On Thursday, April 3, former Major League ballplayer Brian McRae will join us for dinner and discussion of the use of performance-enhancing drugs in professional sports. This public policy dinner will be held at 6:30 p.m. at Moonshine, on the corner of Red River and 3rd Streets. Dinner is dutch treat.

Space is limited, so please RSVP now to reserve your seat! This event is for current members of the Future Forum only.

The Film Cluster will meet on Monday, April 7 at 6:45 p.m. at Alamo South Lamar to watch The Unforeseen, directed by U.T. graduate Laura Dunn and produced by Terrence Malick and Robert Redford. For more information or to learn more about the movie, please visit the event description online. If you're interested in Film Cluster activities, please email Nina Hess.

The Public Policy Cluster will hold a dinner on Thursday, April 3. See above for more details!

If you would like to be added to the Book Club list or want more information, please email Taline Manassian.

For our Cultural Cluster offering this month, we encourage you to experience the travels of Jack Kerouac and the Beats at the Harry Ransom Center. Future Forum members are invited on Saturday, April 5, as Hyde Park Theatre Artistic Director Ken Webster brings Jack Kerouac's journey to life as he reads from the famous scroll manuscript of Kerouac's On the Road, on display at the Ransom Center for a limited time only. Join us from 8-10 p.m. Complimentary parking available in the University Co-op garage located at 23rd and San Antonio Streets. Sip on a "Kerouassady," a cocktail inspired by a telegram from Allen Ginsberg to Kerouac and Neal Cassady, snap a photo with a vintage Hudson, graze on apple tarts and road trip treats, and enjoy jazz mixed with modern road songs by DJ Bebop Kid. For more information, please visit the Ransom Center online. Please RSVP to Molly Suess.

The Future Forum serves as a nexus for Austin's leaders. Our members are actively engaged in many organizations. We encourage you to find out more about these Doers and Builders on our website.

GENaustin inspires girls to become healthy resisters through self awareness, body awareness, and learning specific coping skills. GENaustin is committed to helping girls grow into healthy, confident women who feel valued for what's inside, and not outside, themselves. Our mission is to help adolescent girls develop and maintain healthy self- esteem and leadership skills by educating them, parents, teachers and others about cultural and media influences that seek to undermine girls' sense of self. We facilitate skill-building programs that empower girls to be true to themselves while advocating for positive change in the world.

For more information or to read about upcoming events, please visit the GENaustin website, www.genaustin.org.

August 27, 2008, would have been the 100th birthday of President Johnson. The LBJ Centennial celebration will pay tribute to the LBJ Legacy, which we all know was indeed larger than life! The LBJ Library and Museum, LBJ School of Public Affairs, LBJ State Park, LBJ National Park, LBJ Foundation, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, LBJ Museum in San Marcos, and Texas State University have joined forces to make the Centennial a spectacular year of programs, parties, and other events to celebrate the man and his impact on Texas, the United States, and the world. For more information and a comprehensive calendar of events (including those below), please visit www.LBJ100.org.

We have a full calendar of events celebrating LBJ this month. We have listed a sampling below - please visit the Centennial Calendar for all the details!

• All month: Nature and Wildlife Guided Tours at the LBJ State Park
• April 11-12: Celebration of the 1960's at the LBJ Ranch
• April 12-13: Spring Gardening Festival and Plant Sale at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
• April 19: LBJ 100 Bicycle Tour in the Hill Country

On March 5, the Future Forum and the Center for Politics and Governance hosted a dynamic panel discussion on the upcoming presidential election. Dan Bartlett, Matthew Dowd, Thomas Mann, and Wayne Slater shared their thoughts on campaign strategies, trends, and the potential outcomes. If you missed it, you can view the webcast online!

For more information on exhibits, the Storytime schedule, and Library hours, please visit www.lbjlib.utexas.edu.

