
Cambridge Forum Winter schedule (text
version)
Global Climate Change: Mini-Conference
Cambridge Forum hosts a mini-conference on global climate change. Beginning at 1:00 pm, scientists explore the impact of atmospheric methane on the earth’s temperature, as well as the impact that climate change will have on human health, environmental migration, agricultural production, and sea level. The impact of the 350.org movement, the Copenhagen talks, and the likely follow-up on the part of individual governments will be the focus of the 7:00 pm closing address.
» Co-sponsored by Hubert Jessup and Tim Weiskel
» press release » Thursday, January 28th 1:00 pm

 
Health Care: Tales from the Edge
Danielle Ofri, practicing psychiatrist at New York’s Bellevue Hospital discusses the cases of the people marginalized by our society and our health care system. How will current proposals for health care reform affect their lives? What changes in the American health care system would make Ofri’s stories a thing of the past.
» press release » Wednesday, February 3rd 6:30 pm

 
American Passage: Immigration Then and Now
Historian Vincent Cannato discusses his history of Ellis Island with political scientist Paul Watanabe. Watanabe’s research examines contemporary immigration trends as a counterpoint to Cannato’s’s historical research. Ho has the immigrant experience changed since Ellis Island was the key entry point to the United States? How has it remained the same? What are the nation’s expectations from immigrants today, as compared with a century ago?
» press release » Wednesday, February 10th 6:30 pm

 
Theatre: Realizing Imaginary Space
Actress Maeve Kincaid and ART artistic director Diane Paulus. examine the four imaginations–of playwright, actor, director, and audience–that work together to create a theatrical space that feels “real,” but actually does not exist outside the theatre.
» Supported by the Cambridge Arts Council and the Massachusetts Cultural Council
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» press release » Wednesday, February 24th 8:00 pm
 
Empire of Illusion
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges discusses his new book Empire of Illusion. Has the United States become a society impressed only by spectacle? Has our media shortened our attention spans and our government blurred the edges of the truth enough so that we can no longer tell the difference between reality and fantasy?
» press release » Wednesday, March 3rd 6:30 pm

 
Criticizing Creativity
Critic Daniel Mendelsohn and former New York Times Book Review editor, Charles McGrath examine the ways in which criticism itself becomes a creative act.
» Supported by the Cambridge Arts Council and the Massachusetts Cultural Council
» press release » Wednesday, March 17th 6:30 pm
 
Science and Creativity
Science journalist Marcia Bartusiak and physicist/composer Lisa Randall explore the creative inspiration involved in scientific research and science writing.
» press release » Wednesday, April 7th 6:30 pm
» Supported by the Cambridge Arts Council and the Massachusetts Cultural Council
 
Framing the Story: Cartooning and Graphic Novels
Sage Stossel and Hilary Price explore creativity under the pressure of daily deadlines and rigid formal requirements. What impact do external structural demands have on the creative artist? The work of art? Using the parameters of the daily cartoon strip and the graphic novel as models, they ask how do formal rules change and develop as an art form grows, attracting new audiences and taking on new roles in the world of art.
» press release » Wednesday, April 21st 6:30 pm
» Supported by the Cambridge Arts Council and the Massachusetts Cultural Council
 
Comedy’s Creative Power to Persuade
Representatives from The Onion examine the place of comedy in our public discourse in an era when Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are the news sources of choice for a generation of citizens. How does The Onion craft stories that are persuasive enough to be taken seriously by governments around the world?
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» press release » Wednesday, May 12th 6:30 pm
» Supported by the Cambridge Arts Council and the Massachusetts Cultural Council
 
::::::: RECENT CAMBRIDGE FORUMS AVAILABLE ON CD :::::::
Garrison Keillor at Cambridge Forum
Best-selling author, and host of A Prairie Home Companion, Garrison Keillor paid a visit to Cambridge Forum on December 14th.
Keillor shared songs and stories about life in Lake Wobegon, described his early days as a writer in New York City, paid tribute to early Cantabridgian Ralph Waldo Emerson, and shared a few of his recent sonnets.
An audio CD of this special forum featuring America's favorite storyteller is now available ($12).
Storytelling in the
Electronic Era
Storyteller Odds Bodkin and Harvard folklorist Maria
Tatar explore the art of the story in the 21st century. Telling stories
is an ancient art, a holdover from the pre-literate human past. How did the
advent of the written word affect the art of storytelling and the stories themselves?
Why does oral storytelling persist? What impact will the digital culture of
wikis and filesharing have on the future of storytelling?
Books: Enchanted Hunters, Annotated Brothers Grimm and Annotated Hans Christian
Andersen ( all by Tatar) The Crane Wife (Harcourt) by Bodkin
» press
release 
 
