Watch! Cambridge Forum on the WGBH Forum Network Channel Attend this week's public forum! Purchase a CD of any of our radio broadcasts: Join Friends of CF      Recent Broadcasts Select from list American Blandscape: Risky Writing JK Rowling: Imagination And Failure Seth Shulman: Undermining Science The Rose & The Briar Bob Dylan: Poet Sacks: Musicophilia Bergreen: Marco Polo Ellis: American Creation Mearsheimer/Walt: The Israel Lobby Sendak: Descent Into Limbo Cooper: Unriddling The World Cooper/Maguire: WRITING FANTASY: Winslow: IN THE WEST BANK Sobel: The Planets Hill: Owner's Manual For Democracy Golove: Limits of Presidential Power Dorgan: Take This Job And Ship It! Zinn: Inner Life Of Democracy Michaels: Trouble With Diversity Don't Know Title Upcoming Forums Select from list Gitlin: Recovering American Ideals Bales: Ending Slavery Hartmann: Cracking The Code Brown: Plan B 3.0 Lappe: Getting A Grip On Democracy Phillips: Bad Money Gaffin: Bad Religion Kozol: Letters To A Young Teacher Public Poet: Longfellow At 200 Starr: A Liberal Speaks Ferguson: The West And China Winslow: In The West Bank Bergreen: Marco Polo Mearsheimer/Walt: The Israel Lobby Joseph Ellis: American Creation Oliver Sacks: Musicophila Cooper: Unriddling The World Kamenetz: Last Nights Dream Newman: The Missing Class Don't Know Title Forum Classics Select from List Christopher Ricks: Bob Dylan As Poet Kushner: Why Bad Things Happen To Good People Bernard Henri-Levy: American Vertigo Greil & Wilentz: The Rose And The Briar Marilynne Robinson: Gilead Lester Brown: Plan B 2.0 Howard Zinn: Artists In Times Of War Al Franken: Democracy In The Age Of Dubya Mark Doty: On Objects And Intimacy Chris Hedges: Does War Give Us Meaning? Maurice Sendak: Limbo Title or name?

2009 forums are underway!

FAIRLY UNBALANCED:
Writing Political Satire in the 21st Century

One can deliver a satire with telling force through the insidious medium of travesty, if he is careful not to overwhelm the satire with the extraneous interest of the travesty.
Mark Twain, A Couple of Sad Experiences, 1870

PEN New England and Cambridge Forum present a discussion of the power and the pitfalls of writing in the age of Jon Stewart and (soon?) Senator Al Franken. Panelists include acclaimed novelists Percival Everett and Lise Haines; comedian Jimmy Tingle, former Maine Poet Laureate Baron Wormser, The Harvard Lampoon and the presentation of the 2009 Vasyl Stus Freedom to Write Award.


» press release » Sunday, June 14th @ 4:00p

Cambridge Forum CLASSIC : Bob Dylan Artist

In this Cambridge Forum CLASSIC (2000), Christopher Ricks, Professor of Humanities at Boston University explores the poetry in Bob Dylan's songs. What accounts for the staying power of this icon of popular culture? How do Dylan's songs of social criticism avoid the traps of helpless pathos and useless rage to achieve their powerful effects? What's behind The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll?

» Watch YouTube video excerpt online:
» ORDER COMPLETE AUDIO CD below:

PUBLIC POET: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow at 200

Director of the National Endowment for the Arts and Longfellow scholar Dana Gioia revisits the work of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow with a group of poets, writers, political leaders and educators. What does Longfellow’s work say to the 21st century reader? Is there a place in our technological age for public poetry?

» Co-sponsored by the Longfellow National Historic Site, the American Poetry Foundation, and the Paul Revere House

More details about our 2008 Winter schedule of public events here.

Highlights from recent programs:

The Planets

Author Dava Sobel discusses her history of the nine planets of our solar system and the fascination they hold for the human imagination in the 2nd Ron Burns Memorial Forum on Science and Technology.

A John Maeda design

Art in the 21st Century Virtual art designer John Maeda who teaches at MIT's Media Lab and is author of Design By Numbers is interviewed by New York Times Science Section interviewer Claudia Dreifus, author of Scientific Conversations. How are computers transforming the landscape of art and graphic design? What does thinking look like? Other science forums...

Does War Give Us Meaning? Drawing on the literature of combat, from Homer to Shakespeare, New York Times correspondent and author Chris Hedges argues that human beings are conditioned to embrace what he calls 'the myth of war' -- the idea that combat is noble, selfless, and glorious. In his new book, War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, Hedges reveals the reality of war, which he knows first-hand, to be the destruction of culture, the perversion of human desire, and the embrace, ultimately, of death over life. » WGBH Forum webcast » more upcoming Forums

The Ecological Imagination Chet Raymo is one of the nation's most prolific science and nature writers. His newspaper column, "Science Musings" and his books including The Soul of the Night, 365 Starry Nights and Honey From Stone, offer wonderful explorations of the profound relationships between science, nature and religion. Raymo reads from his latest book, Natural Prayers. Poet Pattiann Rogers reads from her most recent work, Eating Bread & Honey, which follows the award-winning Firekeeper, New & Selected Poems. Listen

The New Nuclear Danger Helen Caldicott, founder of the Nobel Prize-winning Physicians for Social Responsibility, addresses the escalating nuclear dangers around the globe. From the war against terrorism to the India-Pakistan dispute ... which scenarios have the potential to escalate to nuclear conflicts? Has the world grown complacent about nuclear dangers? Listen

1776

Historian David McCullough brings to life the tumult and uncertainty of 1776 by recreating the context of life-and-death military struggle that heralded the birth of the United States of America.

. » Listen

The Amazing Story of Sue

Paleontologist Peter Larson and reporter Kristin Donnan describe how a Black Hills Institute team unearthed the largest intact T-rex skeleton ever uncovered. Sue's discovery launched a hailstorm of lawsuits, FBI investigations and controversy in what came to be known as the "bone wars." Who should own such treasures? How has Sue's discovery changed paleontology? Listen

On Objects and Intimacy
Mark Doty reads from his new book of poetry Still Life with Oysters and Lemon which examines our relationship with ordinary objects. How do things become meaningful for human beings? How do things acquire meaning and help us hold feeling, hope, and history within themselves? Listen

The Folklore of Violence
Afro-American folk singer Sparky Rucker discusses the history of the glorification of the outlaw in popular and folk music. Using songs and lyrics, he traces the tradition of celebrating outlaws' battles against their oppressors, from Robin Hood to Jesse James, Pretty Boy Floyd to gangsta rappers. Listen

Remembering the Negro League
Reverend Henry Bow Mason, former pitcher in the Negro Baseball and Major Leagues, shares his experiences of playing in the Negro League, playing alongside such greats as Satchel Page, Willy Mays, and Jackie Robinson. Listen...

Next time in Harvard Square ...
»       »       »	PEN New England and Cambridge Forum present a discussion of the power - and the pitfalls - of writing in the age of Jon Stewart and (soon?) Senator Al Franken. Panelists include acclaimed novelists Percival Everett and Lise Haines, comedian Jimmy Tingle, former Maine Poet Laureate Baron Wormser, and The Harvard Lampoon. Writing Political Satire in the 21st Century Sunday, June 14@ 4:00 Find out more about our ongoing national radio series.
	Join ... The Friends Of Cambridge Forum
»	Call (617) 495-2727 for more info...directions

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