Mark your calendar for The Future Forum Presents: Entertainment and Copyright Law with Marybeth Peters, the United States Register of Copyrights. This event will take place on Friday, March 16 at 6:00 p.m. in the LBJ Library Atrium (on the 10th floor). The discussion will be guided by Chris Castle, a Los Angeles based entertainment lawyer who has significant experience with intellectual property issues and in the music industry. The Austin Music Foundation is co-sponsoring this event with us. We will be sending out invitations - and more information - soon.

Save the date - On May 14, the Future Forum will present a debate between Christopher Hitchens and Marvin Olasky.

Also, current Future Forum members will be offered tickets to select Texas Monthly Talks tapings this spring. Featured guests include Calvin Trillin, Bob Schieffer, Christopher Hitchens, and Michael Beschloss. More information will be sent via email.

More about the Future Forum: The purpose of the Future Forum is to expand the involvement of young Texans with the LBJ Library and its programs by initiating dialogue about current issues and by providing educational and cultural information to its members. It is the ultimate goal of the Future Forum to foster greater civic involvement within our community. Future Forum seeks to inspire!

International Speaker Series presented by the Robert Strauss Center for International Security and Law :

March 7, 2007
Theresa Whelan on "African Security and U.S. Interests: The Problem of 'Ungoverned Space'"

March 21, 2007
Ethan Kapstein on "The Fate of Young Democracies"

Both events will take place from 5-6:30 p.m. in the Brown Room on the 10th floor of the LBJ Library and Museum. Tickets are not required.

Last month the Future Forum hosted The Future of Texas: A Conversation with Young Texas Legislators. Our panel consisted of: Representatives Veronica Gonzales, Donna Howard, Mark Strama, and Corbin Van Arsdale; and Senator Glenn Hegar. It was an informative, thoughtful, and inspiring discusssion and reassured many of us about the prospects for our future.

Our panelists shared their thoughts on some of the issues facing the state of Texas this session, particularly in regards to education and energy issues. The panel discussion was followed by question and answer session and a reception.

BIG, big thanks to all of our panelists for taking time out of their busy schedules to come speak with us and thanks to all who attended and helped make it such a great event.

Come check out the permanent exhibits at the LBJ Library and Museum. And, come check out the fascinating exhibit "Power to the People: The Electrification of Rural Texas."
Walk into a world before television, computers, the iPod, refrigerators or even running water.

There are lots of great events happening in and around Austin.

Dana Gioia, poet and Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), reads a selection of poetry on Tuesday, March 6, at 7 p.m. at the Harry Ransom Center. A question and answer session follows this Ransom Center 50th anniversary event. Gioia, a poet, critic, and translator, is one of the most influential and controversial voices in contemporary poetry today. He is the recipient of numerous awards and honors and has chaired the NEA since 2003. His essay, "Can Poetry Matter?" which appeared in the Atlantic Monthly in 1991, sparked an international debate on the role of poetry in modern intellectual life. Seating is free, but limited.