Steven Pinker and "The Glorious, Mysterious Brain"

The Connecticut Forum Announces:

Steven Pinker will join us for
The Glorious, Mysterious Brain
Friday, February 25, 2011

"If I call myself a psychologist people immediately think of a psychotherapist, but if I call myself a cognitive scientist at least no one knows what the hell that is."- Steven Pinker, The Guardian UK.

One of Time Magazine 2004's 100 Most Interesting People. A Harvard professor and world renowned researcher. Author of seven books and numerous articles. The Connecticut Forum welcomes Steven Pinker for The Glorious and Mysterious Brain Panel!

Steven Pinker is Harvard College Professor and Johnstone Family Professor in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University. Until 2003, he taught in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT. He conducts research on language and cognition, writes for publications such as the New York Times, Time, and The New Republic, and is the author of seven books, including The Blank Slate, The Language Instinct, How the Mind Works, and most recently, The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature.

Watch Dr. Pinker on The Colbert Report:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Steven Pinker
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election Fox News

You can also take a look at his website, or check out his real-life genome.

Joel Klein Comes to The Forum!

The Connecticut Forum Announces:

Joel Klein to be a Panelist at
Our Great Education Challenge
Thursday, November 11, 2010.

The Connecticut Forum is bringing renowned educational innovator Joel Klein to Our Great Education Challenge. As New York City schools chancellor, Klein oversees over 1,600 schools with 1.1 million students, 136,000 employees, and a $21-billion operating budget.

Joel I. Klein became New York City schools chancellor in July 2002 after serving in the highest levels of government and business. When Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg appointed Mr. Klein, a graduate of New York City public schools, as the first chancellor of the newly-reorganized Department of Education, he called the new chancellor, “a true leader who never shies away from the tough and sometimes controversial decisions that are necessary to implement change.”

Mr. Klein’s comprehensive education reform program, Children First, is transforming the nation's largest public school system into a system of great schools. These initiatives have made a real difference for New York City students -- achievement is up, students and families have more and better choices, schools are safer, and principals are more empowered. He has also served as assistant attorney general in charge of the U.S. Department of Justice’s antitrust division and as the chairman and chief executive officer of Bertelsmann, Inc.

Also active in community service work, Mr. Klein has participated in Big Brothers, served as chairman of the board of the Green Door, a pioneer community-based treatment program for mentally ill residents of the District of Columbia, and as treasurer of the World Federation for Mental Health. He was a member of a U.S. Department of State delegation in 1991 to examine issues of psychiatric abuse in the Soviet Union. He has also served on the board of several non-profit organizations, including the National Symphony Orchestra Association.

Watch Klein in an interview with Charlie Rose :

David Gergen Joins "Civility" Panel

The Connecticut Forum Announces:

David Gergen to be a Panelist at
The End of Civility?
Saturday, October 2.

Few know the political backroom as well as David Gergen. As an adviser to four U.S. presidents and a senior political analyst for CNN, Gergen has made a career of bearing witness to some of the most compelling political figures of our times. In 2000, he published the best-selling book, Eyewitness to Power: The Essence of Leadership, Nixon to Clinton.

These days, Gergen works as a political journalist and analyst. He was the first managing editor of Public Opinion, a magazine affiliated with the American Enterprise Institute, and from 1985-1986 he worked as an editor at U.S. News & World Report, where he remains an editor-at-large. Gergen’s career in television began in 1985, when he joined the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour for Friday night discussions of politics. Today, he appears frequently on CNN as an analyst for Anderson Cooper 360 and The Situation Room.

Gergen is also a professor of public service and the director of the Center for Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School, having joined the Harvard faculty in 1999. He is active as a speaker on leadership and sits on many boards, including Teach for America, The Aspen Institute, and the Center for Global Development. He is a member of the Washington D.C. Bar and the Council on Foreign Relations, and holds 18 honorary degrees.

He graduated with honors from both Yale College (1963) and Harvard Law School (1967), and served as an officer in the U.S. Navy. In 1971, Gergen joined the Nixon White House as a staff assistant on the speech writing team, a group of heavyweights that included Pat Buchanan, Ben Stein, and Bill Safire. Two years later, he took over as director. Gergen went on to become the Director of Communications for Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan, a counselor on domestic and foreign affairs for Bill Clinton and his Secretary of State, Warren Christopher, and an adviser to the 1980 George H.W. Bush presidential campaign.

