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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260204T190000
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SUMMARY:Bad Bunny and the History of Puerto Rico with Dr. Jorell Meléndez-Badillo
DESCRIPTION:Global superstar and Puerto Rican icon Bad Bunny is headlining the Super Bowl halftime show\, and we refuse to let you show up without context. \nBefore kickoff\, join Dr. Jorell Meléndez-Badillo\, UConn alum\, author of Puerto Rico: A National History\, and the historian who worked with Bad Bunny on his Puerto Rican residency\, for a deeper look at Puerto Rico’s history\, its complex relationship with the United States\, and the futures the Puerto Rican people envision for themselves. We’ll also explore behind the scenes of Bad Bunny’s meteoric rise\, the messages in his music\, and his global impact. \nCome for the context\, stay for the culture\, and leave ready to impress your friends and family with the best Bad Bunny facts at your Super Bowl party. \nKnow the lyrics? Now know the history. RSVP today. \nThe Details\nWhen: Wednesday\, Feb. 4 | 7:00PM – 7:30PM ET\nWhere: Zoom Webinar\nTickets: No charge\, suggested $20 donation \nReserve your spot today \n\n\n \n\nFeaturing\nDr. Jorell Meléndez-Badillo \nAuthor & Associate Professor of History\, University of Wisconsin-Madison \nDr. Jorell Meléndez-Badillo is a historian of Puerto Rico\, the Caribbean\, and Latin America and the author\, most recently\, of the critically acclaimed book\, Puerto Rico: A National History (Princeton University Press\, 2024)\, translated to Spanish by Aurora Lauzardo Ugarte as Puerto Rico: historia de una nación (Grupo Planeta\, 2024). He is also the author of The Lettered Barriada: Workers\, Archival Power\, and the Politics of Knowledge in Puerto Rico (Duke University Press\, 2021) and Voces libertarias: Orígenes del anarquismo en Puerto Rico (Secret Sailor Books\, 2013) \nDr. Meléndez-Badillo is also the co-editor of Without Borders or Limits: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Anarchist Studies (Cambridge Scholars Publishing\, 2013) and editor of Páginas libres: Breve antología del pensamiento anarquista en Puerto Rico (Editora Educación Emergente\, 2021). I am also the co-editor of Interrogating the Future of Puerto Rican Studies\, forthcoming with Duke University Press in 2026. \nMore recently\, he collaborated with global superstar Bad Bunny in the creation of historical narratives that accompanied each song’s YouTube visualizer in DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS. He also wrote 40 historical and cultural short texts that are used in the screens of Bad Bunny’s historic residency in Puerto Rico. His work has been featured in the LA Times\, Vogue\, New York Magazine\, Good Morning America\, Univisión\, Telemundo\, AFP\, La Nación\, La Jornada\, and El Nuevo Día\, among many national and international outlets. \nBefore UW-Madison\, he was a Mellon Faculty Fellow and Assistant Professor of History at Dartmouth College. He is from the capital of the Caribbean: Aguadilla\, Puerto Rico. \n\nModerated By\nAmanda Jolly \nModerator | World Affairs Council of Connecticut \nAmanda is the former Vice President for Programs and Communications at the World Affairs Council of Connecticut and international nonprofit technology consultant. Amanda is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University SAIS with a Master’s Degree in Global Risk and a specialization in digital policy. \n\nHost & Partners\n\nJoin the Community\nWith continuous breaking global news\, Council membership allows you to understand it all. Members gain lower-cost and exclusive access to discussions with foreign and local leaders\, events with experts and opposing views\, and – most essentially – a community of engaged people like yourself. \nBecome a member or renew today. \n\nMission Partners\n \n\nMark & Linda Caplan\nDonna Collins\nSusan & Peter G. Kelly\nSe-Min Sohn\n  \nSupport global engagement in Connecticut by contacting CEO Megan Torrey about sponsorship opportunities. Learn more on our website about available opportunities. \n\n\n\nThe World Affairs Council of Connecticut provides a platform for open dialogue and the exchange of ideas on global issues. The views expressed by speakers and contributors to this organization’s public programs—in person\, online\, and through affiliated social media sites— are solely their own and do not necessarily represent the official policies or positions of CTWAC\, its individual staff\, board members\, members\, or sponsors. As a nonpartisan and nonpolitical organization\, CTWAC’s purpose is to foster informed discussion and greater understanding of the world\, without endorsing any particular viewpoint.
