value of our ecosystem and seeking solutions to environmental degradation due to the pressures of development. Co-habitate co-founders Sonya Carpenter and Canty Worley have a vision for this work and hope to ensure that our plateau is a place where we can all reap the health benefits of nature. In this talk Sonya will introduce some of the activities, projects, and opportunities of this new initiative and offer ways that each of us can promote a healthier environment for humans and all of the other species who share the Highlands Plateau.
Sponsored by Jennie Stowers.
FREE | No registration required

The Collapse of Trust in News and How to Win It Back at Center for Life Enrichment
2025-07-14 10:00 - 12:00 | Center For Life Enrichment, 348 S 5th St, Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
Trust in news is arguably at an all time low. Many Americans have lost confidence in the press, citing concerns about bias, sensationalism, exaggeration or even deception. It’s tempting to look back to the days of Walter Cronkite with nostalgia. But this lecture will argue that the postwar era (1945-Watergate) was actually a historical aberration, and that polarization in news today reflects older traditions in journalism including the hyper-partisan press of the early Republic, penny press and the yellow press. Looking forward, we’ll examine how trust in news has been lost and how serious, committed journalists can win it back.

Higher Education in the Political Cross Hairs? at Center for Life Enrichment
2025-07-15 10:00 - 14:00 | Center For Life Enrichment, 348 S 5th St, Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
Until recently, a college degree was widely considered a reliable path to success in life. Higher education has now become a political and legal battlefield. To critics, colleges and universities do not educate; they indoctrinate. Among the most significant issues at stake: the role of the Department of Education; political interference in academic governance; defunding academic departments or programs; restricting curriculum content; political bias in hiring and promotion; elimination of tenure; elimination of affirmative action and related DEI initiatives; transgender participants in sports; free speech and cancel culture; and the need for more skills-based content in college curriculums. Is the value of a college education in serious need of reconsideration?
Our speakers have extensive experience as higher education leaders in both the private and public sectors. They will discuss how and why this debate emerged but also provide insight into the trajectory of the debate going forward.

Drawing for All at Center for Life Enrichment
2025-07-15 14:00 - 16:00 | Center For Life Enrichment, 348 S 5th St, Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
Back by popular demand! Mary will teach you how to draw using the elements of art: line, shape, form, value, and texture. Graphite pencils, ebony pencils, Sharpies, etc., are your tools. Using these elements, we will create a value scale and simple drawings of still life and landscape. Bring a sketchbook or journal. This will be a “process over product” style of learning.
All participants will be supported in drawing ideas they would like to develop. All materials for this class are provided, and you will leave with a supply list for continuing your art exploration at home.

Nature Center Nights | Salamander Meander at Highlands Nature Center
2025-07-15 20:00 - 21:00 | Highlands Nature Center, 930 Horse Cove Rd, Highlands, NC, 28741
Join our Naturalists on a nighttime search for our secretive salamander friends.
All ages welcome
FREE | Registration required
(Weather dependent)

Origins of Rock and Roll - The Early 1960s (Part 1) at Center for Life Enrichment
2025-07-16 10:00 - 12:00 | Center For Life Enrichment, 348 S 5th St, Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
Focusing on the early 1960s, prior to the British invasion by the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and others, this twopart presentation will look at the slow demise of Rockabilly, whose stars included Ricky Nelson, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, The Everly Brothers, and Jerry Lee Lewis. We will listen to the “safe” performers like Fabian, Bobby Darin, Frankie Avalon, Annette, Paul Anka , Connie Francis, and Neil Sedaka. These performers did not represent the “threat” to our teenage years and ears that Little Richard, Link Wray, and Bo Diddley did with their raucous sounds and questionable lyrics.
We will trace the rise to prominence of Berry Gordy’s Motown sound, “The Sound of Young America”. William Robinson, Mary Wells, The Primettes, The Temptations, Martha and The Vandellas, Marvin Gaye and other Motown acts brought a fresh sound to white America. Rhythm and Blues performers like James Brown, B.B. King, Albert King, Jackie Wilson, Little Richard, Rufus Thomas, Carla Thomas, and the Mar-Keys and Bar-Kays performed on the Chitlin’ Circuit and in major venues around the world. R & B, once known as Race Music, Sepia Songs, and Bronze music made its presence known in homes across the country.

