Piece Description

Action Speaks! is a series of contemporary topic-driven panel discussions framed by the theme "Underappreciated Dates that Changed America."  Each panel draws three or four experts, academics, creatives, and other relevant guests into an open-ended discussion with the larger community in the casual atmosphere of the downtown Providence arts organization, AS220.  Action Speaks! has partnered with RI's NPR station, WRNI, since 1995, and holds the honor of being been the first locally generated show aired on the station. Now you can tune in nationwide to Action Speaks! to hear host Marc Levitt and an endless parade of perceptive intellects and insightful audience members!

The spring season of Action Speaks: Underappreciated Dates that Changed America is organized around the theme ‘What Now?’ With our country mired in its worst economic collapse since the great depression, history can be a guide for what actions our nation should or shouldn’t take to provide for its citizens and whether or not it is time to re-set our priorities.

Featured Guests:

Martin J. Collins, PhD, is a curator at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum and head of the museum's Oral History Project. Among his author credits are the full length books After Sputnik: 50 Years of the Space Age (Smithsonian/HarperCollins, 2007) and Cold War: Laboratory: RAND, the Air Force, and the American State (Smithsonian Institution, 2002). He is editor of the academic journal History and Technology (Routledge).

Kristen Haring, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of History at Auburn University. Haring's work has been recognized by the Society for the History of Technology, which awarded her the IEEE Life Members' Prize in Electrical History for portions of her book, Ham Radio's Technical Culture (MIT Press, 2007). Haring studies technology as a component of community and culture in the United States.

Paul Di Filippo, a highly prolific science fiction writer, has hundreds of short stories and several full length novels to his name, including: Ciphers, Joe's Liver, Fuzzy Dice, A Mouthful of Tongues, Spondulix and Cosmocopia, with additional titles forthcoming. Di Filippo writes in a wide range of sub-genres, most notably steampunk and cyberpunk. His innovative science fiction writing has earned him consideration as a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, BSFA, Philip K. Dick, Wired Magazine, and World Fantasy awards. The Providence based author is also a regular reviewer for almost all the major print magazines dedicated to science fiction writings.

Bracken Hendricks, is a Senior Fellow with American Progress where he works on issues of climate change and energy independence, environmental protection, infrastructure investment, and economic policy. Hendricks served in the Clinton Administration as a Special Assistant to the Office of V.P. Gore, the Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the President's Council on Sustainable Development, and the White House Livable Communities Task Force. Hendricks was the founding Executive Director and is currently a National Steering Committee member of the Apollo Alliance for good jobs and energy independence, a coalition of labor, environmental, business and community leaders. He has been a member of Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell's Energy Advisory Task Force, the Cornell University Eco-Industrial Round Table, and the Energy Future Coalition to name just a few in a long list of credits. Hendricks is widely published on economic development, climate and energy policy, national security, and progressive political strategy.

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Action Speaks!, a co-production of AS220 and the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, would like to thank The National Endowment for the Humanities who provided major funding to our program; our Media Partners: WRNI, RIPBS & the Providence Phoenix.  Thanks to The What Cheer? Brigade for our intro music.

Find out more at http://actionspeaksradio.org/ 

Contact the production crew at actionspeaksradio@as220.org with any feedback, ideas for future shows for press info or to request a personalized ID. You can also write to us at Action Speaks! c/o AS220 Main Office, 95 Mathewson St. Dreyfus #204, Providence RI 02903. If you are a radio station and wish to receive a CD of Action Speaks! please visit Creative PR's website: creativepr.org to make a request or contact them at info@creativepr.org / 1-888-233-5650. After December 2009, please contact actionspeaksradio@as220.org with any CD requests.