story by Andrew Clark According to four local educators, there seems to be one sure-fire way to help lower the number of former inmates returning to prison. The solution? Promoting literacy behind bars. On April 8, Suffolk University and the Boston Athenæum hosted a panel discussion, “Prison Literacy,” at the Athenæum as the fourth installment… Continue reading Literacy Behind Bars
story by Andrew Clark Though many strides have been made in providing educational opportunities for adults, adult illiteracy still remains a major issue in this country, according to three prominent local educational figures. On March 11, the Boston Athenæum hosted a panel discussion featuring Wick Sloane, Joanne Appleton Arnaud, and Linda Nathan, entitled, “Adult Literacy… Continue reading Educators Discuss Adult Literacy
story by Andrew Clark and Sherri Miles It may be over 50 years since the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision ended segregation within public schools, but according to renowned educator and writer Jonathan Kozol, this country still has miles to go to achieve equality within the education system. Kozol, a former Rhodes Scholar… Continue reading Jonathan Kozol: Fix the Equity Crisis in Public Schools
Inaugural Lecture to 2010 Literacy & Democracy Series, Tuesday, February 23, 2010, 6:00 p.m., Suffolk University C. Walsh Theatre, 55 Temple Street Jonathan Kozol’s first book, Death at an Early Age: The Destruction of the Hearts and Minds of Negro Children in the Boston Public Schools, won the National Book Award, and has sold over… Continue reading Joy and Justice: A Challenge to the Young to Serve the Children of the Poor on Feb. 23
Wednesday, April 29, 6:00 p.m. Boston Athenæum, 10½ Beacon Street The media these days speak in so many forked and foreign tongues — film, book, video game, broadcast, blog — that without a dictionary or a concordance it’s hard to know who is saying what to whom. Over the last fifty years it has come to… Continue reading Mixed Media: A Lecture with Lewis Lapham on April 29th
A panel discussion 6:00pm Monday, April 6th, 2009 at C. Walsh Theatre Broadcast Journalists have been praised for breaking important news stories and criticized for breaking political candidates. Is the role of television news in our democracy to present politically neutral information or to provide informed opinion? Charles Kravitz, President of NECN, has had a distinguished career as… Continue reading The Role of Television Journalism in a Democratic Society, Panel on April 6th
Thursday, April 2nd, 6:00 p.m. Suffolk University, C. Walsh Theatre, 55 Temple Street Nat Turner: A Troublesome Property analyzes Nat Turner’s slave rebellion of 1831 and its aftermath in American memory. The film explores the many interpretations of the event, including William Styron’s controversial 1967 Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Confessions of Nat Turner and… Continue reading Nat Turner: A Troublesome Property (2003), Film Screening & Panel Discussion, on April 2nd
A lecture by Josh Silver, Free Press: 6:00pm, Tuesday, March 31, 2009 @ The Boston Athenæum, 10 1/2 Beacon Street Josh Silver argues that the media policies made in Washington, D.C. are the cause of corporate programming on radio and TV, fake news that fails to inform, slow, overpriced Internet service, and struggling public media. His organization, Free… Continue reading Take Back the Media: Policy, Protest, and Protecting American Democracy, March 31st
6:00pm Wednesday, March 25, 2009 @ The Boston Athenæum, 10 1/2 Beacon Street For more than two centuries, America’s newspapers have been the public’s primary source of information about our government. As circulation and staffs shrink, there are significant implications for democracy, which is dependent upon an informed public. Bruce D. Butterfield is an assistant professor and… Continue reading The Shrinking World of Print Journalism: A Danger to Democracy? March 25th
Saturday, March 14th, 12:00 noon Boston Athenæum, 10½ Beacon Street This six-time Oscar-nominated 2005 docudrama chronicles how, in the mid-1950s, Edward R. Murrow and his “See It Now” producer, Fred Friendly, helped to bring an end to the tyranny of the blacklist and the House Un-American Activities Committee’s anti-Communist hearings. The film will be introduced… Continue reading Good Night & Good Luck (2005) Film Screening, March 14th