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MORAL DILEMMAS IN POLITICS AND FICTION

Meagan Whalen Turner


Megan Whalen Turner - Author of Instead of Three Wishes: Magical Short Stories and The Thief, The Queen of Attolia and The King of Attolia

 

 




Anne Ursu - Author of Spilling Clarence and The Disapparation of James

 

 







Joseph White, Ph.D. - Luxenberg Family Professor of Public Policy, Chair of the Department of Political Science, and the Director of the Center for Policy Studies at Case Western Reserve University

 

 



Friday April 18, 2008
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Crawford Hall - Room 9
Inamori Center
Case Western Reserve University

As someone once said, “politics ain’t beanbag.” It can be a dirty game, and one excuse is that the ends justify the means, so ordinary morality does not apply.

But is that view justified? One way to think about this conflict is to step outside the explicitly political realm, and see how it is viewed in fiction for a variety of audiences. So this discussion will feature a political scientist, Joe White, and two accomplished novelists.

Megan Whalen Turner (http://home.att.net/~mwturner/) writes both short stories and novels for young adults. The Thief won a Newberry Honor award, and was followed by two other works in a trilogy.

Anne Ursu ( http://www.anneursu.com/ ) is the author of both two widely praised books for adults and two books of a trilogy, The Cronus Chronicles, for younger readers. We will begin by looking at popular works of fantasy aimed at younger readers, such as the Harry Potter series and The Lord of the Rings, but where we will end, nobody knows.

The Friday Lunch is a brown-bag event open to all.  Cookies and some beverages are provided

The remainder of this e-mail reports what we know about the schedule for the rest of the semester. We will be sending out announcements each week. If you would prefer not to receive the announcements, please inform Dr. Andrew Lucker, Associate Director of the Center for Policy Studies, by e-mail (andrew.lucker@case.edu).


About Our Guests


Megan Whalen Turner writes fiction for young adults. She took her BA with honors in English language and literature from the University of Chicago in 1987. Her first book, Instead Of Three Wishes, is a collection of seven stories. Her next three books form a series: The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, and The King of Attolia. All are published by HarperCollins.

Anne Ursu is the author of the novels Spilling Clarence and The Disapparation of James. Both books were Booksense 76 picks. Spilling Clarence was awarded a Minnesota Book Award, selected for Barnes and Noble's Discover Great New Writers program, and nominated for a Bay Area Book Reviewers Award. Anne has written on theater and the arts in Minneapolis and Portland, ME, and her work has recently appeared in Glamour magazine. The books in her trilogy for children, The Cronus Chronicles will be published in 2006, 2007, and 2008.

Professor White came to Case in 2000 as Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for Policy Studies, and became Department Chair in 2003. He came to Cleveland from New Orleans, where he was Associate Professor of Health Systems Management in the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at Tulane University. Previously he was a Research Associate and then Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.. He received his A.B. from the University of Chicago and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.


Friday Lunch and Other Public Affairs Upcoming Topics and Speakers:


April 25: TBA

The Friday Lunch discussions are held on the lower (ground) level of Crawford Hall.  Visitors with mobility issues may find it easiest to take advantage of special arrangements we have made.  On most Fridays, a few parking spaces in the V.I.P. lot in between Crawford Hall and Amasa Stone Chapel are held for participants in the lunch discussion. 

Visitors then can avoid walking up the hill to the first floor of Crawford by entering the building on the ground level, through the garage area under the building.  The further door on the left in that garage will be left unlocked during the period before the Friday lunch.  On occasion, parking will be unavailable because of other university events.

For more information about these and other Center for Policy Studies programs, please see http://policy.case.edu.

April 15, 2008

A weekly newsletter published by the Center for Policy Studies, Case Western Reserve University. If you would like to not receive this weekly e-mail or you would like to submit items for inclusion please send a notice to: pubpol@case.edu.

Check out the university’s community outreach activities

Upcoming Events


Newborn Screening for Nontreatable Disorders

Donald B. Bailey Distinguished Fellow RTI (Research Triangle Institute) International; Jeffrey R. Botkin, MD, MPH Professor of Pediatrics University of Utah School of Medicine; Ellen W. Clayton, MD, JD Rosalind E. Franklin Professor of Genetics and Health Policy Vanderbilt University; R. Rodney Howell, MDProfessor of Pediatrics Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Florida; Marvin Natowicz, MD, PhD Vice Chairman, Genomic Medicine Institute Pediatric Geneticist, Clinical Pathologist, Neurologist
Cleveland Clinic
;

May 2, 2008, 1:00-5:00 p.m., Whitehall Room, Renaissance Hotel, 24 Public Square, Cleveland, OH 44113; Registration is required.

Newborn screening began in the 1960’s after physician Robert Guthrie developed a test for PKU, a disorder that can be treated effectively if detected soon after birth. Massachusetts adopted newborn screening on a voluntary basis in 1962, but after President Kennedy’s Advisory Committee on Mental Retardation recommended mandatory screening, states began to require it, and it is now compulsory in all states.

Historically, newborn screening has been done for conditions which, if not treated immediately or at least early in life, can be serious or fatal. But the development of faster and cheaper technologies enable screening for far greater numbers of disorders and now, public health experts are calling for newborns to be screened for non-treatable disorders -- disorders that either are not treatable at all or that can be treated successfully later in life when they show up. Advocates argue it could spare families years of uncertainty once symptoms emerged; alert them to be on the watch for discoveries of treatments; provide children with adjunctive interventions; and facilitate participation in research. But there is a further rationale they offer that is more controversial: it can cause parents to avoid having another child with the same disorder.

This rationale is troubling in that it has eugenic overtones. Screening is mandatory, and the state may impose it on parents over their objection. The Nebraska Supreme Court has even held that parents may not object to screening on religious grounds. Nontreatable disorders would be included in part to discourage parents from giving birth to additional children who might become a burden on society. This is the same excuse that was given in the past to justify forced sterilization programs and other ethically unacceptable practices designed to rid the world of undesirable people.

Co-ponsored by the Law Medicine Center at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law, Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence & Center for Genetic Research, Ethics & Law (CGREAL)


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About the Friday Lunch Newsletter


Submissions for the Friday Lunch Newsletter may be e-mailed to pubpol@case.edu. All submissions must be received at least a week prior to inclusion in the weekly e-mail and will be reviewed for timeliness and relevance to the Center for Policy Studies audience.

E-mail pubpol@case.edu.

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