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Cambridge Forum hosts free, public discussions that inform and engage, so that people can better explore the varied issues and ideas that shape our changing world. CF broadcasts its live events via podcasts, weekly NPR shows and online presentations via GBH Forum Network on YouTube.

http://www.cambridgeforum.org

Mill Talk: Poetry Fuels Democracy - An Evening with Poet Richard Blanco

Wed, May 1, 2019

Cambridge Forum and Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation co-present former poet laureate Richard Blanco who reads from and talks about his new book, _How To Love A Country._ As a presidential inaugural poet, educator, and advocate, Blanco has crisscrossed the nation inviting communities to connect to the heart of the human experience and our shared identity as a country. In this new collection of poems, his first in over seven years, Blanco continues to invite a conversation with all Americans.

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Mill Talks

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How to be Happy

Tue, Mar 5, 2019

Author John Leland explores a simple yet profound question in his latest book _Happiness Is a Choice You Make: Lessons From a Year Among the Oldest Old._ Drawing upon interviews with some of the oldest residents of New York City, listening to them weave tales of experience and wisdom they have gained as they approach their twilight years, Leland gives us sound advice on the pursuit of happiness. Image Source: Book Cover

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Living with Robots

Wed, Jan 30, 2019

Computers are learning to read our emotions and it is big business. Alexa will soon be servicing all our needs. But can we really trust the robots? Join Judith Shulevitz, from the Atlantic Monthly, and Maxim Pozdorovkin, film-maker of The Truth About Killer Robots, as they discuss the future of robots.

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Healing from a Life of White Supremacy

Wed, Nov 28, 2018

Drawing on his work with skinheads, neo-Nazis and KKK members, sociologist Michael Kimmel considers the root causes of this addiction and how to bring marginalized men back from society’s extremist edge. He is joined by former neo-Nazis Frank Meeink and Tony McAleer, two men who can speak personally to the violence they conducted and how they are devoting their lives now to healing from their pasts and speaking publicly to prevent others from exploring that path. Image by [Evan Nesterak](https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61723994 "") - White supremacists clash with police, CC BY 2.0,

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Boston Talks About Racism

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Whitewash: The Story of a Weed Killer, Cancer, and the Corruption of Science

Wed, Oct 24, 2018

Investigative journalist Carey Gillam writes about Monsanto, the global agri-chemical corporation, which recently merged with Bayer and is now worth $60 billion. In a recent court battle in San Francisco, the company lost against one individual groundskeeper who is dying from lymphoma. DeWayne “Lee" Johnson attributes his cancer to the use of Monsanto’s ubiquitous weedkiller,RoundUp. He won $289 million in compensation. This landmark lawsuit has opened the door for hundreds of other cancer cases to proceed to trial. For her work, Gillam received the prestigious Rachel Carson Book Award for unveiling decades of corporate secrets and deceptive tactics by powerful pesticide companies, and exposing how the corporate pursuit of profits has taken priority over protection of the public. Image: Bookcover

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America: The Farewell Tour

Wed, Sep 26, 2018

Chris Hedges, who writes a regular column for truthdig , and was a foreign correspondent for The New York Times for nearly two decades, seeks to jolt us out of our complacency about the current state of affairs, while we still have time. In conversation with Chris Lydon, producer & presenter of WBUR’s “Open Source”, Hedges discusses his latest book, 'America: The Farewell Tour.'
Image: Book Cover

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Public Land Versus Private Interests

Wed, Sep 19, 2018

Stephen Nash, the author of award-winning books on science and the environment, writes that America’s public lands “will tumble away” unless people act. Nash discusses the precarious future of our national parks, monuments and wildlife refuges with Michael Brune, Executive Director of the Sierra Club. Given the prospect that climate change will dislocate wildlife populations and vegetation across hundreds of thousands of square miles of the national landscape, what can we do about it? Image: Book Cover

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From Trump to the Pope: Inside the Mind of Political Cartoonist Ted Rall

Wed, Jun 20, 2018

Political cartoonist Ted Rall discusses his latest in a collection of graphic biographies, this time focused on Francis, the People’s Pope. Rall presents the life, ideas, and political impact of the most progressive spiritual leader in the Roman Catholic church’s history. Raised Roman Catholic himself, Ted Rall is able to bring depth to his latest graphic biography as perhaps no other writer or comics artist could. Rall's art is always attuned to the human comedy, his protagonists funny at the same time as they provide a serious account of some of the most pressing issues and struggles of our times.

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Yanis Varoufakis: Is Capitalism Devouring Democracy?

Wed, May 9, 2018

Economist and fierce EU critic Yanis Varoufakis considers the need for a radically new way of thinking about the economy, finance and capitalism. (Photo: Marclozanobosch/Flickr)

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The Journey from Undocumented to Deported

Fri, Mar 9, 2018

Dan-El Padilla Peralta shares the story of his own American dream. Arriving in the US from the Dominican Republic at the age of four, he lived in a NYC homeless shelter as an undocumented immigrant before eventually graduating from an Ivy league school at the top of his class. Dan-el received his MPhil from the University of Oxford and his PhD in classics from Stanford University. In addition to his successful academic career, Padilla Peralta is an activist on immigration issues and will speak about the implications of the DACA decision not just for immigrants, but for all Americans. Photo credit: Citizens' Committee for Children of New York

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