URL:https://ctwac.org/event/bad-bunny-history-of-puerto-rico/
LOCATION:Zoom Webinar
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260209T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260209T193000
DTSTAMP:20260510T220525
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SUMMARY:Second Monday with CTWAC | February 2026
DESCRIPTION:Join fellow World Affairs Council members and friends in conversation over dinner on the issues impacting our world. Connect and engage with others\, share your thoughts\, and explore how we can secure our global future. \n\n\n\nTopic: Is ‘The West’ Over?\n\n\nU.S. tariff threats\, uncertainty facing Greenland and NATO\, and growing strains in EU-U.S. relations are testing once-solid transatlantic ties. Are these tensions temporary realignments that will strengthen the transatlantic partnership – or a sign that the idea of “the West” is unraveling? If so\, what replaces it\, and how might that reshape global trade\, security\, and international alliances?\nThis is a no-homework event\, but supplemental readings will be provided to attendees\n\n\n\nThe Details:\nWhen: Monday\, February 9th | 6-7:30PM\nWhere: McCarter & English\, LLP\, Stamford\, CT\nTickets: $20 Members\, $30 Non-members | Registration required\nSpace is limited \nReserve your spot today \n\n\n \n\nUpcoming Second Mondays:\nFebruary 9th - Is 'The West' Over?\nMarch 9th - *Topic TBA\n*Topics will be announced 1 week prior to events. \n\nPast Second Mondays:\nJanuary 12th - What Just Happened in Venezuela? \n2025\nDecember 8th - Global Inequality & its Impacts on Societal Stability\nNovember 10th - Nuclear Deterrence in the Age of Drones\nOctober 13th - A New Era of U.S. Foreign Policy\nSeptember 15th - Counterterrorism or Extra-Legal Killings: When Do Strikes on Non-State Targets Cross the Line?\nJune 9th - What's at stake in the India-Pakistan conflict?\nMay 12th - So many elections - what do they all mean?\nApril 28th (Special Edition) – Sudan’s Civil War & Sub-Saharan Africa after USAID\nApril 14th - The Future of Immigration Policy\nMarch 10th - NATO's Uncertain Future\nFebruary 10th – The End of USAID?\nJanuary 13th – Greenland\, the Panama Canal\, and The Future of Immigration Policy \n2024\nDecember 9th – A Rebalancing in the Middle East and the Taiwan Question\nNovember 12th – Foreign Policy in a New Administration\nOctober 14th – The World After the U.S. Election\nSeptember 30th – Worldwide Efforts to Battle - or Embrace - Disinformation\nJuly 15th – The Climate Crisis & Global Instability\nJune 10th – Potential Flash Points - How is the U.S. positioned and what happens next?\nMay 20th – Democratic Systems at a Crossroad\nApril 8th – War in Gaza: How did we get here?\nMarch 11th – Western Consensus on Ukraine: What’s Next? \n\nMission Partners\n\nSupport global engagement in Connecticut by contacting CEO Megan Torrey about sponsorship opportunities. \n\nStay Globally Involved\nRenew your membership or become a member on our website. As a member of the World Affairs Council of Connecticut\, you can get exclusive access to events and travel opportunities\, build relationships with local leaders and global dignitaries\, and join our community of global citizens. Let us bring the world to you.
