[act-ma] Spring 2008: Anita Hill, Daniel Pipes, George Lakoff, and more...

Tue Mar 4 09:27:49 PST 2008

FORD HALL FORUM
ANNOUNCES ITS
SPRING SERIES OF LECTURES AND DISCUSSIONS

with
Anita F. Hill
Amy Dockser Marcus & Daniel Pipes
Strobe Talbott
Herman Badillo
Danny Schechter
Cecile Richards
Yaron Brook
George Lakoff

-FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC-
Reserved seating available to members.

All events are free, wheelchair accessible, and conveniently located near
the MBTA. 
Directions at http://www.fordhallforum.org/directions.html.

 For more information regarding membership or any of this season¹s upcoming
events, 
call 617-557-2007 or visit www.fordhallforum.org.

____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________

Spring 2008 Events 

Anita F. Hill 

The 2008 Louis P. and Evelyn Smith First Amendment Award

As a lawyer, scholar, and civil rights activist, Professor Anita Hill,
Brandeis University, has shed light on the legal and social forces shaping
our nation and served as an inspiration to those seeking justice and truth
in the face of great personal risk. Launched into the public sphere by her
testimony in Justice Clarence Thomas¹s Supreme Court confirmation hearing,
she used her potentially crippling experience to encourage those who have
suffered from harassment and discrimination in the workplace to also ³speak
truth to power.²  She joins us tonight to receive the Ford Hall Forum's
First Amendment Award and share her thoughts on her life and work.
Moderated by Professor Charles J. Ogletree, Harvard University Law School.

Thursday, March 20
6:30 p.m.  8:00 p.m.
Boston Public Library, Rabb Lecture Hall
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Daniel Pipes & Amy Dockser Marcus

The Arab-Israeli Conflict: Peace Process or War Process?

The Arab-Israeli conflict is century old and still not resolved.  The
dispute between Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs over the same land --
land that contains holy sites for the three major monotheistic religions:
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam -- is bitter and deep.  What is the nature
of current tensions?  What are their implications for U.S. policy?  Tonight,
Pulitzer Prize-winning Wall Street Journal reporter Amy Dockser Marcus and
Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum and a columnist for the New
York Times Syndicate, focus on United States diplomacy in this conflict,
debating whether it has been part of a peace process or a war process.

Thursday, March 27
6:30 p.m.  8:00 p.m.
Old South Meeting House

Book signing will follow lecture and discussion.

This program is presented in collaboration with the Old South Meeting House
as part of the Partners in Public Dialogue Series.
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Strobe Talbott

The Great Experiment: The Story of Ancient Empires, Modern States, and the
Quest for a Global Nation

In his new book, The Great Experiment, Strobe Talbott, former Deputy
Secretary of State (1994  2001) and current president of the Brookings
Institution, recounts the development of nation-states and the progression
to a global nation (i.e. The League of Nations and the U.N.).  Through the
lens of history and personal experience, he assesses the prospects for
global cooperation and the United States¹ role in the process. What can we
learn from empires and conflicts of the past?  Can a world made up of many
nations govern itself peacefully?  Talbott joins us tonight to give us an
insider¹s opinion of current United States foreign policy and explain why he
believes we should take the lead in multilateral global politics for the
future. 

Thursday, April 3
6:30 p.m.  8:00 p.m.
Boston Public Library, Abbey Room

Book signing will follow lecture and discussion.
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Herman Badillo

One Nation, One Standard:  An Ex-Liberal on How Hispanics Can Succeed Just
Like Other Immigrant Groups

Since our nation¹s founding, those who come here fleeing poverty and
persecution abroad have formed a vibrant and important part of American
culture.  Today, however, America is facing an onslaught of issues
surrounding immigration, both legal and illegal.  Congressman Herman
Badillo, who rose from poverty to become the first Puerto Rican native
elected to the U.S. Congress, says his community¹s path to prosperity,
political unity, and the American mainstream must be through self-reliance.
Does liberal social policy do more harm than good?  Does success for
immigrant communities lie in the restoration of traditional values?  Join us
tonight as Herman Badillo addresses these questions that impact every
American.