Roots of Conflict: The History Behind Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine at Center for Life Enrichment
2025-07-16 14:00 - 16:00 | Center For Life Enrichment, 348 S 5th St, Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 created a global shockwave which threatened the stability of Europe and created food and energy security risks globally. This lecture will focus on the twentieth-century history of RussianUkrainian relations with an eye to the deeper historical factors behind the recent conflict. Beginning with an assessment of Russia’s two main justifications for war— ideas about Ukraine in Russian nationalist ideology and the role of NATO in Eastern Europe—the lecture will review Ukraine’s Soviet history from the revolution to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
This more recent history—why the Soviets drew borders the way they did, why Ukraine suffered under Stalin, how Ukraine became an independent country in 1991, and where the West fits in—provides the critical context for the war.

Revolution or Terror? Unpacking the Roots of Political Violence at Center for Life Enrichment
2025-07-17 14:00 - 16:00 | Center For Life Enrichment, 348 S 5th St, Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
“One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom-fighter”– so begins the debate about terrorism as a political concept and legal definition. While terrorism has plagued the modern world since the “long nineteenth century,” it remains deeply misunderstood. Seeking to understand terrorism as a sociopolitical phenomenon, this session investigates the full emergence of terrorism in Europe during the second half of the nineteenth century, when anarchist revolutionaries hoped that “propaganda by the deed” would inspire revolutions and create a new and more equitable and peaceful world.

Zahner Conservation Lecture Series | Lesser Known Medicinal Mushrooms of the Southern Appalachians at Highlands Nature Center
2025-07-17 18:00 - 19:00 | Highlands Nature Center, 930 Horse Cove Rd, Highlands, NC, 28741
Lesser Known Medicinal Mushrooms of the Southern Appalachians
Featured Speaker – Christopher Parker, Mycologist and Co-Owner The Forest Farmacy
Discover the medicinal properties of six lesser known mushrooms native to our eastern woodlands. A few mushrooms being discussed in this class are Schizopyllum, Maitake, and Birch Polypore where participants will learn what species have antibiotic, antioxidative, and anti-inflammatory properties from an experienced mycologist.
Sponsored by Vicki & Donny Ferguson.

Shifting Alliances: Navigating the Future of U.S. Foreign Policy in a Changing World at Center for Life Enrichment
2025-07-18 10:00 - 12:00 | Center For Life Enrichment, 348 S 5th St, Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
The global world order is at a potential inflection point, shaped by a new U.S. presidential administration, a rising China, and a surge in global conflicts. What do these developments mean for the future of U.S. foreign policy, peace, and security? This presentation examines the critical issues that lie ahead, drawing insights from within and beyond the U.S. security community. Can the United States sustain its leadership on the world stage, and if so, what strategies will be most effective? Will the U.S. continue to wield its power as it has since the Cold War, or are we on the brink of a new paradigm?
Moving beyond partisan politics, Professor Matthew Auer will offer a forward-looking analysis of emerging flashpoints and areas of concern, providing a nuanced perspective on the challenges and opportunities shaping the future of the U.S. and the global community

CLE | “The Canonic Phenomenon of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring: Primitivism, Myth, and Modernity” at CLE Lecture Hall
2025-07-19 10:00 - 12:00 | Center For Life Enrichment, 348 S 5th St, Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
Dr. Ben Arnold serves as the Acting Director of the University of Kentucky School of Music, a position he served in previously from 2003 to 2012. He has written extensively on music in response to war and the composer Franz Liszt. In addition to writing for and editing The Liszt Companion, he is the editor of the Journal of the American Liszt Society. Prior to UK, he taught at Emory University for sixteen years, serving as Director of Graduate Studies in Music and two terms as Chair of the Music Department.

The Canonic Phenomenon of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring: Primitivism, Myth, and Modernity at Center for Life Enrichment
2025-07-19 10:00 - 12:00 | Center For Life Enrichment, 348 S 5th St, Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
This course will explore arguably the most outstanding orchestral work of the twentieth century: Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. Following the enormous success of his earlier ballets, The Firebird (1910) and Petrushka (1911), Stravinsky unleashed a new era of modernism with Le Sacre du Printemps and its primitive subject matter, barbaric dissonances and rhythms, and radical style.
This lecture will discuss the Rite of Spring’s controversial premiere and innovative musical characteristics that influenced generations of composers, choreographers, chroniclers, poets, and artists