Austin Film Society announces call for entries for 2008 Texas Filmmakers' Production Fund. From now until June 2, the Austin Film Society will be accepting applications for the 2008 Texas Filmmakers' Production Fund (TFPF). This year, AFS will give out at least $100,000 to emerging film and video artists in Texas, in cash grants up to $25,000, as well as Kodak film stock and in-kind services from Seattle-based Alpha Cine Labs, a new sponsor of TFPF. Filmmakers who have resided in Texas for at least one year are eligible to request up to $25,000 in production, post-production and distribution funds for their projects. The 2008 TFPF application is now available for download on the AFS Website. AFS will host free workshops in April and May in a number of Texas cities to give tips on how to apply to the Fund and answer questions. For venues, times, and more information, please refer to the AFS website.

The LBJ 100 Bicycle Tour on April 19 will bring together people to enjoy a day of riding and friendship in the scenic Hill Country of Central Texas while celebrating the Can- Do spirit of Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) in the centennial year of his birth. This event starts at the historic LBJ ranch which is being fully opened up to public for the first time this year. The rides include 10, 31, 45 mile loops as well as a 100 kilometer (62 mile) metric century. The tour is hosted by the Hill Country Bicycle Touring Club in conjunction with the National Park Service, the Friends of Lyndon B. Johnson Historical Park and the Western National Park Association. All profits from the tour will go to the Friends of Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park.

Registration is $25 by April 5 ($35 after) and includes supported rides with maps, rest stops, sag support and a T-shirt (to pre-registered riders). Extra T-shirts are available for $10. To register, go on-line at Active.com. The tour will be held rain or shine. On Friday, April 18, early packet pick-up and registration (cash or check only) will be available at the LBJ Visitor Center in Johnson City from 2:00 PM until 10:00 PM. The Visitor Center is located on Ladybird Lane two blocks south of Main Street. On Saturday, April 19, on site registration (cash or check only) and packet pick up will be at LBJ National Park at 6:30 AM. Take US 290 west of Johnson City and exit at Ranch Road 1. Go north on Park Road 49 and follow the signs to the parking area at the north end of the ranch air strip. Please get to registration by 7:45 AM as the road out of the ranch will be temporarily closed to allow riders out. All rides will leave the ranch starting at 8:00 AM.

Join us Saturday, May 3 for the Fox 7 SHOES4KIDS 5K & KICKS4KIDS 1K benefiting Shoes for Austin. The Fun Run will begin at 8:00 a.m. at "the Green" at La Frontera in Round Rock, Texas. The Kid's 1K will begin at 9:00 a.m. Over the last eight years, with the help of our sponsors and friends, the SHOES4KIDS 5K has become an eagerly anticipated event that attracts runners/ walkers and their families from all over the greater Austin/ Round Rock area. Every $25 entry fee buys a new, brand name pair of athletic shoes for a deserving child working hard to complete fitness goals such as completing a 5K race or learning new sport skills.

Don't miss the fun! Visit the Shoes for Austin website, www.shoesforaustin.org to register today.

The Cine Las Americas International Film Festival opens on Wednesday, April 16 at the Paramount Theater with the screening of SEPTIEMBRES, a powerful documentary that explores the question "Can a documentary be made about love?" For the incarcerated participants of the 2005 Festival of Song, singing love songs is not merely entertainment. It is also a poignant reminder of the people they left behind. What begins as a visit to a friend in a Madrid- area penitentiary soon becomes the inspiration for this documentary, when director Bosch stumbles across a karaoke competition. Following these remarkable stories over the course of a year, Septiembres journeys both within and outside the prison, traveling from Buenos Aires to Lithuania, and Bolivia to Barcelona in order to track down the people for whom the prisoners sing. To purchase your Friend of the Festival pass, or to purchase tickets to the films, please visit www.cinelasamericas.org. Cine Las Americas is a multicultural, non-profit Media Arts Center based in Austin, Texas. The mission of Cine Las Americas is to promote cross-cultural understanding and growth by educating, entertaining and challenging the diverse Central Texas community through film and media arts.

Thank you for your continued involvement in, and support of, the Future Forum.

Sincerely,