Forum Panelists React to Inauguration

Yesterday, we heard Yale Alum Elizabeth Alexander deliver the Inaugural Poem on the steps of The Capitol.

Earlier this week, NPR encouraged some of the nation's most renowned poets to write their own inaugural poems...including two former Forum Panelists!


Suzan Lori-Parks, MacArthur “Genius" & Playwright of Topdog/Underdog visited us in November 2008 for Storytellers and the Stories They Tell. Here is her inaugural poem, U Being U.

U Being U
[Listen to Suzan-Lori read her poem here.]

U Being U
Mr. President-Elect
Makes me wanna get MY stuff
correct

I feel like starting with something RADICAL
Like,
Love my Neighbor
Like share what I've got
Like think for myself
Like ask the hard questions
Like lean toward the good and help keep the peace

U being U
Makes me wanna do something new
Like Go Green, or at least try to.

You being you, Mr. President-Elect
Makes me want to look on others with respect
Makes me wanna
practice Radical Inclusion, you know,
Open my heart wide, especially in the presence of folks who
Are not like me, you know,
work to see my Brother
In the Other
You make me want to entertain all my far-out ideas
Make me wanna represent the race, as in the human race,
And know that, like You, I too am Prized.

And to those who say yr a Magic Negro,
I love them just the same
And my love helps us weave a United States.

Mr. President,
Heaven sent
Since heaven is just a place where possibility
becomes possible
And where hostility
holsters
its hostile,
I feel like picking up the trash in the park or on the beach
I think I'll teach, and learn, from all I meet
I think I'll apologize in person for all our faults
and try to make amends for our shortcomings
And also, I think,
I'll brag,
Just a little bit,
About how cool We The People are

Oh, I just had to sing you a little something
Because you,
Mr. President,
You are embarking with Us on an awesome and beautiful
And potentially perilous journey
And so I am giving you
All the Love
All the Love
All the Love
All the Love
Mr. President
That I've got
Because I believe
In the dream
And I am ready
To wake up
And live it.


American Journalist and Humorist Calvin Trillin visited The Forum in 2002 for The Forum Food Fest. Here is his poem, Anticipating the Inauguration of Barack Obama


Anticipating the Inauguration of Barack Obama

[Listen to Calvin read the poem here.]

Inauguration is the day
The nation's hopes go on display —
When through one man we all convey
Our dream that things will go our way.
His resume we can't gainsay.
In politics, we know, his play
Is worthy of the NBA.
He proved that in the recent fray,
Though he had help from Tina Fey.
And now this solemn matinee
Awards the winner's bright bouquet.

First, Pastor Warren's going to pray
For everyone who isn't gay.
Obama then will stand and say,
"I take this oath that I'll obey
The statutes of the U. S. A."
In his address, he might portray
The dragons he intends to slay:
How Wall Street's sky will turn from gray
To blue as blues are chased away,
How workers will collect good pay
For turning out a Chevrolet,
How in Iraq we'll end our stay
With shortest possible delay,
How pay-to-play will be passe
So K Street suits will not hold sway.
Yes, how we'll triumph, come what may:
We'll rise up like a good souffle
'Til life's just like a cabaret.

Obamacans will shout hooray
And toast their man with Chardonnay
As commentators all make hay
Comparing him to JFK.
The Beltway types, those still blase,
Might think that soon, with some dismay,
We'll wonder if his feet are clay.
But that's all for another day

For more poems, visit NPR's Inaugural Poetry 2009 page

That's all folks!

Another great Forum has come and gone...Storytellers and the Stories They Tell gave us a chance to sit back, relax, and be entertained by some of today's most talented storytellers. Thanks for spending your time with me here at THE COLUMN!

Now its your turn...tell us your story, reactions to the evening, questions you would have liked to asked the panelists...the floor is yours!

Intermission

Its intermission!

Volunteers are busy sorting through your many questions...and Founding President of the Forum Richard Sugarman and Moderator Bob Edwards are just trying to keep up! Check back here tomorrow for audience reactions to the first half!

Live from backstage! It's almost showtime!

It is almost showtime, and the panelists are busy backstage getting ready...check it out!

Suzan-Lori Parks admires the beautiful Bushnell Theater



The panelists get comfy on stage during a quick briefing


One of my personal favorite parts of The Bushnell is the back room, and the panelists seem to agree! Here the walls tell their own story of shows past, featuring the signatures of Ray Charles, Walter Cronkite, Al Franken, Carol Channing, Bernadette Peters, Robert Goulet, Tim Conway, and many more!

Let the Stories Begin!

By Katlyn Knox, Executive Associate at The Connecticut Forum

We humans love a good story. Whether painted on cave walls or big screens, sung in vibrato, or written in chapter and verse, we have been compelled to share our stories in new and creative ways since the dawn of time. But why? What purpose do stories serve in our lives? And how have our stories changed through the years? It's story time at the Forum... so pull up a chair, sit back and relax, while master storytellers spin a few yarns about the art, the muse, and the magic of it all.

Welcome to the second Forum of the 2008-2009 season, Storytellers and the Stories They Tell! I am here to give you a live look at the evening, on and off stage! The Panel has arrived in Hartford, and the evening's activities are getting under way.

Tony Kushner, The Tony Award-Winning Playwright of Angels in America greets fellow panelist David Simon, creator of HBO's The Wire.

Panelists Suzan-Lori Parks, David Simon, and Tony Kushner signing autographs during the pre-Forum panelist meeting

Tony Kushner autographing books


Members of The CT YOUTH Forum met with the panelists for an intimate Q&A session during the YOUTH Forum Press Conference. The conversation ranged from the legalization of gay marriage in the state of Connecticut, to the students struggles with Shakespeare!

Forum Panelist Honored as New York Public Theater's First "Master Writer"

Pulitzer Prize-winning Playwright, MacArthur Genius and our very own Storytellers panelist Suzan-Lori Parks has another impressive title to add to her collection: Master Writer Chair at New York's Public Theater.

"Suzan-Lori Parks is one of our greatest artists, and this chair will allow her the freedom to follow her unique vision wherever it might lead her. We at The Public are honored to have her as part of our family," said Public Theater Artistic Director Oskar Eustis yesterday in a press release.

From today's New York Times:

The residency, which Ms. Parks assumes on Nov. 1, is a salaried three-year position that “affords writers the flexibility and freedom to pursue their artistic goals and endeavors,” according to the Public Theater. As part of the appointment, Ms. Parks will also become a visiting arts professor at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in its dramatic writing program.

Kudos to Ms. Parks! See you at The Forum!

Suzan-Lori Parks will be a featured panelist at The Connecticut Forum's "Storytellers & the Stories They Tell" on Friday, November 21. More info available at ctforum.org!