CLE |Trump 2.0: A Conversation with Andrew Weissmann and Benjamin Wittes at Center for Life Enrichment
2025-07-21 10:00 - 12:00 | Center For Life Enrichment, 348 S 5th St, Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
Andrew Weissmann, a CLE favorite, and Benjamin Wittes, editor in chief of Lawfare, will discuss the Trump 2.0 administration’s impact on the United States Department of Justice, the FBI, the Intelligence Community and national security. Has the threat to liberal democracy and authoritarian capture that many predicted prior to the election materialized? If not, what “guardrails” have held, and can they continue to do so? If so, what strategies remain available to push back given the extraordinary legal powers delegated to the President in the Constitution and by Congress? How successful has Trump been in “reining in” the media and silencing those opposed to him, either by initiating criminal investigations or chilling their speech through civil proceedings? Weissmann and Wittes will assess the response of the courts to Trump’s assertions of executive power and his administration’s attempt at “structural deregulation” of administrative agencies.
Expect a deep dive into the activities of the President, the administrative state and the courts by two of the country’s foremost thinkers about democracy, national security and the rule of law.

College Essay Boot Camp at The Literacy & Learning Center
2025-07-21 14:00 - 16:00 | The Literacy & Learning Center, 675 S 4th Street, Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
High School Seniors
College Essay Boot Camp is an intensive, hands-on workshop designed to help students craft standout college application essays. Led by Cameron Alexander, who taught high school English at Wesleyan School for eight years, this camp covers the differences between essay types, analyzes successful examples, and guides students through brainstorming, drafting, peer review, and editing. By the end of the week, students will have a polished, ready-to-submit college essay!

Henry Ossawa Tanner, America’s First Internationally Recognized African-American Artist at Center for Life Enrichment
2025-07-22 14:00 - 16:00 | Center For Life Enrichment, 348 S 5th St, Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
In this lecture Dr. Harvey sketches the career of Henry O. Tanner, from his roots in the AME Church to his studies with Thomas Eakins in Philadelphia and his blossoming career in Paris. Although he is best known for his religious subjects, painted after his arrival in Paris in 1892, Tanner has an important connection to Highlands, where he spent the summer of 1888 during a teaching stint in Atlanta at Clark University. His experiences here influenced two of his widely admired paintings of the African-American community, The Banjo Lesson (1893) and The Thankful Poor (1894), both exhibited to wide acclaim in Europe.
This program is in collaboration with the Highlands Historical Society.
Join us after Dr. Harvey’s presentation from 4:30 – 6:30 for a wine reception at High Country Wine & Provisions!

Nature Center Nights | What Bat is That? at Highlands Nature Center
2025-07-22 20:00 - 21:00 | Highlands Nature Center, 930 Horse Cove Rd, Highlands, NC, 28741
Stretch your wings and tune into the sounds of the many special bats of the Highlands area! Join our Naturalists on a walk through the Botanical Garden to watch them in flight.
All ages welcome
FREE | Registration required
(Weather dependent)

Unearthing the Past: Geologic Foundations and the Quest for Lithium in the Carolinas at Center for Life Enrichment
2025-07-23 14:00 - 15:00 | Center For Life Enrichment, 348 S 5th St, Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
The geologic history of the Carolinas spans over one billion years. The forces that built the foundation of the Carolinas have shuffled us between super continents and provided us a wealth of mineral resources. Human history is a tiny fraction of geologic history; however, we have learned to exploit geology beginning with favored rocks for stone tools through lithium resources for batteries. Research into lithium in the Carolinas is significantly impacted by local, State, and national politics, as well as the global market. Even over the past few years, there have been significant swings in the enthusiasm surrounding exploration for, and extraction of, lithium in the Carolinas. Presently, the US Geological Survey is taking new stock of historically mined products across the USA searching for resources once cast aside as waste but now valuable.
The talk will summarize the geologic history of the Carolinas and link the formation of economic deposits to their origin story. We will see the role of dating rocks in mineral exploration.

Understanding Generative AI: Demystifying the Technology Shaping Our Future at Center for Life Enrichment
2025-07-24 10:00 - 12:00 | Center For Life Enrichment, 348 S 5th St, Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
Generative AI is reshaping industries and redefining what’s possible in technology, creativity, and decision making. In this talk, we will demystify the terms surrounding AI, explain the current AI landscape, and explore its exciting possibilities. From breakthroughs in art and science to its integration into business and healthcare, generative AI is a transformative force. However, with great power comes great responsibility.
This session will also delve into the risks, including over reliance, biased decision-making, and ethical concerns, offering a balanced perspective on what AI might mean for the future.
