Reminder: San Francisco Zen Center in Partnership with Litquake pre... @ Fri Oct 8 7:30pm - 9:30pm (Queer Things)

more details » San Francisco Zen Center in Partnership with Litquake presents Across Bodies at the LGBT Center San Francisco Zen Center in Partnership with Litquake presents Across Bodies As part of The Expert's Mind Series Friday, October 8, 2010 Across Bodies Featuring Acclaimed Writer Richard McCann & Liver Pathologist Neil Theise, MD San Francisco LGBT Center, Ceremonial Room 1800 Market Street, San Francisco, CA Time: 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm Tickets: $10 (Students & Seniors), $15 (SF Zen Center Members, Educators, Non-Profit Employees), $20 (GA) "Richard McCann's Mother of Sorrows is almost unbearably beautiful. It is, purely and simply, the real thing--a book so intricately felt, so magnificently written, that it can stand unembarrassed beside the mystery of life itself. It has immediately joined the small body of books I keep close by, for the times I need reminding of the heights we can achieve using only ink and paper." -Michael Cunningham, author of The Hours San Francisco, CA - September 13, 2010 - Across Bodies features acclaimed writer Richard McCann and liver pathologist/adult stem cell researcher Neil Theise, MD discussing self exploration, complexity theory and the spiritual experience of liver failure and rehabilitation as McCann reads passages from his memoir-in-progress The Resurrectionist at the LGBT Center on Friday, October 8, 2010. The San Francisco Zen Center in partnership with Litquake proudly presents Across Bodies in The Expert's Mind series, which celebrates the 40th Anniversary of Shunryu Suzuki-Roshi's seminal book, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. A question and answer session will follow McCann and Theise's presentation. In his much-anticipated forthcoming memoir, McCann portrays how he, a transplant patient, grapples with psychic complications after receiving a donated liver. The critically acclaimed writer, currently a professor in the MFA Program in Creative Writing at American University (Washington DC) and whose fiction, nonfiction, and poetry have appeared in such magazines as The Atlantic, Ms., Esquire and the Washington Post Magazine, exquisitely writes about his transformation after he is kept alive by a stranger's death. He questions the degree of how receiving a transplant changes the sense of self, and his desire to make sense of an often traumatic experience through an imagined relationship with the donor's family. His collaboration with Neil Theise marks the first time they will publicly present material together. McCann says, "I feel very compelled putting an MD and a non-MD on the same stage together. There are few places where an MD is not in complete charge. I love these moments when two people who are bound by very strict roles, me being a writer and professor, and Neil a pathologist, come together in such an open forum." Neil Theise is one of the world's foremost liver pathologists and is widely considered a pioneer of multi-organ adult stem cell plasticity research. Theise's work has been published in the world's leading scientific journals such as Science, Nature, and Cell; his initial studies of liver transplant specimens led to identification first of liver stem cells and then, eventually, the role of bone marrow stem cells for all organs of the body. Integrated in the discussion at the LBGT Center, Theise will use images of McCann's own livers to offer insights on the nature of the human body. Drawing inspiration that extends to areas of theoretical biology and complexity theory, Theise is at the forefront of defining a new "post-modern biology." His ideas suggest that alternate models of the body, other than Cell Doctrine, may be necessary to understand non-Western approaches to the body and health. He believes that understanding Western hard sciences through a complexity theory lens also provides direct analogies to the major principles of Buddhist metaphysics, including such pivotal themes as emptiness of inherent existence, interdependence, impermanence, and Karmic law. "Buddhist and scientific practices, providing an intimate look at one's own being, are all aimed at uncovering fundamental understandings about the self. There are a lot of people who hold that spiritual practice has nothing to share about the nature of existence and of our bodies," says Theise. "Others feel spirituality tells you everything necessary about existence, science not required. And others think that both are valid, but are at best complementary. My scientific work and my spiritual practices have taught me to look beyond the skin boundary, to see that there is no boundary at all and that understandings from both perspectives are more than just complementary, they are the same, just presented in different languages." At the heart of The Expert's Mind series is the simple idea that being alive is a profound opportunity for learning. The acclaimed participants in the 10 interdisciplinary talks and performances in The Expert's Mind series address the excitement of new discoveries, self-doubt, and the open-ended investigation that comes with true expertise. They speak to being actively engaged with the mind and one's life. About Richard McCann Richard McCann is the author of Mother of Sorrows, a work of fiction, and Ghost Letters, a collection of poems (1994 Beatrice Hawley Award, 1933 Capricorn Poetry Award). He is also the editor (with Michael Klein) of Things Shaped in Passing: More 'Poets for Life' Writing from the AIDS Pandemic. His fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry have appeared in such magazines as The Atlantic, Ms., Esquire, Ploughshares, Tin House, and the Washington Post Magazine, and in numerous anthologies, including The O. Henry Prize Stories 2007 and Best American Essays 2000. He is currently working on a memoir, The Resurrectionist, which explores the experience and meanings of illness and mortality through a narrative exploration of his experience as a liver transplant recipient. For his work, Richard McCann has received grants and awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Christopher Isherwood Foundation, the Fulbright Foundation, Yaddo, The MacDowell Colony, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, on whose Board of Trustees he served from 2000-2008. He earned his MA in Creative Writing and Modern Literature from Hollins University and his Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Iowa, where he was a Rockefeller Fellow. He grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland, and he has lived in numerous places, including Sweden, Germany, and Spain. He now lives in Washington, DC, where he teaches in the MFA Program in Creative Writing at American University. He also serves the Board of Directors of the PEN Faulkner Foundation and is a Member of the Corporation of Yaddo. About Neil Theise MD Neil Theise, MD is a diagnostic liver pathologist and adult stem cell researcher in New York City, where he is Professor of Pathology and of Medicine at the Beth Israel Medical Center of Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He is Director of Beth Israel's Liver Pathology Service and Liver and Stem Cell Research Laboratory. In addition to authoring over 130 peer reviewed peers, he is co-editor of "Longevity and Optimal Health: Integrating Eastern and Western Perspectives" (New York Academy of Science, 2009) and of the World Health Organization's upcoming fourth edition of "Classification of Tumours of the Digestive Tract." While Dr. Theise's basic science research continues, sometimes proceeding into fairly rarified realms of theoretical biology, his clinical work remains the foundation of his professional efforts. He is currently developing Beth Israel's clinical trials program for the use of patients' own stem cells in the treatment of lung, liver and other diseases. Theise is also a Senior Student of Roshi Pat Enkyo O'Hara of the Village Zendo in New York City and a member of Congregation Beit Simchat Torah. About Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind is a book of teachings by the late Shunryu Suzuki-Roshi (1904-1971). Shunryu Suzuki was a direct spiritual descendant of the great thirteenth-century Zen Master, Dogen. This inspiring work ranks with the great Zen classics, in a voice and language completely acc When Fri Oct 8 7:30pm – 9:30pm Pacific Time Calendar Queer Things Who • Larry Bob Roberts - creator

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