Westminster Town Hall Forum

Senior correspondent for APM Reports Emily Hanford speaking at the Westminster Town Hall Forum.

For more than a generation, schools across the U.S. embraced a specific methodology of teaching kids to read. The problem? Cognitive scientists had proven decades before it didn’t actually work. In her award-winning podcast "Sold a Story," Emily Hanford investigated the influential authors who promoted this idea and the company that sold it to schools across the country. She spoke at the Forum about what that has meant for millions of kids and what it says about education in the United States.

Emily Hanford is a senior correspondent and producer for APM Reports, the documentary and investigative reporting group at American Public Media. Her work has appeared on NPR, in The New York Times and other publications. For the past several years, she has been reporting on reading instruction. Her 2018 podcast episode “Hard Words: Why aren’t kids being taught to read?” won the inaugural public service award from EWA.

This program was recorded in front a live audience at Westminster Presbyterian Church in downtown Minneapolis on September 12, 2023.

Learn more about the Westminster Town Hall Forum at our website: www.WestminsterForum.org

Samuel G. Freedman, author of "Into the Bright Sunshine: A Young Hubert Humphrey and the Fight for Civil Rights." He spoke with Forum director Tane Danger at a special Westminster Town Hall Forum recorded at the Minnesota State Fair.

They discussed the former Vice President's upbringing in South Dakota, what Minneapolis was like in the early 1900s, and why Humphrey's speech at the 1948 Democratic National Convention on civil rights still matters today.

The program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Minnesota State Fair on August 30, 2023.

Learn more about the Westminster Town Hall Forum at our website: www.WestminsterForum.org

Former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch speaking on life as a diplomat, the Russian war in Ukraine, and the political smear campaign against her by then-President Trump and his allies. She is the author of the best-selling memoir, "Lessons from the Edge."

Yovanovitch served for more than 30 years in the US State Department under both Republican and Democratic presidents. She did tours in Somalia, Russia, and the U.K. She served as US Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, and eventually Ukraine from 2016–2019. Her service there was cut short by a politically-motivated campaign against her pushed by allies of then President Donald Trump and ultimately the President himself. These events contributed to President Trump's first impeachment, at which Ambassador Yavonovitch testified.

This is a special podcast-only edition of the Westminster Town Hall Forum moderated by Forum Director Tane Danger. Ambassador Yavonovitch's visit to Minnesota was coordinated by Global Minnesota, who arranged for her conversation with the Forum. Learn more about Global Minnesota at www.GlobalMinnesota.org

Learn more about the Westminster Town Hall Forum and see more of our programs at www.WestminsterForum.org

Dr. Cornel West and Ms. Ifeoma Ike Esq. speaking at the Westminster Town Hall Forum's 2023 Arc Toward Justice program. Moderated by Angela Davis of Minnesota Public Radio News.

The Arc Toward Justice series invites national racial justice leaders to reflect on a another year George Floyd's murder in Minneapolis and the international uprising that followed. We ask them to discuss where we have come on racial justice since then, and where they believe we still need to go.

Dr. Cornel West, affectionately known to many as Brother West, is the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Chair at Union Theological Seminary. He is the former Professor of the Practice of Public Philosophy at Harvard University and Professor Emeritus at Princeton University. He has written 20 books and has edited 13. He is best known for his classics, Race Matters and Democracy Matters, and for his memoir, Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud.

Ifeoma Ike, Esq. is an award-winning advocate, writer and policy advisor focused on designing solutions to address disparities. She co-engineered Just Leadership USA and Mass Bail Out NYC. She also helped form three congressional caucuses: the Caucus on Black Men and Boys; the Caucus on Black Women and Girls; and the recently-launched Caucus on Black Innovation. Ike holds a LL.M. with highest honors from The George Washington School of Law and J.D. from CUNY School of Law, where she specialized in mediation and conflict resolution.

The Forum was moderated by Angela Davis of Minnesota Public Radio News. It was recorded in front of a live audience of more than 1000 at Westminster Presbyterian in Downtown Minneapolis on May 20, 2023.

Dr. Pooja Lakshmin, M.D. speaking at the Westminster Town Hall Forum on May 2, 2023. She is a women's mental health specialist, a board-certified physician psychiatrist, and a Clinical Assistant Professor at George Washington University.

She is the author of "Real Self-Care: Crystals, Cleanses and Bubble Baths Not Included." In it, she argues women are largely targeted by a wellness industry designed to sell get-well-quick schemes. In their place, she focuses on tangible psychological tools to manage difficult emotions, set boundaries, make choices aligned with one’s values, and develop mental health literacy.

You can listen for free to more than 40 years of Westminster Town Hall Forum programs on our website. They are all archived on our website: www.WestminsterForum.org

Veteran and author Elliot Ackerman speaking at the Westminster Town Hall Forum in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He spoke on his most recent book, "The Fifth Act: America's End in Afghanistan."

Elliot Ackerman is a writer, journalist, former White House Fellow, and decorated veteran. He served five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star for Valor, and the Purple Heart.

He is the New York Times bestselling author of multiple novels. His books have been nominated for the National Book Award, the Andrew Carnegie Medal in both fiction and nonfiction, and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize among others.

He spoke in front of a live audience at the Westminster Town Hall Forum in Downtown Minneapolis on April 18, 2023.

You can listen for free to more than 40 years of Westminster Town Hall Forum programs on our website. They are all archived on our website: www.WestminsterForum.org

Ari Shapiro's talk at the Westminster Town Hall Forum, March 28 2023.

He is the award-winning co-host of National Public Radio's All Things Considered, and the author of the new memoir "The Best Strangers in the World; Stories from a Life Spent Listening."

Learn more at the Westminster Town Hall Forum website, www.WestminsterForum.org

Parker Palmer is a writer, teacher, activist, and founder of the Center for Courage & Renewal, a nonprofit organization committed to creating a more just and compassionate world by nurturing personal and professional integrity. His bestselling books include, among others, A Hidden Wholeness, Let Your Life Speak, The Courage to Teach, Healing the Heart of Democracy, and On the Brink of Everything. A graduate of Carleton College, he holds a PhD in sociology from the University of California at Berkeley, and he is the recipient of 13 honorary doctorates and numerous awards for achievement and excellence. At the Forum, he will be in conversation with Sondra Samuels, president of the Northside Achievement Zone in North Minneapolis.

André Thomas is Professor of Choral Music Education, Director of Choral Activities, and the Owen F. Sellers Professor of Music at Florida State University. He is the conductor of a variety of choral organizations throughout the country and served as the artistic director for the Tallahassee Community Chorus. He is in demand as a choral adjudicator and clinician and has conducted 48 Honor and All-State Choirs, as well as the World Youth Choir. As a composer, his works have been published by seven publishing companies, and he is the author of the book "Way Over in Beulah Lan’: Understanding and Performing the Negro Spiritual." He earned a B.A. from Friends University, an M.M. from Northwestern University, and a D.M.A. from the University of Illinois.

Jim Sciutto is CNN’s chief national security correspondent and co-anchor of the weekday program CNN Newsroom. He reports and provides analysis on all aspects of U.S. national security, including the military, foreign policy, the intelligence community, and the ongoing Russia investigation. An award-winning journalist, he has received the Headliner Award for the documentary Targeting Terror: Inside the Intelligence War, a Citation for Excellence from the Overseas Press Club, and the Edward R. Murrow Award for his reporting from Iran. Prior to joining CNN, he served as ABC News’ senior foreign correspondent. His new book, The Shadow War, explores Russia and China’s clandestine efforts to undermine the U.S.