  
PLANET WASHINGTON (“If the news breaks, we fix it!”)
Ken Rynne, an alum of the renowned Capitol Steps troupe, and his faithful piano accompanist are Planet Washington. Together they provide an evening of music, song, and comedy improv that cuts through the rhetoric and gets to the laughter. If you sometimes think that “Inside the Beltway” seems like another planet, this show is for you!
 
Afghanistan Revisited
What impact is the growing United States’ military presence having in this war-torn country? What role should we play in Afghanistan? Andrew Bacevich, professor of International Relations at Boston University, is joined by Charles Sennott, founder of Global Post, to discuss the challenges the Obama administration faces in Afghanistan.
Book: The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism (Holt).
» Book signing courtesy of the Harvard Book Store
» press release » Monday, October 5th 6:30 pm

 
Hollowing Out the Middle: The Rural Brain Drain and What It Means for America
As the United States prepares for the 2010 census Patrick J. Carr of Rutgers University discusses current the new demographic research detailed in Hollowing Out the Middle: The Rural Brain Drain and What It Means for America (Beacon). What are the factors behind the dramatic population shift from the middle of the country to the coasts? What does this demographic change mean for the depopulated Midwest? the coastal cities gaining population? our national identity?
» Book signing courtesy of the Harvard Book Store
» press release » Wednesday, October 14th 6:30 pm

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Creativity and Mood
Poet and songwriter Paul Muldoon joins poet/playright Elizabeth Swados to explore the relationship between creativity and mood. For more than a century artistic genius has been linked in the popular imagination with suffering, mental illness, and untimely death--as though creativity somehow rendered artists unfit for ordinary human life. Swados, who has detailed her own battles with bipolar disorder in print, and Muldoon, who wrote some of the haunting lyrics on Warren Zevon's last CD, reflect on this Romantic idea of artistic creativity.
Related book: At Play: Teaching Teenagers Theater( Farrar Straus Giroux)
» Book signing courtesy of the Harvard Book Store
» press release » Wednesday, October 21st 6:30 pm

  
I.F. Stone: The Case for the Press in a Democracy
Journalist D.D. Guttenplan discusses his new biography of iconic independent journalist I.F. Stone. It illuminates Stone’s career in light of the current seismic shift in the shape of news-gathering and distribution systems world wide. Was Stone the proto-type of today’s blogger? Could his financial model work for independent journalists today? Is there a role for government in maintaining an independent press?
Book: American Radical: The Life and Times of I.F. Stone (Farrar, Strauss & Giroux)
» Book signing courtesy of the Harvard Book Store
» press release » Wednesday, November 4th @ 6:30p

  
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 » recorded Sunday, June 14th

  
Rogue Economics
International economics reporter Loretta Napoleoni exposes the
dark side of the global economy –- the sex trade, drug trade, counterfeiting – -
operating
without government control in the global marketplace.
» press
release » recorded
January 14, 2009

  
So Damn Much Money
Washington Post correspondent Robert Kaiser exposes the impact of lobbyists and their money on American government. Kaiser argues that lobbying has altered everything about the way Washington works today – from the cost of political campaigns to the way legislation is written. How has lobbying changed in recent decades? How does the growing power of the lobbyists affect ordinary citizens?
» press
release » recorded
January 28, 2009

  
Invisible History: Afghanistan's
Untold Story
Paul Fitzgerald and Elizabeth Gould,
a husband and wife team of journalists, have been reporting on Afghanistan
since the Soviet invasion in 1979. Their PBS documentary Afghanistan
Between Three Worlds took American television viewers behind
the scenes is a little known part of the world. Their latest book
continues the story of Afghanistan’s troubled relations and
clarifies the challenges facing the new administration as it tries
to avoid an endless war in a war torn part of the world.
» Book
signing courtesy of the Harvard Book Store
» press
release » recorded
February 4, 2009

