Local Author, Academic and Humorist Gina Barreca Joins Civility Panel

The Connecticut Forum Announces:
Gina Barreca to Join David Gergen and Christopher Buckley at
The End of Civility?
Saturday, October 2, 2010

Deemed a “feminist humor maven” by Ms. Magazine and “Very, very funny. For a woman” by Dave Barry, Gina Barreca is most recently the author of It's Not That I'm Bitter: How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Visible Panty Lines and Conquered the World. She has appeared on 20/20, 48 Hours, NPR, the BBC, The Today Show, CNN, Joy Behar, and Oprah to discuss gender, power, politics, and humor.

Her earlier books include the bestselling They Used to Call Me Snow White But I Drifted: Women's Strategic Use of Humor, and Babes in Boyland: A Personal History of Coeducation in the Ivy League; her books have been translated into several languages, including Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, and German. She’s the editor of seventeen books, including The Signet Book of American Humor and The Penguin Book of Women’s Humor as well as The Erotics of Instruction and A Sit-Down With the Sopranos.

You may recognize Barreca's name from her weekly column in The Hartford Courant, "Irreconcilable Differences". She also writes for the "Brainstorm" section of The Chronicle of Higher Education, blogs for Psychology Today, and occasionally spars with her former co-author (of I'm With Stupid: One Man, One Woman, and 10,000 of Misunderstandings between the Sexes Cleared Right Up) Gene Weingarten in his "Below the Beltway" column in The Washington Post. With degrees from Dartmouth College, Cambridge University, and the City University of New York, Barreca is Professor of English and Feminist Theory at the University of Connecticut.

Dr. Barreca on her female students and their fear of not dating:

Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd on education and technology

Senator Chris Dodd was a Forum panelist back in 1994 at a Forum titled Children & Education: A Look into the Future. As we think about Dodd's long career as Connecticut's Senator, here's a clip of him at that Forum, talking about education and technology.



Although this was nearly sixteen years ago, the issues that he and the rest of the panel addressed that evening continue to be of urgent importance.

The Forum's Founding President, Richard Sugarman, remembers Chris Dodd: "It struck me then, and it has struck me since then, that he really cares about children, education and these issues. It never felt like political speak. It felt like it was in his gut and in his heart."

Thoughts on Hartford...

I've been thinking a lot about Hartford lately.

I work here, and at The Forum part of our struggle lies in convincing people who live outside the city to come downtown for their entertainment - to convince them that it is safe, there is parking and it will be fun - we promise. And, I've been looking at moving from the 'burbs into Hartford myself, so on a more personal level I'm considering what the city has to offer; there really is a lot going on here, so why do we work so hard to convince ourselves that Hartford is a dead city?

I feel like some of that is changing.

Maybe it's the opening of the new Connecticut Science Center, which had it's exciting pre-opening celebration this past weekend and will celebrate its grand opening on June 12. Maybe it's The Hartford Party Starters Union (HPSU) that is working to bolster Hartford's public image and make it a cool place to work, live and (most importantly for them) party. Maybe it's the always funny, always informative website Hartford.com, which should flat out embarrass those who whine: "there's nothing to do in Hartford." Or maybe it's just a tipping point caused by these and the host of other things that go on downtown. Whatever it is, it feels like there is a lot to be excited about, and I'm not the only one who's been considering a shake-up of Hartford's image...

Last week Where We Live's John Dankosky blogged about his feelings on Hartford after a compelling conversation with Iran Nazario, an ex-gang member who started the group Peacebuilders to mediate disputes between teens and stop them before they become violent. Dankowski began by reflecting on the attitude of the city: "There's a strange mix of inferiority complex, blind hope, resignation and energy [in Hartford] that I don't think I've encountered anywhere else." But, he concluded, "I guess I'm just rooting harder for Hartford today. I'd really like the conversation to change."

I found that so fitting for my thoughts this week - it's not just the city itself that needs to change as much as it is the way we talk and think about it. So I guess today I'm just adding my voice to those rooting for the city to succeed and thinking about how I can be a part of that success.