Sunday, April 13
6:30 p.m.  8:00 p.m.
Old South Meeting House

Book signing will follow lecture and discussion.

This program is presented in collaboration with the Old South Meeting House
as part of the Partners in Public Dialogue Series.
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Danny Schechter

News Dissecting from Boston to a Global Stage: A Multi-media Pioneer
Challenges His Profession and Calls for Media Reform

Danny Schechter "The News Dissector," launched a media career in Boston on
WBCN Radio. He became a Nieman Fellow in Journalism at Harvard, a reporter
at WGBH, a producer at WLVI and WCVB, and then went on to CNN and ABC News
where he won two Emmys.  However, he believes media, the field in which he
has worked for four decades, is harming our democracy.  Are major
corporations capable of presenting news effectively? Can independent media
-- empowered with the tools of a technological revolution -- do any better?
Schechter joins us tonight to look back on his journey from Boston to the
world stage and explore the rapidly changing ways in which we receive our
information.
Thursday, April 17
6:30 p.m.  8:00 p.m.
Old South Meeting House

This program is presented in collaboration with the Old South Meeting House
as part of the Partners in Public Dialogue Series.
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Cecile Richards

Banned in Boston:  The Silent Speech of Margaret Sanger

³You all know that I have been gagged.  I have been suppressed.  I have been
arrested numerous times.  I have been hauled off to jail.  Yet every time,
more people have listened to me, more have protested, more have lifted their
own voices.²  Thus read Arthur Schlesinger, Sr. in 1929 as Margaret Sanger
sat silent beside him on the stage of Ford Hall, banned under court
injunction from speaking herself. Cecile Richards, President of Planned
Parenthood, joins us tonight to reflect on that event; its meaning, its
messengers, and the era that gave us the phrase, ³Banned in Boston.²

Thursday, May 1
6:30 p.m.  8:00 p.m.
Old South Meeting House

This program is presented in collaboration with the Old South Meeting House
as part of the Partners in Public Dialogue Series.
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Yaron Brook

³Apollo and Dionysus" Revisited

In 1969, Ayn Rand¹s Ford Hall Forum talk, ³Apollo and Dionysus,² addressed
the near simultaneous events of Woodstock and the first lunar landing.
Employing Greek mythology¹s god of the sun and god of wine, she compared the
awe-inspiring accomplishments of NASA's Apollo space program to the famous
three-day concert that has come to exemplify the counterculture of the 1960s
and the "hippie era."  Almost four decades later, Dr. Yaron Brook, President
and Executive Director of the Ayn Rand Institute, reflects on her words and
takes a new look at our society¹s drives toward individualism versus
wholeness, light versus darkness, and civilization versus primal nature.

Thursday, May 8
6:30 p.m.  8:00 p.m.
Old South Meeting House

This program is presented in collaboration with the Old South Meeting House
as part of the Partners in Public Dialogue Series.
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George Lakoff

The Political Mind: Why You Can¹t Understand 21st Century American Politics
with an 18th Century Brain

Professor George Lakoff, author of Moral Politics: How Liberals and
Conservatives Think, Whose Freedom?, and Don't Think of an Elephant!,
explores the connections between cognitive science and political action.
Why do many Americans vote against their own interests?  Humans, he argues,
are not the rational creatures we¹ve so long imagined ourselves to be.  And
savvy political campaigns should not assume people will use an objective
system of reasoning when deciding how to vote. Lakoff joins us tonight to
discuss his new book, The Political Mind, and explore how the mind works,
how society works, and how they work together.

Thursday, June 5
6:30 p.m.  8:00 p.m.
Boston Public Library, Abbey Room

Book signing will follow lecture and discussion. 
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