Journalist G. Wayne Miller to explore “Where Stories Take Us”

salvetoday Posted On November 27, 2012
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Author, filmmaker and journalist G. Wayne Miller will visit Salve Regina Wednesday, Nov. 28 to discuss some of the major piece published in the Providence Journal’s print and online editions over the last three decades. “Where Stories Take Us: Story in the Public Square” will be presented at 6 p.m. in the Young Building.

Miller will discuss how these stories have helped shape the civic discourse, influence public policy, and further understandings of ourselves as individuals and collective members of society.

Specific topics will include:

  • Deplorable conditions at state institutions.
  • Public safety in the wake of the Station nightclub fire.
  • State pension difficulties.
  • Treatment of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
  • Rhode Island’s continuing sick economy in the Reinvent Rhode Island series.

“Whether in print, online or on TV, we are bombarded with facts on a daily basis,” Miller said. “Many of those facts are important to know. But what really stays with us – what can move us and motivate us to change – is often not the raw data about poverty but the well-told story of a struggling single-parent family with its rich emotion, dialogue and detail. It’s the personal struggle of the veteran with PTSD told intimately, against the backdrop of the numbers.”

Miller himself has told many such stories. A Visiting Fellow at the Pell Center, he is a member of the Providence Journal’s Reinvent Rhode Island team, which all year has been publishing articles and videos about the Ocean State’s anemic economy. His eight-part 2011 Journal series “Coming Home: The War on Terror” told the personal stories of veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and led to the Journal’s award-winning documentary “Coming Home,” which he wrote and co-produced.

Miller’s appearance is sponsored by the Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy. Seating is limited and reservations are required. To reserve a seat, contact the Pell Center at (401) 341-2927 or pellcenter@salve.edu.