  
Conscience of A Liberal
Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman in conversation
with David Gergen of Harvard University's John F. Kennedy
School of Government. Krugman explores the foundations of the liberal political
and economic systems. In the current economic downturn, what we can learn from
past liberal successes and failures?
This is a ticketed program. Tickets are $5 (free
to Cambridge Forum members); call 617-495-2727 to reserve yours. .
» Co-sponsored
by Harvard Book Store and Mullane, Michel & McInnes, Counselors at Law
» Book
signing courtesy of the Harvard Book Store
» press
release » recorded
February 9, 2009

 
The Lonely American
Jacqueline Olds and Richard Schwarz,
clinical psychiatrists at Harvard Medical School, examine the personal
and societal effects of the unheralded epidemic of social isolation in
America today. How does the contemporary American lifestyle and workstyle
lead to social isolation? Are friends on Facebook a true substitute for
friends we meet face-to-face?
» Book
signing courtesy of the Harvard Book Store
» press
release » Recorded
February 11, 2009

  
Writing and Doctoring
Elissa Ely and Tess Gerritsen talk about how writing affects their medical practice and vice versa. What kind of attention and analysis does the practice of medicine require? How do the demands of being a doctor differ from the demands of writing? Is writing a respite from medicine or an extension of it? (Program moderated by fellow physician Sasha Helper)
» press release » recorded March 11, 2009
  
Sowing Crisis: The Cold War and the Middle East
Premier U.S. historian of the Middle East, Rashid Khalidi dissects the impact that Cold War-era rivalries had in shaping the dynamics of current Middle Eastern conflicts. What role did the Cold War play in establishing the American presence in the Middle East? How do the long shadows of the United States and Soviet Union continue to affect of view of Middle Eastern politics?
»Co-sponsored by Don and Jeannette McGinnes
» Book signing courtesy of the Harvard Book Store
» press release » recorded March 18, 2009

  
The Third Chapter
Sara Lawrence Lightfoot of the Harvard Graduate School of Education identifies a new developmental stage in her latest book, The Third Chapter. In the 25 years after age 50, Americans are in transition, changing careers, continuing educations, traveling, volunteering. Why is this happening? What impacts will this trend have on our society as life expectancies increase?
» Co-sponsored by Helen Glikman and Dan Bartley
» Book signing courtesy of the Harvard Book Store
» press release » recorded March 25, 2009

  
Standing Up to the Madness
Award-winning journalist Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! discusses her latest book Standing Up to the Madness: Ordinary Heroes in Extraordinary Times, in a special program to benefit Cambridge Forum. Goodman shares her experiences in the trenches as she travels the nation and finds a healthy grassroots base for participatory democracy. Join us for a memorable evening. Moderated by WGBH's Jordon Weinstein.
» press release » recorded, April 2, 2009

  
Joss Whedon: Cultural Humanist
Television writer and director Joss Whedon receives the 2009 Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in Cultural Humanism. The creator of the long-running television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer explores the moral foundation of a humanistic universe.
» Co-sponsored by the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard
» Book signing courtesy of the Harvard Book Store
» Tickets are required; call Cambridge Forum at 617-495-2727 to reserve yours
» press release » recorded April 10, 2009

  
Poetry and Perception
Poet Susan Stewart argues that poetry is a slow” artform. She also argues that poetry most often treats what the poet sees out of the corner of his/her eye, not what is seen head on. What does she mean by these claims? How does her concept of poetry fit into the fast-paced modern world of 25-words-or-less elevator speeches?
» Book signing courtesy of the Harvard Book Store
» press release » recorded April 16, 2009

  
The First Tycoon
Author T.J. Stiles discusses his new biography of Cornelius Vanderbilt. What are the parallels between the career of Vanderbilt who amassed a fortune in the 19th century and those of his counterparts today? How did federal and state governments respond to the challenge of Vanderbilt’s wealth? What can we learn from his story in today’s economy?
» press release » recorded April 29th

  
Beyond The Pollution Paradigm
Environmentalists Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus ask whether American climate change policy is moving in the right direction. The cap-and-trade model for regulatory legislation is based on economic assumptions that have shattered in the current economic crisis. Now Shellenberger and Nordhaus question whether dirty energy can ever be made expensive enough. How, instead, can we make clean energy cheap?
» press release » recorded May 6th Author's blog site

  
Tales of Science and Love
Internationally renowned evolutionist Lynn Margulis reveals
sciences from the inside–its passions, disappointments, and triumphs.
Drawing on her lifetime of experience as a researcher and conversations with
the world’s most esteemed scientists, Margulis gives personal voice to
those who attempt to wrest secrets from nature.
» Book
signing courtesy of Harvard Book Store » Ron
Burns Memorial Forum on Science and Technology
» press
release » Recorded
September 18th, 2008