For more information on Gergen, visit his website or his Harvard faculty profile.

David Gergen on the issue of civility during the 2008 Presidential Campaign:

Phish's Trey Anastasio at The Forum

Phish is in Hartford this weekend -- for those of you who can't make it, I thought I'd share Trey's amazing guitar solo to tide you over. Or, maybe it's just rubbing in what you are missing. If that's the case, I'm sorry!



Check out the full Power of Music Forum and lots more clips at TheForumChannel.

Recent Forum Panelists Christopher Hitchens, Anthony Bourdain and Samantha Bee Release New Books

If you're keeping up with the book club of past Forum panelists, you have a lot of reading to do this summer. Recent Forum panelists Christopher Hitchens, Samantha Bee and Anthony Bourdain have all released books in the past month.

Hitchens' memoir Hitch 22 tells of his young life, his time in British boarding school, his literary friendships with Martin Amis, Ian McEwan and others and, um, getting spanked by Margaret Thatcher at a party (I can't make this stuff up). As his friend McEwan said, "If Hitchens didn't exist, we wouldn't be able to invent him." Hitchens lived up to his reputation and was a polemical panelist at our 2009 Forum, God: Big Questions... Bigger Questions with Rabbi Harold Kushner and Reverend Peter Gomes.



You can also view the entire Forum conversation at TheForumChannel.

Samantha Bee's collection of funny personal essays is titled I Know I Am, But What Are You? She cracked us up when she appeared with Seinfeld's Jason Alexander and Daily Show Executive Producer David Javerbaum at the It's Satire! Forum last Season.



Anthony Bourdain's Medium Raw is the follow up to his best seller Kitchen Confidential, which was released ten years ago. Like Confidential, it gives an inside look at the restaurant industry. But unlike Confidential, Bourdain has a lot of famous acquaintances in the food industry, and he doesn't hold back - even on Alice Waters, the mother of the slow food movement. He got his jabs in on her at the Food for Thought Forum in 2009, when Alice Waters told the audience that she would have shark fin soup as her last meal. Bourdain quipped, "That's not local!" to audience laughter and applause.

2010-2011 CT Forum Season Topics and Dates

After reading hundreds of suggestions about Forum topics submitted by our subscribers, volunteers, sponsors, YOUTH Forum members, Friends of The Forum and community members, we are thrilled to share with you this first glimpse at our 2010-2011 Forum Season!

We will be announcing our first round of panelists soon, but we'd still like to hear your suggestions. (And we listen!)

• Who do you want to us to bring to Hartford for a "civil" dialogue about ugly politics, the erosion of public discourse, and the crudeness that pervades our daily lives?
  
  
• Are you an educator? School Administrator? Parent? Concerned citizen? Who do you want to hear talk strategies and solutions to the challenges facing our schools...and our future?
  
  
• The human brain is perhaps the real "final frontier" - a vast unexplored territory about which scientists know relatively little. What brainiacs do you want to hear talk about thoughts, memory, health, science?
  
  
• Mystery. Romance. Historical Fiction. Memoir. Who do you love to read?

Please leave a comment and tell us what you think, and stay tuned for updates and more about our upcoming 19th Season! Cheers!

Behind the Scenes Photos from Forum Music Fest

What happens when you bring three musical greats together for a live, unscripted Forum conversation? Nothing short of magic!

We'll be sharing some highlights and memorable behind the scenes moments from last night's Forum Music Fest over the coming weeks. In the meantime, enjoy these fantastic shots taken by the one and only Nick Caito!

Rock Legend Patti Smith autographs copies of her iconic album covers and new book, Just Kids.


Singer, Songwriter and former Fugees Producer John Forte signs autographs at the panelist meeting.




John and Patti get better acquainted during the panelist meeting.



Forum Founding President Richard Sugarman admiring Patti's poetry.



Connecticut YOUTH Forum members pose with panelists and moderator Bill Flanagan after the YOUTH Forum press conference. Check out this clip from their press conference!



Patti and John Forte swap their guitars during the sound check.


The panel takes the stage.


Patti is a Rock Star...from head to toe!



Patti looks on as John Forte wows the crowd with a powerful, inspirational performance.



John Legend's beautiful performance left the Forum audience speechless.


Patti Smith was so moved by her experience with members of our YOUTH Forum that she dedicated her performance to them. Rock on!



The perfect ending to an incredible evening-and season!


Check back soon for video clips from the conversation, and performances!