The Indelible Mark: The Writer and a Catholic Childhood

Q: What do you do with a Catholic childhood?
A: You write about it.

The temptations, excitements, satisfactions and angst of going from childhood memories to written text are explained by writers who have done it—readings and discussion with four distinguished writers who had Catholic childhoods.

WHO: Fordham Center on Religion and Culture
WHAT: The Indelible Mark: The Writer and a Catholic Childhood
WHERE: Fordham University, Pope Auditorium, 113 West 60th Street
WHEN: 6 to 8 p.m. | Tuesday, December 9, 2008
RSVP: Free and open to the public CRCevent@fordham.edu, (212) 636-7347

Patricia Hampl, poet and memoirist, author of A Romantic Education, Virgin Time and most recently The Florist’s Daughter. She is Regents Professor and McKnight Distinguished Professor at the University of Minnesota, where she teaches in the English department’s MFA program.

Stuart Dybek, author of three collections of short stories, I Sailed with Magellan, The Coast of Chicago and Childhood and Other Neighborhoods, and two collections of poetry, Streets in Their Own Ink and Brass Knuckles. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, The Atlantic and in Best American Fiction and Best American Poetry. He is distinguished writer in residence at Northwestern University, and was a 2007 MacArthur fellow.

Lawrence Joseph, poet, critic, essayist. His books of poetry include Into It, Codes, Precepts, Biases, and Taboos, Before Our Eyes and Shouting at No One, which received the Agnes Lynch Starrett Prize. Among his awards are a Guggenheim Fellowship and two National Endowment for the Arts poetry fellowships. He teaches law at St. John's University School of Law and wrote Lawyerland, a book of prose.

Valerie Sayers, author of five novels, Who Do You Love and Brain Fever--both named "Notable Books of the Year" by the New York Times Book Review--Due East, How I Got Him Back and The Distance Between Us. She has received a Pushcart Prize for fiction and a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship. She is on the creative writing faculty at the University of Notre Dame.

Public Forum: Torture and American Culture

The photographs that revealed the torture and abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib shocked the world. Further revelations of CIA rendition policies, deaths in custody, Guantanamo detainees and government secrecy raise critical questions about U.S. culture and what conditions fostered a climate in which torture is condoned, and even encouraged.

WHO: Fordham Center on Religion and Culture
WHAT: Public Forum: Torture and American Culture
WHERE: Fordham University, McNally Amphitheatre, 140 W. 62nd Street
WHEN: 1 to 5 p.m. | Tuesday, October 21, 2008
RSVP: Free and open to the public CRCevent@fordham.edu, (212) 636-7347

What in U.S. popular culture may have predisposed leaders to authorize torture or the public to tolerate it? Do TV shows, such as Lost, 24, The Wire and Sleeper Cell legitimize torture and promote it as an effective tool? What strengths and weaknesses have American leaders in law, the military and intelligence communities, religion and psychology exhibited in responding to the current controversies over torture?

On a panel discussing graphic representations of torture and violence on TV and in other media, David Danzig, director of the Public Programs Department and Primetime Torture Project at Human Rights First, will discuss his experience with television producers and writers, along with Commonweal movie reviewer Richard Alleva and Columbia Journalism School media critic Todd Gitlin. Moderator for the discussion will be Bill McGarvey, musician and editor-in-chief of the online magazine Busted Halo.

A second panel examining the responses of American elites will feature William Treanor, dean of Fordham School of Law and former Justice Department official, discussing the legal profession; Patrick Lang, retired military intelligence officer, discussing the military and intelligence communities; Stephen E. Behnke, director of ethics for the American Psychological Association, discussing psychology; and Drew Christiansen, S.J., editor of the Jesuit weekly America, discussing religious leadership.

Panel: Popular Culture, Graphic Representation of Torture and Violence
1 to 2:15 p.m.
• Bill McGarvey, editor-in-chief of Busted Halo, and songwriter and performer; he recently released his second album, Beautiful Mess.
• David Danzig, director of the Public Programs Department and Primetime Torture Project at Human Rights First.
• Richard Alleva, film reviewer for Commonweal Magazine.
• Todd Gitlin, professor of journalism and sociology at Columbia University, and author of Media Unlimited: How the Torrent of Images and Sounds Overwhelms Our Lives.

Panel: American Elites and Their Response to Torture
2:30 to 3:45 p.m.
• Frederick J. Wertz, professor of psychology, Fordham University.
• William Treanor, dean of Fordham University’s School of Law, former deputy assistant attorney general, Department of Justice, Office of Legal Counsel.
• Patrick Lang, longtime director, Human Intelligence Collection, Defense Intelligence Agency, and defense intelligence officer for the Middle East, South Asia and Terrorism.
• Stephen H. Behnke, director of ethics at the American Psychological Association, has degrees in law and clinical psychology from the University of Michigan.
• Drew Christiansen, S. J., editor in chief of the Jesuit weekly America, former director of the Office of International Justice and Peace of the United States Catholic Conference and counselor for international affairs to the conference.

Panel: Panelists in Conversation and Audience Questions
4 to 5 p.m.
(All Panelists)