I've been invited to attend Renaissance Weekend again. Should I go this time?

[brooklynite]

https://www.renaissanceweekend.org

In 1981, friends lamented with Phil & Linda Lader that there were rare occasions to learn from their most fascinating work and everyday-life acquaintances in a personal, substantive way. Consequently, 60 families shared the Laders’ “Renaissance Weekend,” their four-day, New Year’s “house party” on Hilton Head Island.

For four decades, that gathering’s spirit – an “extended family reunion” – has distinguished some 150 Renaissance Weekends: a cross-generational, “continuing conversation” among innovative leaders from diverse fields. Most are authorities; many have amazing achievements and contributions ahead. All are committed to making a genuine difference with their lives.

Each – long-time “regulars” & extraordinary newcomers alike – has a noteworthy story: often, incredibly inspiring. Hundreds of programs and activities in just a few days. Ideas and relationships celebrated. No political or commercial agenda.

Past Participants

Stacey Abrams
Buzz Aldrin
Lamar Alexander
George Allen
Jonathan Alter
Ed Asner
Bruce Babbitt
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Zoe Baird
Evan Bayh
Paul Begala
Richard Ben-Veniste
Peter Benchley
Tom Berenger
Harry Blackmun
Wolf Blitzer
Stephen Breyer
Julian Castro
Wesley Clark
Bill Clinton
Hillary Clinton
Stephen Colbert
Esther Dyson
Gerald Ford
Betty Friedan
Eric Garcetti
David Gergen
Mariel Hemingway
Arianna Huffington
Lauren Hutton
Lady Bird Johnson
Mark Kelly
Nicholas Kristof
Frank Luntz
Thurgood Marshall, Jr.
Danny Meyer
Janet Napolitano
Peggy Noonan
Bill Nye
Leon Panetta
Deval Patrick
Susan Rice
Rob Sand
Diane Sawyer
Ted Sorensen
Arthur Sulzberger, Jr.
Larry Summers
George Takei
Peter Thiel
Richard Viguerie
Raphael Warnock
Dr. Ruth Westheimer

[Phoenix61]

1. YES!!! I absolutely would. nt

[hlthe2b]

2. Attending seems to have about a 50% mortality rate...

so there is that...

[brooklynite]

4. These things go back to the 80s.

[hlthe2b]

8. Obviously being facetious...

thus the wink emoticon.

[DFW]

10. It gets contagious when you are over 90.

Still, my wife and I have been attending every year since 2000, and we are still alive and kicking, so there is a reasonable hope for survival.

[leftstreet]

3. If you wear tights, post pictures n/t

[Bonx]

5. We usually go, but we'll be spending the month in Fiji

[DFW]

11. Our paths must have crossed, in that case.

I wish we had the time to go to Fiji!!! I'd like to check that out, too.

I give your post a 50% chance of being a prank, but I answered it straight, just in case.................

[usonian]

6. Oh, I at first thought you meant Renaissance Faire, where people dress up in ancient garb.

Sounds interesting, but one note of caution.

My ex-wife, a lifetime RN and someone who is unusually cautious, went through a hell weekend with covid, and a short rebound, after a family trip. (her family)

Stay healthy, my friend.

[msongs]

7. and happily chew on turkey legs as they walk around...ugh nt

[DFW]

9. I've been going every year since 2000.

It was canceled the last two years because of Covid, but my wife and I have attended every New Year's one that was held since 2000. Some of the people you list have passed on, regrettably including Art Buchwald, an old family friend, and Theo Bikel as well, some you didn't mention (Howard Dean, Peter Norton, Deborah Tannen and Ann Zumwalt). Some are now our friends (Howard, of course, Dr. Ruth, Ann Z, Rob Sand, Mark and Gabby, Deborah, Peter, and a LOT of etc., even Richard Viguerie !!). Our daughters practically grew up with it, and have a circle of friends they made there over the years, including the Zumwalt grandchildren and the Lader daughters.

It's a little different every year, and a lot the same every year, and if you've never been, it's really time to come. I've been after another old friend, Katrina vanden Heuvel, to come for many years, and she said this MIGHT be the year. If you've never met her, she is a treat to talk to.

It's a difficult thing to describe. It's nothing like a TED conference, since the one requirement is that everyone contribute, participate. If you are invited, it means it is hoped you have something to contribute.

So......come on down and contribute!

By the way, to make sure everyone is valued equally, everyone is required to wear a name tag, no matter HOW famous you are. One year Barbra Streisand attended, and she refused to wear a name tag, because "everyone knew who she was." She was not invited back. She just didn't get it. It doesn't MATTER if everyone knows who you are. The point is that at Renaissance no one is more important than anyone else. Ergo............



?

[LeftInTX]

12. A Renaissance Faire for the kind of people who don't eat turkey legs!

Or wear costumes or walk around parading animals or drink cheap beer out of plastic cups.

If anyone shows up in a costume, take pictures!

[Kid Berwyn]

13. You'll be part of history

And that can be a good thing.

[mainer]

14. It was so nice to get that invitation again

After COVID shut it down the past few years. Phil Lader is the consummate host. I can’t go this year, due to travel commitments, but I would not hesitate to accept if I were you. It should be a very COVID-aware group.

