<description>Transgender rights activist and author Raquel Willis speaking at the Westminster Town Hall Forum. 

Raquel Willis is an award-winning activist, author, and media strategist dedicated to Black transgender liberation. She is the co-founder of The Transgender Week of Visibility and Action. 

She spoke at the Forum about her work and her memoir, "The Risk it Takes to Bloom; On Life and Liberation." This talk was recorded in front of a live audience at Westminster Presbyterian in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota on December 8, 2023. 

Learn more at the Westminster Town Hall Forum website, www.WestminsterForum.org</description>

Transgender rights activist and author Raquel Wil…

Transgender rights activist and author Raquel Willis speaking at the Westminster Town Hall Forum. 

Raquel Willis is an award-winning activist, author, and media strategist dedicated to Black transgender liberation. She is the co-founder of The Transgender Week of Visibility and Action. 

She spoke at the Forum about her work and her memoir, "The Risk it Takes to Bloom; On Life and Liberation." This talk was recorded in front of a live audience at Westminster Presbyterian in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota on December 8, 2023. 

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

Raquel Willis: On Life and Liberation

<description>Nancy Giles speaking at the Westminster Town Hall Forum in Minneapolis on November 9, 2023. 

Giles is a comedian, actress, and social commentator. Since 2002 she has been a regular contributor to the Peabody Award-winning program CBS News Sunday Morning. In that time, she has earned five Emmy Awards for her unique blend of common-sense wisdom, laugh-out-loud humor, commentary, and interviews.

She’s a veteran of Chicago’s esteemed Second City improv troupe. She has appeared Off-Broadway in Nora &amp; Delia Ephron’s Love Loss, and What I Wore, and won the Theatre World Award for the musical satire Mayor. She was one of the stars of the acclaimed series China Beach and the sitcom Delta.

Her solo shows include Black Comedy: The Wacky Side of Racism, Notes of a Negro Neurotic, Things My Afro Taught Me, and The Further Adventures of the Accidental Pundette, which The New Yorker called “the surprise of (this) annual festival… a rocking standup comedy.”</description>

Nancy Giles speaking at the Westminster Town Hall…

Nancy Giles speaking at the Westminster Town Hall Forum in Minneapolis on November 9, 2023. 

Giles is a comedian, actress, and social commentator. Since 2002 she has been a regular contributor to the Peabody Award-winning program CBS News Sunday Morning. In that time, she has earned five Emmy Awards for her unique blend of common-sense wisdom, laugh-out-loud humor, commentary, and interviews.

She’s a veteran of Chicago’s esteemed Second City improv troupe. She has appeared Off-Broadway in Nora & Delia Ephron’s Love Loss, and What I Wore, and won the Theatre World Award for the musical satire Mayor. She was one of the stars of the acclaimed series China Beach and the sitcom Delta.

Her solo shows include Black Comedy: The Wacky Side of Racism, Notes of a Negro Neurotic, Things My Afro Taught Me, and The Further Adventures of the Accidental Pundette, which The New Yorker called “the surprise of (this) annual festival… a rocking standup comedy.”

Nancy Giles: Humor and Storytelling in the American Experience

<description>Author and NPR host Steve Inskeep speaking at the Westminster Town Hall Forum.

Inskeep's latest book is "Differ We Must: How Lincoln Succeeded in a Divided America." It shares Lincoln’s lessons for bridging intense political divisions. He spoke at the Forum about what we can learn from Lincoln to help navigate our own divisive politics. 

Steve Inskeep is a cohost of NPR’s Morning Edition, the most widely heard radio program in the United States, and of NPR’s Up First, one of the nation’s most popular podcasts. His reporting has taken him across the United States, the Middle East, Latin America, Africa, Pakistan, and China. His search for the full story behind the news has led him to history; he is the author of multiple books including "Instant City," "Jacksonland," and "Imperfect Union."

This program was recorded in front a live audience at Westminster Presbyterian Church in downtown Minneapolis on October 7, 2023.

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

Author and NPR host Steve Inskeep speaking at the…

Author and NPR host Steve Inskeep speaking at the Westminster Town Hall Forum.

Inskeep's latest book is "Differ We Must: How Lincoln Succeeded in a Divided America." It shares Lincoln’s lessons for bridging intense political divisions. He spoke at the Forum about what we can learn from Lincoln to help navigate our own divisive politics. 

Steve Inskeep is a cohost of NPR’s Morning Edition, the most widely heard radio program in the United States, and of NPR’s Up First, one of the nation’s most popular podcasts. His reporting has taken him across the United States, the Middle East, Latin America, Africa, Pakistan, and China. His search for the full story behind the news has led him to history; he is the author of multiple books including "Instant City," "Jacksonland," and "Imperfect Union."

This program was recorded in front a live audience at Westminster Presbyterian Church in downtown Minneapolis on October 7, 2023.

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

Steve Inskeep: Differ We Must

<description>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</description>

Senior correspondent for APM Reports Emily Hanfor…

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

Emily Hanford: How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong

<description>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</description>

Samuel G. Freedman, author of "Into the Bright Su…

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

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