<head><style>body{font-size:10pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif;background-color:#ffffff;color:black;}p{margin:0px;}</style></head><body><font color="#000000"><font size="2"><font face="arial,sans-serif">Cambridge Forum<br>Program Schedule<br>Wednesdays at 7:00 pm. **(unless otherwise noted)<br>First Parish in Cambridge<br>3 Church Street<br>Harvard Square<br>Cambridge, MA 02138<br> <br>Fall 2012<br><br>Hidden Worlds<br><br>Things are not always what they seem. The recent economic crisis has revealed hidden banking procedures–the Libor rate-setting scandal, for example. The Citizens United Supreme Court decision brought the power of corporate money in our political life into clear relief. Rallying civil servants in Wisconsin forced ALEC’s role in writing conservative legislation into the open. What other hidden motives or unintended consequences might be found under the surface of events? What are the sources of the bitter partisanship in today’s Congress? Who will benefit most from the provisions of the Affordable Care Act? What purpose are increasingly sophisticated surveillance tools serving in our society? This year Cambridge Forum explores some of these hidden worlds–in our economic and political life, as well as in our social and personal lives. <br><br>September 19 Washington, Longfellow and the Jewish Community at Newport: A Test Case for America<br><br>Ted Widmer, director of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University, speaks about George Washington's 1790 letter to the Jewish community in Newport, Longfellow's poem on the same theme, and the curious career of religious tolerance in American politics.<br><br>Co-sponsored by the National Park Service, Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters NHS, the Friends of the Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters, the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati, and by Ann Daily. In honor of Frances Ackerly.<br> <br> <br>Thursday**<br>September 27 The Spirit of Compromise*<br><br>Harvard’s Dennis Thompson discusses the impact of the “perpetual campaign” on American political life. What role does ideology play in the current impasse in national governance? What role does the electoral system itself play? How can the people’s representatives move beyond gridlock and ideological partisanship to effectively govern the nation and resolve the problems it faces?<br><br>Book: The Spirit of Compromise (Princeton)<br><br><br>October 10 What’s the Economy For Anyway?*<br> <br>Activist, author, and film-maker John de Graaf looks beyond the current downturn to explore the assumptions underlying our economy. In an election cycle that is focused on our economic future, his new book What's the Economy For, Anyway? offers a fresh perspective on quality of life, health, security, work-life balance, leisure, social justice, and perhaps most important, sustainability. How can we measure economic success? Nationally? Individually? What is the role of growth in a 21st-century economy? What role can governments play in creating economic success? What is the individual’s role?<br><br>Book: What’s the Economy For, Anyway? (Bloomsbury)<br><br><br>November 7 Censoring Children*<br> <br>MIT’s Noam Chomsky and Barbara Lubin of the Middle East Children’s Alliance discuss A Child’s View of Gaza, the book of Palestinian children’s artwork slated for exhibition at the Oakland Museum of Children’s Art. The exhibition was cancelled at the last minute without explanation. Have children become pawns in a larger conflict? How has this come about? What does it say about the possibilities for peaceful resolution of the Israeli/Palestinian impasse?<br><br>Co-sponsored by Jewish Voice for Peace, Boston and American Jews for a Just Peace.<br><br>Book: A Child’s View from Gaza<br> <br><br>Monday**<br>November 12 The Second Nuclear Age*<br> <br>Yale national security strategist Paul Bracken argues that a new nuclear age is dawning. This Second Nuclear Age will transform the way international crises develop and call for new strategies for coping and containment. What role will the United States play in the new nuclear landscape? How should we plan for this nuclear future? How dangerous will the second nuclear age be?<br> <br>Book: The Second Nuclear Age (Yale)<br></font></font></font></body><pre>
Cambridge Forum
3 Church Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Phone: 617-495-2727
email: mailto:director@cambridgeforum.org
website: http://www.cambridgeforum.org
"Bringing People together to talk again . . ."
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