  
Is America Possible?
A Journey of Hope
Vincent Harding, theologian and professor emeritus
of religion and social transformation at the Iliff School of Theology
in Denver, argues that, especially for African Americans, the American
Dream has never been realized. At best a hope, at worst a mockery,
it remains alive in the words and imaginations of the artists and activists
of the community. Retracing the roads and revisiting his companions
of the Civil Rights Movement, Harding reflects on their achievements
in making the dream more of a reality and points out the work that
still needs to be done.
Co-sponsored
by The Fetzer Institute as part of their series on Deepening
the American Dream
» press
release

  
Crunch: Feeling Squeezed in Today’s Economy
Jared Bernstein, senior fellow and director of the Living Standards Program at the Economic Policy Institute, decodes the workings of the economy. Translating the jargon of Wall Street into the language of Main Street, Bernstein argues that economics should be more than a tool for the nation’s elite. How can we use economics to organize American society to provide for Main Street’s needs as well as Wall Street’s?
» press release

  
The Opinion Makers: Lies My Pollster
Told Me
David Moore, a former senior editor at the Gallup Poll, argues that pollsters
don’t report public opinion; they manufacture it. What tactics and strategies
do they use in shaping our views? What can ordinary citizens do to short-circuit
their methods? Why it is important to understand the sources of pollsters’ power?
» press
release 

  
Confessions of an Eco-Sinner
Science journalist Fred Pearce traces the environmental costs of the things that make up ordinary daily life–our clothing, our food, our cup of coffee– to reveal the extraordinary hidden costs of a modest Western lifestyle. What changes in our consumption poatterns could we make to lower those environmental costs? What would those changes mean for our lifestyle?
» press release

  
The Three Trillion Dollar War
Linda Bilmes, expert in budgeting and public finance at Harvard’s Kennedy School, discusses “the true cost of the Iraq conflict,” as calculated in her new book, co-authored with Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz. What expense items have been hidden from American taxpayers? What future costs does war entail? What trade-offs does the cost of war impose on the U.S. economy?
» press release

  
Human Rights in China: After the Olympics
Jianli Yang, survivor of the Tianamin Square Massacre and a five year prison term in China, looks at human rights in China today. After the Olympic spotlight has dimmed, what real progress toward an open society based on principles of individual rights do we see?
» press release
 
Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness
Harvard law professor Cass Sunstein applies cutting edge social science research on human behavior to legal questions in the stock market, mortgage markets, environmental protection, and family law. What are the implications for law and public policy of psychology’s new insights into decision-making behavior? What is the moral significance of developing public policies that “nudge” people to make wise decisions?
» press release » Recorded November 12th

 
The Power Of Place
Boston Globe travel writer Tom Haines seeks individual encounters
in remote regions as a way to understand broader issues of place and time.
A gold miner in Venezuela, a reindeer herder in the Arctic, a wheat farmer
in the land of Confucius –- at the edge of this global century, how
large do terrain and distance loom?
» press release » recorded November 19th
  
Letters To A Young Teacher
Jonathan Kozol discusses his latest
book, inspired by his letters to Francesca, a first grade teacher at an
inner-city school in Boston. In Letters To A Young Teacher, Kozol
tackles a number of the controversial issues: the mania of high-stakes
testing that turns many classrooms into test-prep factories where spontaneity
and critical intelligence are no longer valued, and the inequalities of
urban schools that are once again almost as segregated as they were a century
ago. Kozol also portrays the happiness of teaching children, and their
ability to overcome their insecurities when they are in the hands of an
adoring and hard-working teacher.

  
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



  
A Liberal Speaks
Pulitzer Prize-winning author and co-founder of The American Prospect, Paul
Starr discusses Freedom’s Power: The True Force of Liberalism.
Delving into the history of liberal philosophy, Starr asks what traditional
liberalism has to offer modern America.
  
The West And China: Divergence And
Convergence
Economic historian Niall Ferguson examines the impact of China’s
economic strength on the international economy. How has China made its presence
felt through manufacturing, its trade surplus, monetary policy, and acquisition
of Western corporations?
  
