Boston Speaker Series - Jim Comey

Boston Speaker Series

Allison Kornet, US English Teacher and Faculty Advisor to The Vanguard

This group really enjoyed James Comey at Symphony Hall on Monday night. Comey said the purpose of his speaking tour was to drive a conversation and offer a vision of what good leadership looks like. The best leaders, he said, have two trait pairs: they're kind yet tough, and they're confident yet humble. He also talked about two kinds of listeners: "the Washington listener," who lets you speak while he waits to say what he plans to, and the real listener, who understands listening involves silence plus cogitation plus open posture plus nonverbal sounds whose subtext is "You're safe, give it to me, you're safe, give it to me." He said that though he gave money to Romney and McCain, he learned on the job that Obama was the best listener he'd ever encountered... and Trump was the worst. Those were the highlights! Sam Klein Roche and Benjamin Gross-Loh, Vanguard editors who attended, shared the discussion with the editorial board, and now they plan to run an editorial about listening in the January issue. 

Boston Speaker Series - Gloria Steinem

Boston Speaker Series

Allison Kornet, US English Teacher and Faculty Advisor to The Vanguard

Claire Pingitore, Klara Kuemmerle, Sophie Collins Arroyo, and Laila Shadid accompanied me to the Boston Speakers Series at Symphony Hall to hear Gloria Steinem last night (11/19). She was an inspiration! We sat in the balcony afterward discussing what we'd heard until the ushers kicked us out.  

Some great quotes from her:

"Until Congress looks like the country, there's probably something wrong."

"If the laws are unjust, we won't obey them."

On being 84: "At my age, most people are dead!"

"Laughter is the only free emotion... you can't compel it. Never go anywhere they won't let you laugh."

"Kindness must be the single most important quality on earth."

"There's no more reason why everybody with a uterus should be a mother than everyone with vocal chords should be an opera singer."

On the topic of why white married and uneducated women voted for Trump, she quoted Harriet Tubman, who said "I could have freed thousands more if only they knew they were slaves."

"Let's remember Trump is not the president. He lost by 6 million votes. He won by the electoral college, which is a remnant of slavery."

The most progress feminism has had is in our heads and hearts, our consciousness. The least is in the economy. We on't say that equal pay for women would be the greatest possible stimulus we could ever have (which it would be).

Asked to whom she will pass her torch, she said, "I'm not giving up my torch. I'm using it to light the torch of other people. If we're looking at one torch, no wonder we don't know where the hell we're going."

Boston Speaker Series - Lisa Genova

Boston Speaker Series

Allison Kornet, US English Teacher and Faculty Advisor to The Vanguard

In the right balcony of Boston Symphony Hall, Tessa Haining ‘19, Laila Shadid ‘19, Lucy Foot ‘20, and Anna Soloshenko ‘19 await neuroscientist and novelist Lisa Genova’s talk at the first event in the Boston Speakers Series. Lucy and Anna said they left the event feeling ‘so much smarter.’ Laila included this photo in the upcoming issue of The Vanguard with a caption identifying the talk’s highlights.