Hosted by Navy LT Katie Burkhart, Paula Caplan will show her documentary “Is Anybody Listening?” Paula grew up listening to – but not remembering – stories her beloved father, Jerome Caplan, told about being Captain of an all-Black battery in The Battle of the Bulge. Her bewilderment about her inability to remember those stories led her to listen to hundreds of veterans. Her alarm that veterans' deeply human reactions to war and rape are diagnosed as mental illness drove her to set up free sessions nationwide for a nonveteran to listen in wholehearted, respectful silence to whatever a veteran wants to say, reducing veterans' soul-crushing isolation and nonveterans' illiteracy about war and rape. Paula takes us on her journey through interviews with veterans including Sgt. Isaac Pope -- a 96-year-old, Black man who served with Captain Caplan, archival footage, and visual art. A discussion will follow the screening of the 40-minute film.
For the Common Defense is a weekly seminar on defense issues run by the students and fellows of the Harvard Kennedy School. Each week, a different subject is explored, providing insights for students and fellows with no prior military background as well as for those who want to become better professionals in their military service.
Seminars are co-sponsored by the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and are held in the Belfer Center Library, room L369. Sessions are open to the public but are “off the record,” meaning nothing said can be quoted outside the session. For more information contact John Chambers, John_Chambers@hks16.harvard.edu.
