Panelists Reflect Back Stage

By Katlyn Knox, Executive Associate at The Connecticut Forum

After The Presidency ended on stage, things got
very busy back stage!

Check out these post-Forum reactions from some of our panelists!

Elizabeth Edwards describes her experience at The Connecticut Forum:







Matthew Dowd:




Stay tuned! More to come!

Half-Time

By Katlyn Knox, Executive Associate of The Connecticut Forum

Intermission is a VERY busy time backstage...check it out!

Forum volunteers sort thru your many questions

Moderator Michel Martin prepping on the stairs for the second half

YOUTH Forum member Ornella Thompson looks on
as she prepares to welcome the crowd to the second half

Elizabeth Edwards enjoying Ornella's speech

Lights! Camera! Forum!

By Katlyn Knox, Executive Associate at The Connecticut Forum


It’s official! The Presidency is underway, and along with it, the 2008-2009 season of The Connecticut Forum!

The stage, just before the panelists step out


Executive Director Doris Sugarman,
and Founding President Richard Sugarman welcome the crowd



The panel has finally made it to the stage!

Pre-Forum Cocktails and Dinner

By Katlyn Knox, Executive Associate at The Connecticut Forum


I’m back!

Dinner is underway, with Forum panelists, friends, and sponsors enjoying delicious food and fueling up for the great evening ahead!

Sponsors and other friends of the Forum mingle with panelists while enjoying a few drinks

CT Forum staff members

Sandy Morrow (The Ticket Empress)
and Linda Kollmorgen (The Dinner Queen)

More to come! The panel will be hitting the stage soon!

Live! It's The Presidency!

By Katlyn Knox, Executive Associate at The Connecticut Forum


Hello Forum Fans!

Tonight marks the kickoff of our exciting 2008-2009 Season with our first Forum, The Presidency. This evening our elite panel of historians and insiders will take a look at the nations highest office..where its been, and where its going.

The panel includes:

Elizabeth Edwards, Political Insider and Inspirational Woman

Matthew Dowd, Chief Strategist of the 2004 Bush-Cheney Campaign

Joseph Ellis, Pulitzer-Prize Winning Historian and Author of Founding Brothers

Michel Martin, Host of NPR's Tell Me More will Moderate


I am here to provide you with an exclusive behind the scenes look at tonight's Forum...let's get started!


The panelists have arrived and are settling into The Connecticut Culinary Institute, where the pre-Forum cocktail and dinner are held.

First Stop? The panelist meeting room. Here the panel meets and greets each other before the evening begins, and take a few moments to sign some autographs. Take a look!

Then it is off to the press confrence where members of the media, as well as our very own YOUTH Forum members have a chance to intimately ask the panelists a few questions.

Check back here in a few minutes for clips from the press confrence, and the dish on dinner!

The Connecticut YOUTH Forum: Straight Talk on Stereotypes

By Katlyn Knox, Executive Associate at The Connecticut Forum

This week, over 150 students from high schools all over the state of Connecticut kicked off the school year with the first monthly meeting of The Connecticut YOUTH Forum. Students from near and far came together in the cafeteria of Avon High School to listen, talk, and connect. This month’s focus: Stereotypes.

As a relatively new employee of The Connecticut Forum, this was the first YOUTH Forum meeting I have ever attended and I did not really know what to expect. I understood that the YOUTH Forum held monthly meetings that were focused on specific topics, and that adults could participate as silent observers, but I couldn’t imagine how this would work. I mean, more than 100 teenagers in a room engaging in civil and respectful dialogue…with microphones? Was this even possible? How?

I learned. I had heard that microphones would be passed…driven with minimal facilitation from adults, and I was absolutely blown away by the conversation I witnessed. To see such a large group of teens from very diverse walks of life speaking on their own accord about such a touchy subject was amazing. I was awestruck by the rawness, intelligence, and passion in their comments.

“It’s OK the be open minded, to have an opinion, and not be afraid to say what you want to say,” said Tina, a Senior at New Britian High School.

And they weren’t afraid. The conversation was broad and heartfelt, with students defining what the word stereotype meant to them, and sharing their own experiences.

The highlight of the afternoon, to me, came when Kyle, a Freshmen at Rham High School stood up and explained an experience he had.

“When we first started playing (hockey) everyone in the league was white, and there was one new black kid. We all assumed that that he would be the one that we probably wouldn’t be able to trust with plays and pass the ball to. He ended up being the fastest and highest scoring kid on our team.”

This young man, standing up in front so many other students and candidly admitting his own wrong, spoke directly to the mission of The Connecticut YOUTH Forum, which is to bring youth together through discussion and action while providing opportunities for growth and exploration.

I know that have grown from the experience of participating in this meeting as a silent observer. Days later, the comments and ideas that were expressed by those teens have stuck with me, kept me thinking, and have me looking forward to the next meeting.

Read more about the CT YOUTH Forum meeting at Avon High School in the Hartford Courant blog post, "Teens Talk Stereotypes at Avon HS."

For more information on The Connecticut YOUTH Forum, and how you can get involved, visit www.ctyouthforum.org or call (860) 509-0909 ext. 12

If These Walls Could Talk: A Forum Virtual Open House

By Jamie Daniel, Forum Advancement Associate

Forum Playbills Line the Walls

Last week we hosted an Open House at our office to kick-off our 17th Season. We had longtime friends to The Forum and newcomers alike, and everyone had a chance to peruse past playbills, have a glass of wine, talk to YOUTH Forum members and check out the pictures on the walls.

As a new employee of The Forum, this event was a chance for me to experience a bit of the buzz that surrounds Forum events and to take in some of the history of The Forum.

I see the proof of the amazing Forum history every day, but this open house gave me the chance to sit back and really think about the organization that I am now a part of and all the dynamic and interesting personalities that have come to The Forum over the years.

Walter Cronkite was here? Toni Morrison? Bill Cosby? Benazir Bhutto? Jennifer Weiner, Joyce Carol Oates and Kurt Vonnegut?

All of these amazing people came to Hartford to engage in conversation and discuss the things that are important to them? It's a lot to think about.

Here are a few pictures off the walls of our office that provide a glimpse of the Forum past and present. Enjoy!

Bucky Dent and Carlton Fisk together on stage - and laughing!

Nobel Peace Prize winners Elie Wiesel (at left), Jody Williams and Oscar Arias came to The Forum for A Nobel Evening to discuss war and peace, ironically on the very first day of the Iraq war.

In The Power of Music in 2002, Trey Anastasio (below) was totally enthralled with Nicholas Payton's trumpet tunes. Trey later invited Nicholas to perform on his next album.

Thomas Friedman naps (above) while Malcolm Gladwell thinks and twirls his hair.
So this is what happens in the Green Room back stage!