@ Socrates Table
Conversations with Erika Petersen
Conversations on Offer
History, Please
Adults, recover the history you've forgotten, encounter the history you never knew. Current events can be contextualized @Socrates Table.
Diving Deep
Classroom discussions often are not full enough, deep enough, for advanced high school and college students with a passion for literature, history, or the arts. Conversations go deep and wide @Socrates Table.
Can't Stand that Subject?
Bored, disaffected high school and middle schoolers, come talk about any subject that seems bland; there's sugar and salt @Socrates Table.
What I'm thinking about ....
Civilization and/or Culture? The terms are often used interchangeability - Thomas Mann insists that they "are not only not the same, but they are opposites."
J.T. Fraser, scholar of time, emphasized that the clock must be seen not only as a device but as a metaphor. Do clocks measure time or create time?
Your thoughts?
Seats @ the Table
One to three seats are available at the table for any one conversation.
$120. for the hour; first time diners,$100.
Bring a friend or two and split the check. RSVP for full details.
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RSVP
Testimonials
As a French national newly arrived in the United States, I met Erika Petersen when we became colleagues at an independent school in NYC. I was immediately seduced by the openness, richness and breadth of conversation we engaged in. Not only could Erika read French, she knew and understood France, and our exchanges about my country were as scholarly as those we had about the state of European affairs or Middle-Eastern politics or the United States. Erika is a well of knowledge; at the bottom, a mound of facts, topped by objectivity, intelligence, originality, depth of thought, and fun. I am an adult who would most certainly come to dine @Socrates Table to have a conversation about any topic I do not master, which Erika most certainly would.
Catherine Guillet, French teacher, Translator, College Adjunct, Certified Coach
Everytime I walked into Ms. Petersen's class, I could not wait for the show to start. For a non- native English speaker like me, her ability to portray historical events and figures through her vivid and charming storytelling broke the linguistic barrier and delivered the hard knowledge with laughter and joy that was mesmerizing and pure magic. With the educational work that I am doing now, I want to be as inspirational to my students as she was to me.
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Qi Zhang Founder and Director of Musart Music
When in high school, Erika Petersen’s class, History of the Modern Middle East, singlehandedly shaped my desire to pursue a major in Middle East Studies at Columbia University. I now study under writers whose works I first encountered in her class. She provided texts that challenged me to see the world through a new lens while leading the class with brio and ebullience. One hour was never enough.
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Matthew Schechter, Actor & Senior at Columbia University
