Former Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky describes himself as a "composer" who considers poetry to be first and foremost a vocal art, and his work seeks to blur the distinctions between language and music by emphasizing the rhythms and innate physicality of recited verse in a jazz context. In this performance for the 22nd Writer's Symposium by the Sea at Point Loma Nazarene University, Pinsky's reading is accompanied by a talented trio of PLNU students. The music - a blend of rehearsed and improvised - employs a variety of jazz styles, sometimes sympathetic and sometimes in playful counterpoint, but always responsive to the poet's distinctive voice.

One of the few constants throughout Jewish history is that Jewish identity has never been simple, and the answer to the question of "Who is a Jew?" far from clear-cut. Rabbi Donniel Hartman, President of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Israel, says that at key moments over the last 3,000 years, Jews have reinvented or reimagined themselves in the context of their unique reality. Due to the cultural, historical, and psychological transformations that have taken place in the 20th and 21st centuries, this identity is once again at a crossroads. He explores how individual and collective identities throughout the millennia have been understood; how these earlier conceptions shape our understanding of who we are now and who we ought to be in the 21st century. Recorded on 05/19/2016.

Paola Antonelli, the senior curator of the Department of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, delves into design's many directions and into its future. She takes us on a fascinating tour of design to ask some very serious questions.

Yusef Komunyakaa, an internationally renowned poet who won the Pulitzer Prize for "Neon Vernacular: New and Selected Poems," reads and discusses his work while writer-in-residence at UC Santa Barbara. Recorded on 03/01/2017.

Design thinking -- it's a popular buzzword these days, with companies from IBM to GE using this approach to develop innovative products and reinvigorate their operations. But what exactly is design thinking and why is it playing an increasingly important role in K-12 education? Design thinking, or human-centered design, is all about focusing on the needs of people to ensure that the correct problem is being solved in the most effective way. With critical thinking skills becoming increasingly important in a knowledge-based economy, many educators see design thinking as a way to tap into students' passions while enabling them to solve problems in an ever-more diverse and interconnected world. This panel of experts shares their insight on design thinking and its power to transform classrooms and equip students with 21st century skills vital to success.