URL:https://ctwac.org/event/second-monday-with-ctwac-february-2026/
LOCATION:McCarter & English\, Two Stamford Plaza\, 281 Tresser Blvd\, 11th Floor\, Stamford\, CT\, 06901\, United States
CATEGORIES:Fairfield County
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260210T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260210T200000
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SUMMARY:The Great Firewall with Yi-Ling Liu | WorldNow
DESCRIPTION:Thirty years ago\, the world began to discover the power of the Internet: a digital world and resource to connect\, share ideas\, learn\, and earn. While the rest of the world connected\, the Chinese government began creating a system of strict surveillance and censorship on its internet – now known as the Great Firewall. \nToday\, as the country’s leadership intensifies its control of public discourse and Western headlines reduce the Chinese public to a faceless monolith\, what is the true online and on-the ground reality for Chinese citizens? \nJoin us February 10th on WorldNow as author and journalist Yi-Ling Liu tells the untold story of the Chinese internet. Hear how Chinese citizens have navigated the last 30 years of surveillance and censorship while searching for freedom and connection – behind the Great Firewall \nThe details:\nWhen: Tuesday\, February 10 | 7:00pm-8:00pm Eastern / 6pm Central\nWhere: Zoom Webinar\nTickets: No charge\, RSVP required \nReserve your spot today \n\n\n \n\nMeet the Author\n \nYi-Ling Liu is a writer & editor covering AI and Chinese society\, from a human-centered lens. She is currently a journalist-in-residence at the Tarbell Center for AI Journalism. She is the author of The Wall Dancers: Searching for Freedom and Connection on the Chinese Internet¸out on February 3rd. \nHer work has been published in The New York Times Magazine\, The New Yorker\, Harper’s Magazine\, WIRED\, and The New York Review of Books. She is a New America Fellow\, a recipient of the Matthew Power Literary Reporting Award\, and an Overseas Press Club Foundation Scholar. Born and raised in Hong Kong\, and a graduate of Yale University\, she now lives in London. \n\nMeet the Host\n\nJim Falk is President Emeritus of the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth. Now residing in Santa Fe\, NM\, he is a Director of the Board of Global Santa Fe. In addition to hosting WorldNow with Jim Falk\, Jim produces and hosts The Forum\, a weekly talk show on KSFR-FM\, Santa Fe Public Radio. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. \n  \n\nAbout the Book\n \nThe Wall Dancers: Searching for Freedom and Connection on the Chinese Internet by Yi-Ling Liu \nAn eye-opening exploration of the Chinese internet that reveals the intricate dance between freedom and control in contemporary China.\nIn the late 1990s\, as the world was waking up to the power and emancipatory promise of the internet\, Chinese authorities began constructing a system of online surveillance and censorship now known as the Great Firewall. But far from being a barren landscape\, the digital world that sprouted up behind the firewall brimmed with new subcultures and tech innovations\, offering many Chinese citizens previously unimaginable connection and opportunity. \nToday\, as the country’s leadership intensifies its control of public discourse and Western headlines reduce the Chinese public to a faceless monolith\, journalist Yi-Ling Liu presents an intimate portrait of China’s online ecosystem—and a crucial lens into the on-the-ground reality of life there. Tracing the last three decades of the Chinese internet’s evolution—from its lexicon to its memes to the precise nature of its censorship—she equips readers with a critical tool to assess the past\, present\, and future of a global power. \nDrawing on years of firsthand reporting\, The Wall Dancers weaves together the stories of individuals navigating China’s transformation into both the world’s largest online user base and one of its most populous authoritarian states. As these entrepreneurs\, activists\, artists\, and dreamers experience the internet’s power as a tool for both control and liberation\, they grapple with universal questions of success and authenticity\, love and solidarity\, faith and resilience. \nThe Wall Dancers is at once an unforgettable work of human storytelling and a vital exploration of what it means to live with dignity and hope within the technological systems that now shape all our lives. \nOrder a copy of The Wall Dancers\, out on February 3\, 2026. \n\nPresented by\nWorldNow with Jim Falk is hosted by the World Affairs Council of Connecticut with the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth and the World Affairs Councils of America. Presented in partnership with Councils nationwide: \n \n\n\n\nMission Partners\n \n\nMark & Linda Caplan\nDonna Collins\nSusan & Peter G. Kelly\nSe-Min Sohn\n  \nSupport global engagement in Connecticut by contacting CEO Megan Torrey about sponsorship opportunities. Learn more on our website about available opportunities. \n\nStay Globally Involved\nRenew your membership or become a member on our website. As a member of the World Affairs Council of Connecticut\, you can get exclusive access to events and travel opportunities\, build relationships with local leaders and global dignitaries\, and join our community of global citizens. Let us bring the world to you. \n\n\n\n\n\nThe World Affairs Council of Connecticut provides a platform for open dialogue and the exchange of ideas on global issues. The views expressed by speakers and contributors to this organization’s public programs—in person\, online\, and through affiliated social media sites— are solely their own and do not necessarily represent the official policies or positions of CTWAC\, its individual staff\, board members\, members\, or sponsors. As a nonpartisan and nonpolitical organization\, CTWAC’s purpose is to foster informed discussion and greater understanding of the world\, without endorsing any particular viewpoint.
