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07/28/2020 09:24 AMThe Ivoryton Library Association will host a virtual presentation, Civic Enragement, with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Susan Campbell on Thursday, July 30 at 7 p.m.
The presentation, held on Zoom for registered attendees, will consist of a 30-minute presentation followed by a question and answer period.
The impetus behind the talk stemmed from a conversation between Library Director Elizabeth Alvord and Campbell, who is a member of the library’s board of trustees.
“She brought up that a lot of people, she was surprised…are not more engaged when something happens in the world that is bothersome, or [that] they feel strongly about,” said Alvord. “She found that they don’t know how to proceed. They don’t know quite what to do [in addition to] showing up at a march, they don’t know what to do beyond that.”
A former staff writer and columnist at the Hartford Courant for 25 years, Campbell intends to offer advice on how individuals can get engaged on a local, state, and national level.
“I think democracy works better when all voices are heard,” she said. “This is not just a president-bashing session, if you want something to change, here is something that you can go about doing.”
As examples, Campbell will cover how best to reach state and national elected officials and how to craft a letter to the editor.
“Politics can seem really complicated and they [individuals] get nervous [to speak out],” said Campbell. “The antidote is educating yourself about a particular issue…It is about throwing as many voices in the mix. There are ways to do that effectively, [by] mail, email, letters to the editor.
“If we have a marketplace of ideas dominated by one ideology, we don’t have a marketplace of ideas, we have propaganda, and we have to learn how to speak out,” she said.
She aims to also help attendees “understand that in disagreeing, you can do so without being disagreeable,” she says.
What the COVID-19 pandemic, George Floyd’s death and the ensuing calls for racial justice have done, she says, is shown systemic inequalities and divides in the United States.
“I don’t know why I thought we were built on more solid ground, but our systems are built on sand,” said Campbell. “And it’s exposed racial disparities, gender disparities…that were always there, but sometimes we could ignore them. Now that we see them, it’s like the tide has gone out and we see everything that has been under the surface.
“Now is a good time to speak out, speak up and be heard [to] rebuild these systems that weren’t there in the first place,” she added.
In addition to her work at the Hartford Courant, Campbell is a columnist for the Hearst Connecticut Media Group, which publishes eight daily newspapers in Connecticut. She is also a freelance writer for the Connecticut Health Investigative Team.
Among her many professional accomplishments, she has been a regular commentator and guest host on WNPR. She has written for publications such as Connecticut Magazine, Salon.com, the Ms. Foundation blog, and Patheos.com.
Campbell is a distinguished lecturer at the University of New Haven in the Communication, Film and Media Studies Department. She has also taught at Central Connecticut State University, Wesleyan University, the University of Connecticut, and the University of Hartford.
She is the author of three books, Dating Jesus: A story of Fundamentalism, Feminism and the American Girl; Tempest-Tossed: The Spirit of Isabella Beecher Hooker; and Frog Hollow: Stories from an American Neighborhood.
Campbell is currently working on her fourth book, a historical fiction novel on the women who worked in the factories in Ivoryton.
Register for Civic Enragement by calling the Ivoryton Library at 860-767-1252 or by emailing staff@ivorytonlibrary.org. More information on the event is available at ivorytonlibrary.org.