In The West Bank With Palestinians
And The Israelis
Veteran journalist Philip Winslow worked on the West Bank
with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency during the second intifada,
driving up to 600 miles a week between almost every Palestinian town, village,
and refugee camp and every Israeli checkpoint in the occupied territory. His
latest book presents a rare firsthand account of people’s lives in this
dangerous and contested region. What conditions would be necessary to stop
the ongoing violence? What conditions would allow real progress toward peace? book
info

 
Marco Polo
Author Larry Bergreen traces Marco Polo’s journey to
China along the silk road. As the West continues to discover China today, this
look back at Europe’s earlier encounter calls for a re-examination of
our traditional expectations.
  
The Israeli Lobby And U.S. Foreign
Policy
John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt ignited
a storm of controversy when they first presented their argument that
the Israel lobby may be moving American foreign policy in directions
that are not in the United States’ best interests. Their new
book examines the impact of the Israel lobby on the United States and
Israel in greater detail and is sure to provoke a lively discussion.
  
American Creation
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Joseph Ellis tells
six stories from the early years of the American Republic. How did the
decisions made by the
founders affect the shape of the young nation? What were their creative
achievements? And their failures? Despite the injustices and brutalities
that resulted from the continuation of slavery and the repression of
Native Americans, Ellis argues that founders’ strategy rose from
a profoundly realistic insight about how enduring social change best
happens.

  
Musicophilia
Neurologist Oliver Sacks investigates the power of music to move us,
to heal and to haunt us. Why
do humans make music? What does “your
brain on music” look like?
  
Unriddling The World
Why does an author choose to write fantasy? What opportunities does this
genre provide for their imaginations? Join Roger Sutton, editor-in-chief
of The Horn Book Magazine as he explores these questions with Susan
Cooper (The Dark Is Rising) and Gregory Maguire (Wicked),
two modern masters of fantasy in literature for children and adults.
The Writing Of Fantasy
Location: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Stata Center, 32 Vassar Street
Join Roger Sutton, editor in chief of The Horn Book Magazine. as he leads authors Susan Cooper (The Dark is Rising) and Gregory Maguire (Wicked) in a roundtable discussion about the possibilities and problems in writing and reading fantasy for young people and adults.
 
  
Unriddling the World: Fantasy and Children
Cambridge Forum presents award-winning author Susan Cooper.
Why do children read fantasy? Does an adult understand fantasy in the same way
as a child? In what ways does fantasy help children cope with the real world?
Preceded by "Songs and Riddles": a musical introduction by Tony Barrand, singer,
dancer and scholar and George Emlen, music director of Revels.
  
Last Night's Dream
Rodger Kamenetz searches for spiritual truth in dreams. How has the quest
to interpret dreams shaped Western thought? How do dreams allow us to communicate
with our unconscious selves?

  
The Missing Class
Princeton sociologist Katherine Newman gives voice to 57 million
Americans sandwiched between the middle class and the poor. How do the stories
of these
families–21 million of them are children– demonstrate the need
to think about inequality in a new way. Through the experiences of nine families,
Katherine Newman and Victor Tan Chen trace the unique problems faced by individuals
in this large and growing demographic—the "near poor"—who
have transformed their lives through hard work and determination.

  
The Cambridge Forum series: Is
This America? is made possible in part
by:
A Cambridge Forum series of public discussions that
examines America's most deeply held values. How can our founding ideals
of liberty
and justice for all help restore respectful civic dialogue in a time of
contentious re-examination of constitutional principles.
  
Immigrant Entrepreneurs
Political scientist Paul Watanabe discusses immigrant entrepreneurs
with Michael Liu and Ramon Borges-Mendez of the University of Massachusetts,
Boston. What contributions do immigrants make to our nation's economy? What's
the relationship between immigrant populations and urban vitality?
» press
release » This program is funded in part by the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities.
  
| Recent Cambridge
Forum radio broadcasts: |
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. Sobel traces the lives of each member of our solar
family, from myth and history, astrology and science fiction, to the latest
data from the modern era's robotic space probes.
» press
release

  
THE SHAME OF THE NATION
Jonathan Kozol documents the reappearance
of separate and unequal schooling in our nation's educational system. Gary
Orfield of The Civil Rights Project at Harvard responds and moderates the
discussion. What factors are driving the reappearance of segregated schools?
What impact does this phenomenon have on the quality of our children's
education? What does it portend for the future?

 
THE RAW DEAL: Current Social Security Politics and
Policies
Best-selling author Joe Conason examines
the campaign for privatizing Social Security. Who supports the privatization
movement? And who benefits from it? How has the once unthinkable campaign
to change Social Security, the so-called "third rail" of politics,
developed support to move its agenda forward? Will the privatization movement
regain momentum after the 2006 mid-term elections?
  