URL:https://ctwac.org/event/the-great-firewall-liu-worldnow/
LOCATION:Zoom Webinar
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260219T173000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260219T190000
DTSTAMP:20260510T220525
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SUMMARY:Immigration\, Enforcement\, & Human Rights with Kica Matos
DESCRIPTION:Join us for a candid conversation with Kica Matos\, President of the National Immigration Law Center\, on the realities of U.S. immigration policy today – and how these decisions resonate far beyond our borders. \nFrom ICE enforcement practices and detention policy to ongoing legal challenges and federal reform efforts\, this timely program will examine how immigration policy is being shaped – and contested – in real time\, and what it means for communities\, the rule of law\, and our nation’s future. \nA partnership between the World Affairs Council of Connecticut and Hartford Public Library \nDetails\nWhen: Thursday\, February 19 | 6:00pm – 7:00pm\nDoors open 5:30pm\nWhere: Hartford Public Library’s Downtown Library\nCenter for Contemporary Culture\n500 Main Street\nTickets: No charge | RSVP Required \nReserve your spot today \n\n\n \nPlease consider making a small contribution to the World Affairs Council when registering in support of this program. \nIf you require special accommodations to take part in this program\, please call (860)874-2434 at least two weeks in advance. \n\nWith Special Guest\n \nKica Matos is the president of the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) and the Immigrant Justice Fund (IJF). She is also a Distinguished Practitioner at Yale University’s Brady Johnson Program in Grand Strategy. Kica joined NILC and IJF as executive vice president of programs and strategy in January 2023. Prior to this\, Kica was vice president of initiatives at the Vera Institute of Justice. She also served as the director of immigrant rights and racial justice at the Center for Community Change. She has extensive experience as an advocate\, community organizer\, and lawyer. \nKica has also headed up the U.S. Reconciliation and Human Rights Program at Atlantic Philanthropies. Before joining Atlantic Philanthropies\, she was deputy mayor in New Haven\, overseeing community programs and launching new initiatives\, including prisoner re-entry and youth and immigrant integration. Kica was previously the executive director of JUNTA\, New Haven’s oldest Latino advocacy organization. She also worked as an assistant federal defender for death-sentenced inmates and with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and Amnesty International on the death penalty and criminal justice issues. \nShe has a B.A. from Victoria University of Wellington\, New Zealand\, an M.A. from the New School\, and a J.D. from Cornell Law School. She was awarded honorary doctorate degrees from Albertus Magnus College in 2017 and the University of New Haven in 2019. She is a recipient of the John F. Kennedy New Frontier Award\, and in 2021\, she was inducted into the CT Women’s Hall of Fame. \n\nIn partnership with\n \n\nJoin the Community\nWith continuous breaking global news\, Council membership allows you to understand it all. Members gain lower-cost and exclusive access to discussions with foreign and local leaders\, events with experts and opposing views\, and – most essentially – a community of engaged people like yourself. \nBecome a member or renew today. \n\nMission Partners\n\nSupport global engagement in Connecticut by contacting CEO Megan Torrey about sponsorship opportunities. Learn more on our website about available opportunities. \n\n\n\nThe World Affairs Council of Connecticut provides a platform for open dialogue and the exchange of ideas on global issues. The views expressed by speakers and contributors to this organization’s public programs—in person\, online\, and through affiliated social media sites— are solely their own and do not necessarily represent the official policies or positions of CTWAC\, its individual staff\, board members\, members\, or sponsors. As a nonpartisan and nonpolitical organization\, CTWAC’s purpose is to foster informed discussion and greater understanding of the world\, without endorsing any particular viewpoint.
URL:https://ctwac.org/event/immigration-enforcement-human-rights-with-kica-matos/
LOCATION:Hartford Public Library\, 500 Main St\,  Hartford\, CT
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