These days, the whole world is
watching—and visiting—St.
John’s College. At least that’s
what it feels like after the
successful inauguration of the
College’s Distinguished Visitors
in Residence program during

the 2004/05 academic year.

Our first visitor in October 2004
was Carma Hinton, an indepen-

dent filmmaker whose films are

arguably the best documentaries
on China ever made.

The series continued in
November with a visit by sociolo-
gist Immanuel Wallerstein, the
founder of world-systems theory.

Professor Wallerstein gave three
lectures, including a Vancouver
Institute lecture which was desig-
nated as the first “St. John’s
College Lecture”.

Our third visitor was Sharon
Butala, Canadian award-winning
novelist, memoirist, and environ-
mental activist, who stayed at
the College for a week in
February. Ms. Butala had several
engagements, including a talk

at and co-sponsored with the
Vancouver Public Library, and a

Vancouver Institute lecture.

D.D. Jackson, Canadian-born,
New York-based, jazz pianist-
composer, resided at the College
from February 5-15. Mr. Jackson’s

Jazz pianist-composer D.D. Jackson resided at St. John’s College in early February.

program included a perfor-
mance at the Vancouver East
Cultural Centre, a Vancouver
Institute lecture, a solo concert
at the UBC School of Music,
and a workshop at the Kiwanis
Music Festival. You can read
D.D.’s own account of his

visit on his weblog at

www.ddjackson.com.

Our final visitor for 2004/05
was Tendzin Choegyal, the
youngest brother of His
Holiness the Dalai Lama. He
was born in Lhasa in 1946,
and at the age of four was rec-
ognized as the 15th Negari

Rinpoche. A former member of
the Tibetan Administration
(Tibetan Government in Exile),
he is one of the closest confi-
dantes and advisors to the Dalai
Lama and regularly accompanies
him on official travels. A longer
account of Choegyal’s visit is
found on page 2.

We thank all of our guests for
their time, attention and insights,
and we look forward to welcom-
ing additional visitors in resi-

dence in the coming year.