Politics as Usual?
Local author and activist, Norman Solomon, will be speaking at Santa Rosa Junior College. On the eve of the first anniversary of Barack Obama's historic election, the former Obama delegate will discuss how the President has and has not changed politics. The free event will take place on November 2nd @ 3pm in the college's Newman Auditorium. It will be an ASL interpreted event.
What have we learned in a year?
On Monday, November 2nd, Santa Rosa Junior College will be hosting a public lecture and discussion with Norman Solomon.
Solomon's talk will be titled "Politics as usual?: An Obama Delegate Reflects on the Obama Presidency." It's expected to examine politics and policies since Obama’s election one year ago, elaborating upon themes in Solomon's most recent commentaries.
In recent years Solomon's writings, which include 2003's Target: Iraq and 2005's War Made Easy, have focused on U.S. war policy. But, as the following video from the 2007 documentary War Made Easy shows, these writings are an outgrowth of his work as a media critic, which has also included 20 years with Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (F.A.I.R.), founding the Institute for Public Accuracy, writing the nationally syndicated column Media Beat, and writing such books as 1990's Unreliable Sources and the winner of the 1999 George Orwell Award, The Habits of a Highly Deceptive Media:
Solomon's appearance at Santa Rosa Junior College will continue themes from his recent writings, including his column at Empire Report, which have focused mostly on the U.S.'s policies in Afghanistan, the war's human toll, and corporate news organizations' failure to cover them well:
Solomon is expected to discuss how these national and international policies impact our north bay communities.
Solomon's unusual position as a respected writer who also was an Obama delegate should provide rare insight into whether or not and how these issues have improved, stayed the same, or worsened since Obama's election; and his role as an activist is likely to lead to thought-provoking insights into the role(s) for activism during the Obama presidency:
The event will take place on November 2nd @ 3pm in the college's Newman Auditorium. A roughly 45 minute talk will be followed by a 30-45 minute audience discussion.
It is an ASL interpreted event.
When, Where, Cost, Contact
When: Monday, November 2, 2009; 3pm until 4:30pm
Where: Santa Rosa Junior College's Newman Auditorium
To see a map of the SRJC Santa Rosa campus visithttp://www.santarosa.edu/map/campusMap.pdf
Cost: free
Contact: maparicio@santarosa.edu
ASL interpreted event.
Special Note- This report was created, in part, as a class activity on newsworthy reporting and commentary. Special thanks to my Critical Thinking students for challenging me to think about what information was relevant to this report's newsworthy topic. To see other reports that were created as part of classroom activities, see Empire Report's "Classroom Journalism" column.
Michael Aparicio teaches philosophy at Santa Rosa Junior College. He's a regular contributor to, and editor for, Empire Report. "Rojo Reports" is our collection of his news articles. "The Gadfly" is our collection of his news commentaries. Taken together, they are Michael's attempt to provide a balance of newsworthy reporting and thought-provoking questioning.
