CHINA Town Hall – Oct. 5
Former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin will lead an expert panel for a live town hall meeting today, Oct. 5, to be broadcast to audiences in more than 70 locations nationwide on what China’s investments in the United States mean for American workers, communities, and the economy.

The Des Moines event will be held in Parents Hall in the Olmsted Center at 6 p.m.

To help Americans better understand the complex U.S.-China relationship and the growing role of Chinese investment, the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations is conducting the ninth annual CHINA Town Hall: Local Connections, National Reflections. The program will feature a live webcast panel discussion with former Secretary Rubin; Mayor Sheldon Day (of Thomasville, Alabama, location of a major Chinese-owned factory); and Daniel Rosen, founding partner of the Rhodium Group. National Committee President Stephen Orlins will moderate the panel’s discussion and responses to questions submitted by the nationwide audience.

In addition to the national webcast, Drake University’s event will also feature a talk by Susan Chan Shifflett. Susan is program associate at the Woodrow Wilson Center’s China Environment Forum in Washington, D.C., where she focuses on China’s food safety and food security challenges and what it means for U.S.-China agricultural trade.

For questions about the Des Moines event site, contact jeffrey.kappen@drake.edu

Multicultural Approaches to Medicine Use: What Does the Research Say?—Oct. 6
On Tuesday, Oct. 6, Fatima Suleman, associate professor in the discipline of pharmaceutical sciences in the online master’s program at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa), will present “Multicultural Approaches to Medicine Use: What Does the Research Say?” This talk is part of the Iowa International Center Dialogue Series and will be held starting at noon in the Des Moines Central Library, 1000 Grand Avenue.

Fatima is Drake University’s Global Practitioner in Residence during the 2015–2016 school year. She will be affiliated with Drake’s College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, and collaborate with the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and the Global and Comparative Public Health concentration. Fatima has extensive experience working with the World Health Organization.

The Iowa International Center Dialogue Series engages local and national professionals in conversations on global and community issues that affect Iowa and highlight Iowa’s connections abroad. Suleman’s program will focus on the need for sensitivity and awareness on behalf of the healthcare professional when communicating with and counseling a patient. In multicultural settings, patients and their families bring many different cultural models of morality, health, illness, healing, and kinship to clinical encounters. Religious convictions and cultural norms play significant roles in framing interactions between health care providers and patients. A more informed understanding of these issues is needed to better recognize the role of ethnicity, culture, religion, and gender in shaping health care decisions.

Afro-Indigenous Hondurans in Resistance: U.S. Drug War, Violent Displacement, & Migration – Oct. 8
On Thursday, Oct. 8, Alfredo López will present Afro-Indigenous Hondurans in Resistance: U.S. Drug War, Violent Displacement, & Migration at 6 p.m. in Meredith 101.

Since the 2009 military coup, murders and attacks against Honduran human rights defenders have reached alarming levels. Indigenous communities, including the Garífuna, have been among those targeted. The U.S. continues to send tens of millions of dollars in drug war aid to the Honduran police and military who have been involved in human rights abuses and to back projects that lead to displacement and migration. Alfredo López works with OFRANEH (the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras) to protect and defend the Garífuna people’s right to their culture and ancestral land on the Caribbean coast. Lopez will discuss his people’s struggle against the negative impacts of tourism and other mega-projects and the role of state security forces in displacement and Honduran migration.

Program sponsors are Witness for Peace and the Principal Financial Group Center for Global Citizenship. The event is free and open to the public. For further details, contact david.skidmore@drake.edu.

Death and Dying in Tibetan Buddhism: Oct. 8
Please join us for the second event of our 2015–2016 series on death and dying—a presentation and demonstration on death and dying in Tibetan Buddhism by monks from the Labrang Tashikyil Monastery. In particular, the monks will perform “Chöd,” a ritual meditation on death to cut away attachments, and “Skeleton Dance,” a ritual dance of death to cultivate mindfulness of impermanence. The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held on Oct. 8 at 7 p.m. in Sussman Theater (lower level of the Olmsted Center).

Seven monks from Labrang Tashikyil Monastery in Dehra Dun, India, are touring the United States this year to teach dharma, educate the public about the culture and religion of Tibet, and to raise funds for their monastery. The tour is coordinated by the Tibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center in Bloomington, Indiana. It is the third such tour by the monastery.

International Film: Distancia: Oct. 11
Oct. 11: International Film: Distancia (2012, Dir. Sergio Ramírez)
Location: Sussman Theater, lower level of Olmsted Center
Time: 2–4 p.m.
Language: Spanish with English subtitles
Sponsors: Evans Foundation, WLC and PFGCGC

The film will be introduced by Director Sergio Ramirez, who will be on campus to discuss the making of Distancia, the current situation in Guatemala, the 36-year civil war and its aftermath, as well as filmmaking.

Tomás Choc is two days and 150 kilometers away from being reunited with Lucía, his only daughter, who was kidnapped by the army 20 years ago during the Guatemala War when she was only three years old. Despite the pain of her absence, to keep her story alive, Tomás kept a journal of his struggle, resistance, and survival in the hope of one day being able to give it to his daughter. We join Tomás on his journey to reunite with Lucia, and witness the manner in which he navigates the obstacles created between them by fate. The distance between people can be physical, cultural, and even emotional.

Sergio Ramirez was born in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. He holds a degree in communication. Ramirez wrote and directed the short fiction Hoy sí (Today) and the documentary Resistir para vivir, resistirpara avanzar (Resist to Live, Resist to Advance). Distancia is his directorial debut and he is currently working on the post-production of his second fiction feature, 1991. Ramirez is a professor of film at several Guatemalan universities and serves as the president of the Guatemalan Audiovisual and Cinematography Association.

—Submitted by Tim Knepper, Professor of Philosophy, Department Chair, and Drake International