Public Speaking
Public Speaking on “The Culture of Heart”.

Peter Falkenberg Brown has been speaking publicly since 1979. His speciality and niche in public speaking closely follows his favorite essay topic: "The Culture of Heart". (Click on the Culture of Heart link above to read columns that represent his varied speaking topics.)

"Peter Brown did an excellent job with the keynote speech. This man is not only capable of speaking to a national audience but he has 'world-class' ability in public speaking."
~ Senator Larry Pressler ~ former US Senator from South Dakota

Brown usually speaks without a written text, although he is comfortable with both methods. One example of his presentations is a speech that Brown delivered at the Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace Conference on Ambassadors of Peace at the Hyatt Hotel in Washington, DC on October 13, 2001, one month after the 9/11 attack. The speech is entitled "Teaching Our Children a World Level Vision".

His speaker's fees are negotiable. For more information, or to book a speech, please call (207) 625-4800, or email peterbrown@worldcommunity.com.

Biography of Peter Falkenberg Brown

Peter Falkenberg Brown is an author, columnist, publisher and public speaker whose niche speaking speciality is "The Culture of Heart". He is the co-founder and co-owner (with his beloved bride, Kimmy Sophia) of the World Community Press, located in Cornish, Maine. WCP publishes "heartistic education curricula" and other literary works, including the online magazine, "Significato ~ a journal about the meaning of life ... and lots of other stuff".

Peter is also a Perl and MySQL web database programmer.

He is the author of the book, Becoming a Parent of True Love, published by the World Community Press. He is currently working on a new seminar for married couples, entitled Building a Marriage of True Love. He is also the author of the teenager curriculum on marriage preparation, abstinence and character education, called, The True Love Thing to Do. Peter and his wife, Kim, both write columns on family issues which are published on their web site.

Peter has been very active in the non-profit educational and political arenas throughout his career. Beginning in 1979, he has given lectures and seminars on family and social issues, political issues, and world affairs. From 1984 until 1986, he was a City, and then State Director of CAUSA, an organization which produced national and local seminars that educated elected officials about the dangers of Marxism-Leninism and offered a comprehensive counter-proposal.

He served as the VA Executive Director of the American Freedom Coalition from 1987 until 1998, conducting many campaigns on issues as diverse as the support of the troops during Desert Storm and the passing into law of "Parent's Day" as a national holiday.

In 1992, Peter managed a statewide program in Virginia, sponsored by the national American Freedom Coalition, which presented "Diamond Awards" to outstanding citizens and volunteers in recognition of their unique contributions to the community. Working with volunteers from around the state, over 40 events were held, with the cooperation of numerous mayors, city officials and ministers.

Peter was active with the Washington Times Foundation, and its program of National Service awards. He was the Virginia State Sales Rep for the Washington Times National Weekly Edition, a newspaper that has garnered kudos from numerous national-level leaders.

Until 2006, he was the Mid-Atlantic Regional Director for the American Family Coalition and the Chairman of the American Family Coalition of Virginia. He was a regular speaker at the American Leadership Conferences in Virginia, sponsored by the American Family Coalition and the Washington Times Foundation.

In 1994 he created, produced and edited The Richmond Republican, a tabloid newspaper distributed by the Richmond Republican Committee in Virginia. Peter was a member of the Richmond Republican Executive Committee for a number of years, until he and his family moved to Virginia Beach in 1995. Although short-lived, due to financial restrictions, the newspaper received wide-spread praise for its content and design. Peter also designed and hosted the original web site for the Republican Party of Virginia Beach until his family moved to Indian Neck, Virginia. In 2007, he and his family moved back to his home state of Maine.

While in Richmond, Peter helped launch Citizens for Safe Streets (as its Executive Director), a Richmond-based political action committee dedicated to reducing violent crime in Richmond by 50%. The PAC had a significant impact on the Richmond City Council, which adopted a number of the organization's proposals in 1994.

On the international scale, Peter traveled to Guyana, South America in 1990 and organized and produced an ecumenical ministers conference with the theme "Guyana and the World of True Peace." He wrote and placed a full-page proclamation in Guyana's national newspaper, focused on the same theme, calling for the Guyanese people to adopt a world-level vision of God-centered service as the nation's primary perspective for the 21st century. Guyana at the time was moving away from a debilitating 30 year experiment with Marxism that had reduced the country to the status of the poorest country in the Caribbean, after Haiti.