GILEAD
Marilynne Robinson receives the 2005
Melcher Book Award from the Unitarian Universalist Association for her
Pulitzer Prize winning novel Gilead. Her compelling
and insightful reflection on the human spirit documents its search for
connection to other human beings and to a spiritual power.
 
GREEN CITIES
"Transit oriented development" and "smart
growth" are new initiatives in urban design aim to create "green
cities." Peter Smith of the Boston Society of Architects
discusses these movements with Larissa Brown, chief planner
for urban design firm Goody, Clancy, and Kristina Egan ,
director of the Massachusetts Smart Growth Alliance. How is it possible
to design urban communities that are economically and environmentally sustainable?
How do such communities work? Are they coming to your region soon?
  
ASSESSING THE HEALTH OF THE ENVIRONMENT
Robert Watson, chief scientist and director of the Environmentally
and Socially Sustainable Development Network of the World Bank and Chair
of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, explores
the implications of the 2005 report of the U.N. Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment. In the afternoon Watson discusses the evidence for global
climate change with a panel of scientists. At the evening forum he asks
what the future of the earth looks like if current climate trends continue.
What have we done to change the global climate? And how can we undo the
negative changes we have made?
  

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My Senses
Are Tingling
Current events provide plenty of material
for Jimmy Tingle's comedic genius these days.
When he focuses his zinging wit on world affairs, you're certain
to experience the power of laughter to clarify, to heal, and
to inspire change!
Jimmy Tingle's American
Dream
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TALKING
BACK . . . To Presidents, Dictators, and Assorted Scoundrels?
Andrea Mitchell, NBC's Chief
Foreign Affairs correspondent, discusses her trail blazing life
as a woman in journalism in her new memoir. Uniquely positioned
to provide an insider's view of the role of the media in the United
States today, Mitchell has had four decades of access to those
wielding power inside the Beltway and has seen firsthand how that
power is viewed and exercised around the world.

   
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These RECENT forums can
be viewed as WEBCASTS on the WGBH Forum Network:
Democracy in the Age of Dubya
Al Franken, political satirist and author Listen ... 
The Realm of Vanishing Cultures
Wade Davis, National Geographic explorer Listen ...
Bits & Bites From Hip Hop Life
Selwyn Seyfu Hinds, journalist and author Listen ... 
Little Red Hiding Hood Uncloaked
Sex, Morality and the Evolution of a Fairytale
Catherine Orenstein, cultural critic Listen ... 
Inventing Iraq: The Failure of Nation-Building
Toby Dodge, author, ABC News Iraq consultant Listen ... 
Israel/Palestine: Voices from the Ground
Robert Tobin, editor
Maureen Tobin, editor Listen ...
 
Some highlights from last year's programs:
OVER
THE EDGE OF THE WORLD
Historian Lawrence Bergreen offers
a stunning account of Magellan's historic journey, the adventures of
his crew, and his own tragic
end in a new book entitled Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the
Globe.
  
This
Just In
Veteran journalist Bob Schieffer, chief Washington
correspondent for CBS News and moderator of "Face the Nation," reveals
insights from his new memoir chronicling 40 years in journalism. How
has the business of news influenced politics and shaped public opinion?
Have the news media gained too much power?
  

Artists In Times Of War
A new book from leading American historian Howard
Zinn reflects on war, dissent, and the role of the artist, illuminating
some of the 20th century's most celebrated voices of conscience, from
Mark Twain to Langston Hughes. What is the everyday potential of artists
and citizens to create social apertures for change?
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Directions to Harvard Square
By Public Transportation: Take
the Red Line to the Harvard stop; Or take any number of buses
that come to the Square. Walk a short distance to the side entrance
of the First Parish Unitarian Universalist located at 3 Church
Street (just opposite the Harvard Square Cinema). To get a schedule
or for more information about public transportation, call (617)
222-3200 or (800)392-6100 toll free.
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By Car: From the Massachusetts
Turnpike (east and westbound): Take Exit 18 (Allston, Cambridge):
Go through toll booth, bear right towards Cambridge, then go straight
across the bridge over the Charles River, take an immediate left
onto Memorial Drive and follow past 1 bridge. At next bridge, take
a right on JFK Street into Harvard Square. See above.
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