In mid-August I auditioned for the Vermont Humanities Council's Speakers Bureau, which is a selection of speakers on a wide variety of topics that is made available state-wide to libraries and other institutions. Institutions can apply for lecturers and receive support for these talks through the VHC. My talk on traditional Japanese boat building will now be advertised and hopefully this will give me the chance to speak at more venues throughout Vermont. I've given talks about my work for many years, usually at maritime museums and wooden boat shows, and more recently on college campuses. For the wooden boat crowd I naturally tend to focus on the ins and outs of Japanese boat building. For college audiences and the general public, I entitle my talk "Ways of Learning" and spend more time talking about the nature of craft apprenticeship in Japan, and how those traditions differ from those in the west. I realize that the way my teachers instructed me in Japan has a great deal in common with Buddhist training. But Vermont is also a rich and justly famous environment for craftspeople, many of whom came from away back in the 70's. Here we don't have an easily described tradition of craft apprenticeship, but I think that a description of my experiences in Japan can spark an interesting discussion here in Vermont about craft, craft education, and the loss and resurrection of these traditions. Visit the Vermont Humanities Council and learn more.