Past Events

Frye Gaillard discusses his book, "A Hard Rain: America in the 1960s, Our Decade of Hope, Possibility, and Innocence". It's a personal history of a pivotal time in American life. Gaillard explores the political and social movements of the times ― civil rights, black power, women’s liberation, the War in Vietnam, and the protests against it. He also examines the cultural manifestations of change at that time ― music, literature, art, religion, and science . Gaillard looks at the influence of the Kennedys and Martin Luther King, Jr. as well as Malcolm X, Gloria Steinem, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Cash, Harper Lee, Mister Rogers, James Baldwin, Andy Warhol, Billy Graham, George Wallace, Richard Nixon, Angela Davis, Barry Goldwater, and the Beatles. Gaillard is joined for this Ford Hall Forum by Robert Poulton, Vice President, Marketing & Branding, NBC10 Boston, NECN & Telemundo Boston.

Author Carolyn Forché talks about the world she crafted in her latest novel, _What You Have Heard Is True: A Memoir of Witness and Resistance_. Horrors and bravery brought to life in a lyrical memoir of empathy and intrigue. Image Source: Book Cover

Five Things invites some of today’s most talented and successful producers, artists, writers and thinkers to share five things – audio, visuals, books, objects or something else entirely – that have shaped their creative practice over time. Or that inform how they approach their work now. Or, simply enough, that they dig, and want to share with you. Five Things is an ongoing series at the Podcast Garage hosted by Radiotopia's Julie Shapiro. We're joined this month by Al Letson, host of the award-winning podcast Reveal.

To mark Women’s History Month, WGBH celebrated three women who have been thriving in historically male-dominated fields. Trenni Kusnierek talks about breaking into sports reporting, Jen Myronuk shares how much Force she needed to become a filmmaker, and Mehreen N. Butt talks about entering local politics. #BostonTalks

Dr. Kyrah Daniels moderates a discussion in the Edward H. Linde Gallery of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston with guests Dr. Karilyn Crockett, Pedro Cruz, and Stephen Hamilton. The four discuss how connecting to traditions can shape our relationships with the past. The talk in inspired by the themes found in [“Frida Kahlo and Arte Popular"](https://youtu.be/gMJiOrAh-eo "exhibit link"), on view February 27–June 16, 2019.

Physicist and biotech entrepreneur Safi Bahcall reveals a surprising new way of thinking about the mysteries of group behavior that challenges everything we thought we knew about radical breakthroughs. Bahcall shows why groups will suddenly change from embracing wild new ideas to rigidly rejecting them. Mountains of print have been written about culture, yet Bahcall argues that small shifts in structure control these transitions, the same way that temperature controls the change from water to ice. Image Source: Book Cover

Dr. Mahadevan discusses the crucial relationship between oceans and atmosphere, and how that partnership makes the Earth a life-sustaining planet. She describes how excess CO2, ocean warming and acidification all threaten that balance. Image: Pixabay

The Great Molasses Flood of Boston is revisited in Part two of this series on the event that shaped Boston's North End. Speakers Stephen Puleo, Marylinn Johnson, Jim Vrabel, and moderator Peter Drummey, discuss the fallout of the event and its lasting effects on the Italian community in the North End of Boston at the time. Image Source: [Lecture Page](https://www.masshist.org/calendar/event?event=2768 "Lecture Page")

In _This View of Life: Completing the Darwinian Revolution_, David Sloan Wilson writes a series of engaging stories—from the breeding of hens, to the timing of cataract surgeries, to the organization of an automobile plant. Through these stories he shows how an evolutionary worldview provides a practical toolkit for understanding not only genetic evolution, but also the fast-paced changes impacting our world and ourselves. What emerges is an incredibly empowering argument: if we can become wise managers of evolutionary processes, we can solve the problems of our age at all scales—from the efficacy of our groups, to our wellbeing as individuals, to our stewardship of the planet earth. Image: book cover

Hear from the seven finalists for the 2019 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting. Nominees conducted investigative reporting and created pieces that examine effective and ethical conduct of government, the making of public policy, or the practice of politics. **2019 Goldsmith Prize Finalists ** Connor Sheets, Alabama Media Group _Alabama’s ‘Beach House Sheriff’_ J. David McSwane and Andrew Chavez, _The Dallas Morning News_ _Pain and Profit_ Daffodil Altan, Andrés Cediel, Abbie VanSickle for The Investigative Reporting Program (IRP) at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism and FRONTLINE, PBS _Trafficked in America_ Barbara Laker, Wendy Ruderman, Dylan Purcell, Jessica Griffin, Garland Potts for _The Philadelphia Inquirer_ _Toxic City: Sick Schools_ Ginger Thompson, Michael Grabell, Topher Sanders, Melissa Sanchez, Duaa Eldeib, Jodi S. Cohen, Alex Mierjeski, Claire Perlman, Ken Schwencke, Adriana Gallardo, and staff for ProPublica _Zero Tolerance_ Christian Sheckler, Ken Armstrong for _South Bend Tribune_ ProPublica _Criminal Justice in Elkhart, Indiana_ Michael Rothfeld, Joe Palazzolo, Nicole Hong, Rebecca Davis O’Brien, Rebecca Ballhaus, Alexandra Berzon, Lukas I. Alpert, Michael Siconolfi, Carmel Lobello, Shelby Holliday, Jarrard Cole, Anthony Galloway, Joel Eastwood for _The Wall Street Journal's_ "Trump’s Hush Money" **Update:** following the panel discussion, the Shorenstein Center announced [the winner of the 2019 Goldsmith Awards.](https://shorensteincenter.org/2019-goldsmith-prize-winner/ "") Congratulations to J. David McSwane and Andrew Chavez of the _The Dallas Morning News_ for their series ["Pain and Profit"](https://interactives.dallasnews.com/2018/pain-and-profit/ ""). Financial support for the Goldsmith Awards Program is provided by an annual grant from the Goldsmith Fund of the Greenfield Foundation. The program is administered by the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.