Yesterday I saw one of my idols, Connie Schultz, speak at Weigel Hall. It was part of the Barbara K. Fergus Women in Leadership Lecture Series, brought in by the John Glenn School of Public Affairs , which I love. It’s a school at Ohio State that prepares graduates and undergraduates for careers in non-profit sectors and public policy. It’s all about one of my favorite topics, civic engagement.
Besides the fact that Senator Glenn was there to give a fun introduction, Connie was fantastic. For those of you who don’t know, she is a nationally syndicated columnist for the Plain Dealer, which is the newspaper up in Cleveland. She has won many awards, including the 2003 Pulitzer Prize and the Scripps Howard National Journalism Award. One of many fascinating stories about her, which John Glenn told in his introduction, is when she chronicled the life of a man who was imprisoned for 13 years for a rape he did not commit. After her series ran, the really rapist happened to read it and ended up turning himself in because of it.
Needless to say, she’s a powerful woman, devoting much of her life to exposing the rights and wrongs of public policy. When I was a senior in high school, she took a leave of absence from her column, which at the time I read religiously, to work for her husband Sherrod Brown’s Senate campaign. She just published a book called “And His Lovely Wife,� a topic resulting in many nods of agreement and roars of laughter from the highly feminist audience. And to top it all off, she’s born and breed in Northeast Ohio, just like me!
I really recommend checking out this series, and other speakers at Ohio State. This year I’ve already seen Sidney Poitier, Ron Jeremy and Craig Gross at the Porn Debate, and many well-known media professionals in Columbus through the Arts and Sciences Career Services. These experiences have been major aspects of my learning this year…don’t miss that opportunity!