Join us at the Jesup for a panel discussion on social class and justice with Marpheen Chann and Wendy Allen, moderated by Gray Cox.

Marpheen Chann is an award-winning author, writer, thinker, advocate, and speaker on identity, intersectionality, diversity, belonging, equity, and inclusion.

As a gay, first-generation Asian American born in California to a Cambodian refugee family and later adopted by an evangelical, white working-class family in Maine, Marpheen uses a mix of humor and storytelling to help people view topics such as racism, xenophobia, and homophobia through an intersectional lens.

Wendy Allen is a 45 year woman who battled Substance Use Disorder and is in long term recovery. She is formerly incarcerated, and is living proof that recovery is possible. She currently holds many hats in the community. She is a grant writer and coordinator with Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition, the Young Adult Diversion Program lead for Restorative Justice Institute of Maine, a Recovery and Re-entry Coach, as well as a Peer Support Specialist for Penobscot Family Recovery Court with Maine Prisoner Re-entry Network. She recovers loud for those suffering in silence. She is a wife, mother and grandmother that enjoys music, crafting and spending time with her family.

Wendy is also a Facilitator for Maine Humanities Discussion Projects and winner of the 2022 Maine Humanities Facilitator Prize.

Gray Cox is a professor at College of the Atlantic who teaches courses in philosophy, peace studies, language learning, and artificial intelligence and has led the development of study abroad programs in Mexico and France. He has written a wide variety of papers and four books, including, The Ways of Peace: A Philosophy of Peace as Action (1986) and, most recently, From a Smarter Planet to a Wiser Earth: Dialogue and Collaboration in the Era of Artificial Intelligence (2023). He is a founding member and current Clerk of the Quaker Institute for Future and a singer/songwriter who plays bones and guitar and has done several albums of original music in English, Spanish and French.  His studies included a B.A. at Wesleyan University, 1974, and a Ph.D.  in Philosophy, at Vanderbilt University, 1981.