The Town Hall of Cleveland lecture series opens its 79th season tonight with a heavy-hitter: NPR/Fox News host/news analyst and former Washington Post White House correspondent and commentator Juan Williams. His topic is “The View From Washington,” a wide-open launching pad from which he could speak about almost anything. Although it seems like the view from Washington tends to dominate political discourse and the “common wisdom” about policy to the exclusion of the view from places people actually live, the Panama-born, Brooklyn-raised Williams’ wide-ranging life and work experiences sometimes help him see outside the bubble. On the other hand, there’s an undertone of Fox-like attack-the-victim slant in some of his commentary on his own African-American community. And even his TV co-host Bill O’Reilly was a bit taken aback when Williams described Michelle Obama as having “this Stokely Carmichael in a dress thing going” earlier this year. He’ll speak at 6 p.m. at PlayhouseSquare’s Ohio Theatre (1501 Euclid Ave.). Tickets are $45. Call 216.241.1919 or go to
townhallofcleveland.org. —
Anastasia Pantsios
