Featured Guest Bios: Training the Next Generation of Social Change Leaders

Every day the Center uses Stowe's story to inspire social change and civic engagement.  Both PeaceJam and the Purpose Project connect experienced and young leaders.  Learn how mentors inspire and train the next generation of social change leaders.  Whether you are an emerging or an experienced leader, you will have something to add to this conversation.

Michelle Cote: Co-Director, The Purpose Project
Before Co-Founding The Purpose Project, Michelle spent three years working in the Nonprofit sector for Aid to Artisans, an organization specializing in the development of craft enterprises around the world.  As a Program Manager at Aid to Artisans, she helped plan and implement two three-year, multi-million dollar artisan enterprise development initiatives in Peru and Bolivia.  The Purpose Project is a program seeking to gather and share the wisdom of experienced social leaders to inspire and equip members of a younger generation to respond to the social issues that confront our world.  Michelle and The Purpose Project were recently selected as one of 80 women, out of over 3000 applicants, with an "idea that could change the world" by Women Rule! - a joint initiative of The Oprah Magazine and The White House Project.

Camila Marquez: Program Coordinator, PeaceJam Northeast
Originally from New Mexico and Colorado, Camila grew up surrounding by economic, political, religious, and cultural diversity which contributed to her desire to find ways to bring people together despite their differences.  She was also consistently involved in social-justice oriented organizations Love 146, Friends of Farmworkers, Free The Children, and PeaceJam.  Since High School, Camila has been a PeaceJam participant, served as a mentor, interned at PeaceJam Headquarters, and is currently in her second year of service as an AmeriCorps VISTA working for the organization.

Colleen Kelly Alexander:  Program Manager, PeaceJam Northeast
Colleen has worked in the non-profit sector for over ten years, previously serving nine years as the Executive Director of the Common Ground Youth Center in Vermont.  She has also worked internationally with Unicef, Partners of the Americas, and the Red Cross.  She has owned and maintained an organic farm in Vermont, served as a health/tobacco Coordinator with the VT Department of Education, and worked as a volunteer for EMT.  Her educational background is from the University of Vermont in Psychology and World Religion.  Colleen has a strong passion for women and youth issues around mental and physical health.

Reception at 5pm. Conversation from 5:30 - 7:00 PM.
Additional information at www.harrietbeecherstowe.org

Event Recap: The Power of Words

Harriet Beecher Stowe used her words to change the world and tonight's discussion was on the Power of Words.

Uncle Tom's Cabin has had a long and controversial history through the term "Uncle Tom" and the afterlife of the book onstage. Words can leave a lasting impact.

The world premiere of our guest speaker Michael Kramer's play at the Hartford Stage is titled Divine Rivalry and it opens February 24th.

Introductory statements from our featured guests:
Susan Campbell:

• There is old media and new media. New media now works in conjunction with old media.
• Would Harriet Beecher Stowe have used social media? Yes, it would be an opportunity for her to reach more people.
• If it takes going on Facebook or blogging to reach people that is what you have to do.

Michael Kramer:

• The idea of following world news such as Egypt in "real time" is reason enough to applaud social media's existence.
• For journalists, feedback by e-mail shows your word is getting out and people are responding.
• When you think you are going to make a difference and then it seems like you don't, then you start to wonder about the power of words.
• He sees his play, Divine Rivalry, as an educational opportunity for his audience. You will come away having learned something.

How can words inspire others?
Susan:

• She has a great deal of fun having people talk because of her words. She doesn't think change happens quickly, but she can either inspire or annoy them into action.
• When you make a call to action you may be surprised how many act.
• Newspaper columns have potential to annoy people and she knows she is going to get angry feedback.
• Fictional writing can also inspire and will anger less people than straight talk.

Michael:

• It is healthy for people to get out what they're thinking, otherwise it's a closed circle and nothing changes.
• The difference between when he was a journalist and now is social media. Now, the magic is more apparent and more people have the opportunity to know about it.

How do journalists and writers feel about competition in media?

• Competition is good. The news NEEDS to get out there and it doesn't matter how it does.

Is there objectivity in the news? If not how do we find it?

• The question then become "what is truth?". Some say it is as the individual sees it, other believe the truth "is what it is".
• We can confront the untruths, but with all of the news outlets it becomes difficult.
• Investigating the truth has always been done, look at how Stowe was accused of mistruths in Uncle Tom's Cabin and she answered by writing A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin.
• The are websites such as www.politifact.com and the truth-o-meter that check the validity of "facts" in the media.

How many people are willing to hear what they don't want to hear in the media?

• Listen to news and go to websites that have opinions that challenge you. You are likely to limit yourself. The more sources you have the better. You should never rely on one source for anything.
• Closing the Sunday paper and saying "I'm informed" is not how we should get our news.
• Words can only be heard if they are spoken or written.

What do you make of the immediacy of social networks?

• When we communicate so immediately we don't have the time to reflect on it.
• Critical thinking is difficult to begin with and especially with this type of media.

Who is involved and how do we get more people involved in what's going on around them?

• A majority do not read and reflect. Social media is a portal into getting people involved.
• When you read a book it's a different kind of thinking. Are kids losing the ability to process words themselves? Understanding reading and just reading are two different skills.
• Children love being read to and this is proof of the power of words. "Everybody Wins CT" is a great program where you can volunteer to read to children.
• We underestimate the number of people who want to be informed.
• Teachers need to use new media to reach their students
• Journalists are important, they lay out the news we read.
• Collect books for prisons; many don't have libraries. Many prisoners want to learn.

Information to Action

• Words can provoke and inspire people to take action
• You can talk about social truths through fiction in a more manageable way
• Blogs can reach people and move them to action
• It's healthy to get out what you are thinking (on Facebook or Twitter) and get reactions
• Challenge what you think is true and read multiple perspectives
• Check out http://www.patch.com/
• Check out the Connecticut Mirror's website: www.ctmirror.org
• Check out www.politifact.com
• Check out www.everybodywinsct.org to engage children in reading
• Donate books to prisons
• You have to reach people where they are
• Go see Divine Rivalry at Hartford Stage, February 24th-March 20th
• Invite people to your home to talk about the issues.

The Power of Words: Featured Guest Bios

Joins us on February 10, 2011 from 5PM - 7PM for a lively discussion on the power of words.

Words are powerful. Stowe used her words to change the world. Does the phenomenon of on line news and e-readers impact the message?  Is a tweet as powerful as a treatise?  Examine the power of the written world, the impact of technology, how writers adapt their style to accommodate trends and why you should care.

Featured Guests: 

Michael Kramer, author of Divine Rivalry, is an award-winning journalist.  As New York Magazine's political columnist in the 1970s and 1980s, he covered local and political politics.  For a decade beginning in the late '80's, he was TIME magazine's political columnist, covering national and foreign affairs.  He was also chief political correspondent for the US. News and World Report and managing editor of the New York Daily News.  He is the co-author of The Ethnic Factor, a book about minority voting patterns that became a standard text on the subject.

Susan Campbell is an award-winning columnist at the Hartford Courant, where her work has been recognized by the National Women's Political Caucus, New England Associated Press News Executives, the Society for Professional Journalists, the American Association of Sunday and Featured Editors, the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, and the Sunday Magazine Editors Association.  Her column about the shootings at the lottery headquarters in March 1998 was part of the Courant's Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage.