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Forum Network

Free online lectures: Explore a world of ideas

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Cambridge Forum

Let Cambridge Forum change your mind....

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

  • Garrison Keillor: Christmas Blizzard

    Garrison Keillor, author, and host of *A Prairie Home Companion*, reads from his new book, *A Christmas Blizzard*. *A Christmas Blizzard* is vintage Keillor, a wry, witty look at a contemporary Scrooge that is sure to please. Follow the journey of James and Joyce Sparrow as they struggle with each other, Christmas in general, and their life circumstances. Everything changes when James finds himself snowed-in in a fishing shack during a blizzard where he meets a wolf, the Big Hair Lady, and a Chinese wise man, each attempting to teach him the great mystery of life.
    Partner:
    Cambridge Forum
  • Storytelling in the Electronic Era (Part 1)

    Storyteller Odds Bodkin and Harvard folklorist Maria Tatar explore the art of the story in the 21st century. Telling stories is an ancient art, a holdover from the pre-literate human past. How did the advent of the written word affect the art of storytelling and the stories themselves? Why does oral storytelling persist? What impact will the digital culture of wikis and filesharing have on the future of storytelling?
    Partner:
    Cambridge Forum
  • Storytelling in the Electronic Era (Part 2)

    Storyteller Odds Bodkin and Harvard folklorist Maria Tatar explore the art of the story in the 21st century. Telling stories is an ancient art, a holdover from the pre-literate human past. How did the advent of the written word affect the art of storytelling and the stories themselves? Why does oral storytelling persist? What impact will the digital culture of wikis and filesharing have on the future of storytelling?
    Partner:
    Cambridge Forum
  • Danielle Ofri on Foreign Immigrants and US Health Care

    Writer and practicing internist Danielle Ofri discusses her newest book, *Medicine in Translation: Journeys with My Patients*. For 15 years, Dr. Danielle Ofri has cared for patients at Bellevue, the oldest public hospital in the country and a crossroads for the world's cultures. Many of her patients have braved language barriers, religious and racial divides, and the emotional and practical difficulties of exile to access quality health care. In *Medicine in Translation*, Ofri offers us portraits of these people: of Juan Moreno, who spent his boyhood working in Puerto Rico's sugarcane fields to support his family; of Samuel Nwanko, who was attacked with acid by a local Nigerian cult; of Xui-Ping Liang, whose three-week vacation from China turned into a five-year stay after her cancer was discovered. We hear about a young Guatemalan woman who will die without a heart transplant but can't get one because she's undocumented, and of a Muslim girl attacked at knifepoint for wearing her veil. Combining personal narrative, reflection, and reporting, Ofri's stories speak about the challenges facing both immigrants and Americans in the US health care system.
    Partner:
    Cambridge Forum
  • Theatre: Realizing Imaginary Space

    Actress Maeve Kincaid and American Repertory Theatre artistic director Diane Paulus examine the four imaginations--of playwright, actor, director, and audience--that work together to create a theatrical space that feels "real," but actually does not exist outside the theatre.
    Partner:
    Cambridge Forum
  • Arctic Warming: Risks for Methane Emissions

    Dr. Ronald Prinn, TEPCO Professor of Atmospheric Science in MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Science, shares the result of his project measuring the rates of change in atmospheric concentrations of trace greenhouse gases. After more than 30 years of research, he and his colleagues recently noted an unexplained increase in methane concentrations which led them to reconsider the impact of methane vis-a-vis climate change. He outlines those risks in his discussion of "Arctic Warming: Risks for Methane Emissions, Sea Ice Loss, and Ocean Overturn." This talk is part of Cambridge Forum's After Copenhagen: Global Climate Change Conference, recorded by Steve MacAusland.
    Partner:
    Cambridge Forum
  • Modeling the Impact of Sea Level Change (Audio)

    Paul Kirshen examines the threat of rising sea levels brought about by climate change, and discusses how serious the threat is. An internationally recognized expert in integrated water resources management, he has developed detailed models mapping the impact of sea level rise on coastal communities in New England, Florida, and California. Kirshen has been conducting research on climate change since 1988 and leads an initiative to develop a climate change adaptation practice that will address the multidimensional impacts of climate change. This talk is part of Cambridge Forum's After Copenhagen: Global Climate Change Conference, recorded by Steve MacAusland. Photo: [Klem@s/Flicker](https://www.flickr.com/photos/klemas/4136180558 "")
    Partner:
    Cambridge Forum
  • After Copenhagen: Real Solutions for Global Climate Change

    The December 2009 Copenhagen talks on global climate change failed to produce a new international accord, and environmental scientist James Hansen is not wasting time bemoaning that failure. Rather he looks on it as opportunity to renew and expand the discussion of climate change and look for new ideas that will lead to real solutions to this global problem. What might the road forward look like? Where should scientists turn their attention "After Copenhagen?" What should citizens be doing? This talk is part of Cambridge Forum's After Copenhagen: Global Climate Change Conference, recorded by Steve MacAusland.
    Partner:
    Cambridge Forum
  • Daniel Mendelsohn and Charles McGrath on Criticizing Creativity

    Literary and cultural critic Daniel Mendelsohn and former editor of *The New York Times Book Review* Charles McGrath examine the ways in which criticism itself becomes a creative act.
    Partner:
    Cambridge Forum
  • Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle

    In *Empire of Illusion*, Chris Hedges argues that we now live in two societies: one, the minority, functions in a print-based, literate world, that can cope with complexity and can separate illusion from truth. The other, a growing majority, is retreating from a reality-based world into one of false certainty and magic. In this "other society," serious film and theatre, as well as newspapers and books, are being pushed to the margins. In the tradition of Christopher Lasch's *The Culture of Narcissism* and Neil Postman's *Amusing Ourselves to Death*, Hedges navigates this culture--attending WWF contests as well as Ivy League graduation ceremonies--exposing an age of terrifying decline and heightened self-delusion.
    Partner:
    Cambridge Forum