He and his wife, Kimmy Sophia (a fellow New Englander), were betrothed in 1979 and married in 1982. They are the proud parents of four lovely children: Tymon, Thea Grace, Ranin and Tadin; and one dog and one cat. (The "lovely" children insisted we mention the dog and cat :-).

Family History

Peter was born in Miami, and raised in Portland, Maine. He has a sister, who is a Yoga instructor in Vermont, and a brother, who was a magician, and now works at Google. They are fabulous individuals, and Peter's favorite brother and sister.

Peter's childhood was a curious combination of being Poor, but Connected – the kind of Connections that Mr. Collins of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice would find positively scintillating, so marvelous as to cause the pompous cleric to wax eloquent at the dinner table, boring his listeners to death. However, since the word "Poor" was not Mr. Collin's favorite word, Peter feels that his bio might have escaped Mr. Collin's attention after all, which is a great relief. One doesn't at all want to be like poor Mr. Collins.

Peter's father, Carl Falkenberg Brown , may he rest in peace, found it extremely difficult to make ends meet, and frequently had to bring his wife and children back to his mother's family home in the West End of Portland, where Peter's grandmother Helen sipped tea with Peter and regaled him with her favorite story of dancing with Prince Edward the VIII, in her coming-out party, on the Queen Mary cruise liner, while it was moored on the St. Lawrence River outside of Quebec.

Baron Conradt von Falkenberg

His "Granny", of whom he was very fond, was Baroness Helen Dean Falkenberg Brown , of the Falkenbergs of Trystorp, Sweden. The line includes Peter's 7th Great-Grandfather, Baron Conradt von Falkenberg (b. 1591), pictured on the left, as well as Peter's 29th Great-Grandfather, Harold II (Godwinson), the King of England .

Queen Matilda of England, Peter's 1st Cousin, 29 times removed

Harold was the last Anglo-Saxon King of England, and died in 1066 at the Battle of Hastings, fighting against the forces of William the Conqueror, the husband of Peter's first cousin, 29 times removed, Matilda, the Countess of Flanders and the soon-to-be Queen of England.

Having been raised as an ardent reader of every edition of Robin Hood that he could get his hands on, Peter had gained a distinct bias toward the Anglo-Saxons (ignoring the fact that they were invaders too). Thus, he had to admit that he wasn't particularly fond of William the Conqueror, who supposedly "stank like a tannery".

King Alfred the Great, Peter's 33rd Great Grandfather

Peter had no hard feelings at all toward Queen Matilda, even though she was Very Short (four feet and two inches). Matilda initially opposed William, reportedly stating that she was far too high-born (being descended from Peter's 33rd Great-Grandfather, Alfred the Great, King of England (b. 849), to consider marrying a bastard. William didn't like that, and according to legend, found Matilda on her way to church and dragged her off her horse by her braids and threw her down in the street. Peter is glad he's not directly descended from William.

However, Peter found it very interesting that King Alfred the Great, who was the first effective King of England, over 1,136 years ago, was the 32nd Great Grandfather of the current Queen of England, Elizabeth II. Peter thinks that means that Her Majesty is his 33rd Cousin, once removed.

King Gustav Vasa I, Peter's 11th Great-Grandfather

As Peter browsed the Falkenberg family tree, he discovered that his 31st Great-Grandfather, Ebalus Manzer, Count of Poitou and Duke of Aquitaine (c. 870 – 935) was known as "The Bastard". Duke Ebalus was the illegitimate son of Peter's 32nd Great-Grandfather, Ranulf II of Poiters, possibly by a Jewish woman . Manzer may be a corruption of the Hebrew word, "mamzer", meaning "bastard". Peter could only exclaim, "Oy vey! What would Matilda say?" Peter has often wondered if he has Jewish ancestors, and considers Daniel Deronda one of his favorite movies. (It's a movie based on George Elliot's novel about an English gentleman who discovers that he's Jewish.) Of course, one wants one's Jewish ancestors to be gained under "respectable" circumstances, but one must also assume that Duke Ebalus's mother was a Good Woman.