[DFW]

15. It sounds like our paths must have crossed there, as well.

We have been going to the Charleston one since 2000.

[mainer]

16. I've been to one in Charleston

You might have seen me play the piano (very amateurishly, but pinch-hitting) on New Year’s Eve that year! My favorite one was in Jackson Hole.

[DFW]

17. I've ONLY been to the one Charleston

And I am the guitarist (12 string), as well as main lyricist for the music program!

[mainer]

18. My favorite memory: Dr Ruth and Stephen Breyer waltzing by

As I played the piano.
Too much pressure for this old amateur! I’m better in the lecture hall.

[DFW]

19. I have many, but one of mine involves Breyer as well

I was asked to make a short speech for the Jan. 1 panel, and afterward, someone came up to me and complimented me on it. It was Justice Breyer!!

[brooklynite]

20. How did you figure out your "contribution"?

[DFW]

21. I don't figure that out at all.

People proposed for attending are judged on what is thought they might bring, and the Laders get feedback from their staff and trusted "old-timers." First-timers get blue name tags, but they don't get special scrutiny just because of it. It's mainly to let the others know to be helpful with guidance and info.

Panels, large and small, take place all through the course of the gathering. Participants are assigned to panels to which they are thought to be able to add something, and are free to attend any other panels on any other subject they want. Broadening one's knowledge is one of the main purposes behind the whole thing. If you're an expert on cardiac medicine, you'll be assigned to panels on medicine, but you might also attend panels on legal matters, astronomy, ancient history, religion, economics, acting, politics, hygiene in Southeast Asia, whatever. That's up to you. The worst is when two panels on wildly differing subjects you absolutely want to learn about are taking place at the same time, and you have to choose which to attend.

Only two things are frowned upon: rudeness/arrogance and lack of participation. ALMOST everyone is on a first name basis. Obviously, if Bill Clinton is present, you still call him Mr. President, unless you're Marjorie Margolies, who usually comes, too. But other than that, especially once you get to be familiar with people, it's all first name. I don't even call Ruth Westheimer "Dr. Ruth" any more (many still do). It's just Ruth now, and has been for over a decade. Veronica Biggins is just Veronica. Rep. Nadler is just Jerry. Senator (now, unfortunately former) Bill Nelson is just Bill. Since I've known Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly from way before Gabby was shot, I don't have to struggle with "Senator" Kelly or not. I wouldn't know what Mark would want, but I suspect that at Renaissance, he would be fine with just "Mark." If Howard Dean is there, it's just "Howard," unless you insist on "Governor." He wouldn't care. For twenty years, it's always been "Howard" with me. Adrian Cronauer was always just "Adrian," as you might suspect. He stopped attending when he moved away from Washington down to southwestern Virginia. He and I still kept in close touch, and I still miss him. One of the great wits I have known, and NOTHING like the Robin Williams portrayal of him in the film.

Even after all that, I can't really transmit an accurate impression of Renaissance. Even the boyfriend of my younger daughter came from Germany a few years ago. Like my daughter, he is a top attorney, spent years studying in the USA, and is fluent in English. He also had a great time. Another friend of mine, an antiquities dealer and author from France, has attended a couple of times. I told her about it years ago, and she expressed an interest. You only get invited at the suggestion of previous attendees, so I said I'd propose her if she wanted. I warned her that it was all in English, and she said, "no problem, I speak English." Since we had spoken French for the decades we had known each other, I never even knew! Another friend came once due to her knowledge about Cuba. She obtained--over 20 years ago!!--a rare Treasury Department license to import art from Cuban artists and sell it at her galleries in Boston and Provincetown. Since that entailed regular travel to Cuba, she got permission for that, too. Obviously, THAT was of considerable interest to the gathering.

Renaissance's strength is its diversity and its informality. Charleston is one hell of a cool place, too, assuming you ever get the time to find out! The 7:00 AM to 11:00 PM daily schedule usually won't let you.

[brooklynite]

22. Understood, but I don't know WHY I've been invited.

Politics? Urban Planning? Computers?

[Just_Vote_Dem]

23. Maybe a work associate reccommended you?

I've read your posts and you've met many "movers and shakers", maybe someone remembered you.

[DFW]

24. Some who attends/has attended has suggested you at some point.

It doesn't have to have been this year. It could have been ten years ago. I don't know your fields of expertise.

[Sympthsical]

25. That reminds me, October Prime Day is coming up

Need to get all my Christmas name-dropping done early this year.

Tch, volunteer at a homeless shelter for a month. That'd actually be an impressive use of time and money. Spending money frivolously to hobnob for an ego boost isn't the flex people think it is.

Particularly in an ostensibly liberal space.

[brooklynite]

26. I trust you would be schooling Justice Ginsburg in her poor decision making if she were still alive?

Also, several other DUers in this thread have attended and definitely need you righteous disdain.

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

27. I don't go anywhere that has a dress code, or suggested dress code.

But I'd go if someone telling you what clothes to wear doesn't bother you.

Sounds like good fun.