During each semester of the academic year, the Christian Reformed Student Foundation and Hessel Park Church sponsor a series of public discussions. These sessions are based on the belief that the Christian faith offers compelling insights into the issues of our day.

We bring in a Christian academic or professional from the local community or other public and private institutions across the United States, to speak on his or her area of expertise from a Christian perspective.

Date	Speaker and Topic
February 6, 2008 12:00-12:50 Meets in Illini Union Room 210	"This I Believe", John Wesley Fountain, Professor of Journalism at Roosevelt University Fountain's research interests include poverty and pulic affairs reporting, the contemporary African-American church, and urban crime and homicide. More information can be found at the following links:      http://www.johnwfountain.com (his personal web site)      http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5016108 (NPR Essay)      http://illinoisissues.uis.edu/features/2007may/poor.html (recent Paul Simon essay for Illinois Issues Magazine)      http://www.Journ2k7.blogspot.com (Fountain's Journalism blog)
February 13, 2008 12:00-12:50 University YMCA (Board Room/Second Floor)	Thinking With Things, Conrad Bakker, UIUC Art and Design Faculty "Thinking With Things" is a visual survey of ten years of "Untitled Projects"-- thematically organized bodies of work that explore objects and their economies through a variety of social, institutional, and consumer context often utilizing humor, situational awareness, formal play, and interventionist strategies. This extensive collection of projects is currently the focus of the exhibition "Conrad Bakker: Objects and Economies [Untitled Projects 1997-2007]" on view at the Des Moines Art Center in downtown Des Moines until March 28, 2008.

The Wednesday Forum is a program of the Christian Reformed Student Foundation and Hessel Park Church.
For Wednesday Forum announcements via email, contact Cliff Christians.