Charlegmagne by Albrecht Dürer, Peter's 36th Great-Grandfather

Peter used to think that he was one quarter Swedish, one quarter Dutch and half English, with a bit of Scottish blood thrown in for good measure. When he examined the Falkenberg lineage, going back to before the year 500 AD, he found that his great-grandparents and great-uncles included over 250 Kings and Queens, from all over Europe, including such notables as Gustav Vasa I , (1517-1560), the first King of Modern Sweden and Peter's 11th Great-Grandfather. King Gustav's son (and Peter's 10th Great-Grandfather) was Johan III (1537-1592), the King of Sweden. Peter's 36th Great-Grandfather is Charlemagne (b. 742), the Emperor of the West.

King Johan III, Peter's 10th Great-Grandfather

250 Kings and Queens: Peter's great-grandparents and great-uncles include Kings and Queens from the following countries (with the number of Kings or Queens in parentheses): Sweden (38 Kings or Queens), Norway (24), Denmark (18), the Kingdom of the Franks (12), Scotland (12), Kent (11), England (10), the Byzantine Empire (9), Pamplona (7), Leon (6), France (5), Hungary (5), Ireland (5), Kvenland (5), Vestfold (5), Wessex (5), Aragon (4), Asturias (4), Hedmark (4), The Holy Roman Empire (4), Italy (4), Uppsala (4), Austrasia (3), East Anglia (3), Poland (3), Portugal (3), Armenia (2), the Kingdom of Paris (2), the Picts (2), Reidgotalandi (2), Trondelagen (2), Viken (2), West Saxons (2), Alfheim (1), Aquitaine (1), Birkebeiner (1), Bohemia (1), Burgundy (1), Castille and Leon (1), the East Franks (1), The Empire of the West (1), Finland (1), Gardarige (1), Glaesivollum (1), Hadaflyke (Oplandene) (1), Holmgard (1), Hringarikir (1), Jutland and Vestfold (1), Oplandene (1), Orleans (1), Ringerike (1), South Jutland and Wends (1), Spain (1), Vestmar (1), West Armenia (1), the West Franks (1).

So, is Peter Swedish, Dutch, English, Irish (this will make his wife happy), or just one gigantic soup of European genes?

Peter used to joke with his lovely bride, Kimmy Sophia, (who is 1/2 Irish) that perhaps Kimmy Sophia's ancestors might be mad at him because perhaps one of Peter's ancestors fought with Cromwell's Roundheads and terrorized Ireland (which was a Bad Thing). Lo and behold, Peter's ancestral line from the Falkenbergs also includes a gentleman by the name of Charles Fleetwood (Peter's 7th Great Uncle), who went into the Army and became Cromwell's Commander and Chief of all the Armies of England, Ireland, and Scotland. Fleetwood married Bridget, the daughter of Oliver Cromwell. Peter is relieved that he is not a direct descendant of Charles, but is instead the 7th Great Grandson of Charles' brother George Fleetwood, who did not support Cromwell, but instead went to Sweden and became a Lord. Who knew?

Kapteyn Coat of Arms

Peter's mother is the late artist, Polly Kapteyn Brown. His mother's lineage (the Kapteyns) is also quite colorful. It began in 1538 with Pauwels Cappeteyn, possibly descended from two Huguenot Capitein brothers from the Burgundy region of France.

Peter's great aunt was Olga Fröbe-Kapteyn, the founder of the Eranos Foundation in Switzerland, and a friend of Carl Gustav Jung.

His great, great uncle was Doctor Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn, a Dutch astronomer and founder of the Kapteyn Institute. Quoting from the Kapteyn Institute's web page, "Kapteyn's main interest was the Structure of the 'Sidereal System'. His first major contribution was the discovery of the two 'Star Streams', announced in 1904 at the St. Louis International Exposition."

Peter's aunt recently told him more about his grandfather, Norman Brown (the husband of Helen). Norman's father Herbert was rather wealthy, and because of that Norman could have been a stuck-up prig, but wasn't. Instead, he was superbly egalitarian and believed that everyone was equal. This is what Peter believes to the bottom of his heart.

One day, he hopes to have vigorous and illuminating conversations with all of the above ancestors, to discuss the wonderful topic of the equality and value of all human beings. He is already planning a very large dinner party in the spirit world, at some distant time in the future. He wagers it will be very interesting indeed.