FIC JUNE PROGRAMS
June 1, Thursday Luncheon Roundtable – 12:30 to 1:45 p.m.
Speaker is Innmate Dan Rottenberg. His topic – My Neighbor, Harry Belafonte.
In 1958, Manhattan’s upscale real estate agents saw Harry Belafonte as just another man with black skin. But with the help of a white friend, he and his family were able to move to an 11-room apartment in an aging, but elegant, 13-story building at 300 West End Avenue, said to be the only Class A apartment building in New York then willing to rent to Blacks. And there begins the story of friendship between Dan Rottenberg’s family and the man lauded for his accomplishments as singer, actor, and civil rights icon at his death on April 25.
Dan Rottenberg has carved a rewarding life as journalist, editor, and author. His newest book, The Education of a Journalist (Redmount Press, 2022), offers his firsthand impressions of notable people he encountered and recalls how journalists practiced their craft during its declining decades. His twelve other published books include Finding Our Fathers (Random House, 1977), which launched the modern Jewish genealogy movement, and Death of a Gunfighter (Westholme Publishing,
2008), which was honored as Best Western History Book of 2008 by the Wild West History Association. Dan has been chief editor of seven innovative publications, most recently Broad Street Review, the online arts and culture salon he created in 2005. His syndicated film commentaries appeared in monthly city magazines around the U.S. from 1971 to 1983. Earlier, he was a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, executive editor of Philadelphia Magazine, managing editor
of Chicago Journalism Review, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, and editor of a daily newspaper in Portland, Indiana.
June 5, Monday Quarterback Luncheon – 12:30 to 1:45 p.m.
Ruth Morelli is our Quarterback.
June 8, Thursday Luncheon Roundtable – 12:30 to 1:45 p.m.
Speaker is Jonathan Zimmerman. His topic – Let Free Speech Ring: Why It’s Under Threat, and Why It’s More Important Than Ever.
Across our history, Americans have again and again demanded the suppression of ideas and images that supposedly threaten the nation. Suppression of speech is all around us now, emanating from all sides of the political spectrum. Jonathan warns that the biggest danger to our country comes not from free speech but from censorship. His solution: raise our voices in favor of free expression and exchange of ideas, which is – or should be – the most American value of all.
Jonathan Zimmerman is professor of the history of education and Berkowitz Professor in Education at Penn. A former Peace Corps volunteer and high school teacher, he has written nine books, including Free Speech and Why You Should Give a Damn (with cartoonist Signe Wilkinson) and Whose America? Culture Wars in the Public Schools, which has been released in a revised 20th- anniversary edition (University of Chicago Press, 2022). He is a frequent contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Washington Post, and other newspapers and magazines. Before coming to Penn, he taught for 20 years at New York University, where he received its 2008 distinguished teaching award.
Video:To see a recording of this presentation, click on Play Event. Click on the play button at the bottom left of the screen that comes up to see the presentation. To see Closed Captions, move your cursor to the lower right corner of the video to see available options, click on the “cc” icon, and then click on the “English (auto-generated) cc” option in the pop-up menu.May 8,
June 12, Monday Quarterback Luncheon – 12:30 to 1:45 p.m.
Alan Penziner is our Quarterback.
June 16, Friday Club Dinner, starting with cocktails at 5:30 p.m.
Speaker is Carol Rollie Flynn. Her topic – My Life with the CIA.
Carol Rollie Flynn is president of the Foreign Policy Research Institute here in Philadelphia. But before that, she had a groundbreaking 30-year career in the Central Intelligence Agency as one of the first women operating abroad as a clandestine services officer and as chief of station at major posts in Southeast Asia and Latin America. She held a number of senior executive positions at the CIA as well, including director of the Office of Foreign Intelligence Relationships, associate deputy director of the National Counterterrorism Center, and director of CIA’s Leadership Academy. Currently, she is also managing principal at Singa Consulting, a member of the Council of Foreign Relations, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy and School of Foreign Service/Security Studies Program, and a member of the Advisory Board of the International Spy Museum. She holds a BA from Wellesley College and an MS in cybersecurity from the University of Maryland/University College.
June 19, Monday Quarterback Luncheon – 12:30 to 1:45 p.m. Gresham Riley is our Quarterback.
June 22, Thursday Luncheon Roundtable – 12:30 to 1:45 p.m.
Speaker is Innmate Paula Marantz Cohen. Her topic – What Conversation Means to Us: The Human Connection.
Paula will talk to us about good talk, the kind that serves as an antidote to the verbal wrangling so prevalent in our public discourse now. Specifically, she will talk about her newest book, Talking Cure: An Essay on the Civilizing Power of Conversation (Princeton, 2023).
Paula Marantz Cohen is dean of the Pennoni Honors College and a distinguished professor of English at Drexel. She is the author of six other nonfiction books on literature, film, and culture. Her six novels include the best-selling Jane Austen in Boca and a thriller based on the James family, What Alice Knew: A Most Curious Tale of Henry James and Jack the Ripper. Her essays have appeared in The Yale Review, The American Scholar, The Times Literary Supplement, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and the Wall Street Journal, among other publications. She was co-editor of the Journal of Modern Literature from 2003 to 2022.
June 26, Monday Quarterback Luncheon – 12:30 to 1:45 p.m.
Roberta Kangilaski is our Quarterback.
June 29, Thursday Luncheon Roundtable – 12:30 to 1:45 p.m.
Speakers are Innmates Jonathan Smith and Reid Murray. Their topic – Walk, Don’t Run: 500 Miles on the Camino de Santiago.
Jonathan and Reid chose the nearly 500-mile “French Way” when they walked the Camino de Santiago. It took them from the Basque country of southwestern France into the Basque region and other autonomous areas of northern Spain, a path trodden by pilgrims since the Middle Ages to pay homage to the remains of James the Apostle at Santiago de Compostela. And it took them 34 days. They’ll share experiences and insights from their trek, including this fundamental wisdom, “Walk, don’t run.” What was it like to walk 15 miles a day for 34 days? What were the physical and mental effects? Join us on Thursday to find out.
Jonathan Smith is the Olga and Alberico Pompa Professor of Engineering and Applied Science and a professor of computer and information science at Penn. He has been at Penn for 34 years and has lived in the Rittenhouse neighborhood with his wife Refen, a software engineer, since 2016. Their daughter Caroline is a graduate student at Harvard’s School of Architecture.
Reid Murray resides in Society Hill with his wife Elizabeth, after moving from Hopewell, New Jersey, in 2017. Their daughter Charlotte is a theater artist in New York City. Reid currently owns a specialty concrete coating company based in Delaware. Prior to that he was a banker in New York City and Princeton. Liz is retired and active as a docent at the Barnes Foundation and member of the Powel House Committee.
Video:To see a recording of this presentation, click on Play Event. Click on the play button at the bottom left of the screen that comes up to see the presentation. To see Closed Captions, move your cursor to the lower right corner of the video to see available options, click on the “cc” icon, and then click on the “English (auto-generated) cc” option in the pop-up menu.May 8,
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FIC SUMMER RECESS: JUNE 30 – SEPTEMBER 4
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