FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 22, 2013 CONTACT: Sylvia Plumb, Director of Communications, 802.262.

2626 x302 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Vermont Humanities Council Presents First Wednesdays Lecture UNH Law Professor Discusses Sexting and Cyberbullying at St. Johnsbury Academy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ St. Johnsbury ~ UNH Law Professor Sarah Redfield will examine the serious issues surrounding sexting and cyberbullying in a talk at St. Johnsbury Academy on April 3. Her talk, Free Speech Isn't What It Used to Be: Sexting and Cyberbullying Meet the Constitution, is part of the Vermont Humanities Councils First Wednesdays series and takes place at 7:00 p.m. (Note: This talk will take place in the Stewart Black Box Theater in the Morse Center for the Fine Arts on the Academy campus. This replaces the originally scheduled location of Fuller Hall.) The potential harm to young people who send and receive hurtful messages and images in cyberspace is enormous and new. Redfield will outline the constitutional and real-life issues. Redfield is a nationally known author and presenter. She is the author of Thinking Like a Lawyer: An Educator's Guide to Legal Analysis and Research, and has published law review and bar articles on threatening speech, the convergence of law and education, and K20 school reform. She holds a BA degree from Mount Holyoke College, a JD degree from Northeastern University, and an LLM from Harvard Law School. The Vermont Humanities Councils First Wednesdays series is held on the first Wednesday of every month from October through May, featuring speakers of national and regional renown. Talks in St. Johnsbury are held at St. Johnsbury Athenaeum unless otherwise noted. All First Wednesdays talks are free and open to the public. The 2012-2013 First Wednesdays series in St. Johnsbury concludes with The Patchwork Quilt of American Evangelicalism with Dartmouth professor Randall Balmer on May 1. The Vermont Department of Libraries is the statewide underwriter of First Wednesdays. St. Johnsbury Athenaeum is sponsored by Friends of St. Johnsbury Athenaeum/Second Hand Prose. Free Speech Isn't What It Used to Be is sponsored by Vermont Bar Association. For more information, contact St. Johnsbury Athenaeum at 802.748.8291 or contact the Vermont Humanities Council at 802.262.2626 or info@vermonthumanities.org, or visit www.vermonthumanities.org.

First Wednesdays is also presented in eight other communities statewide: Brattleboro (at Brooks Memorial Library); Essex Junction (at Brownell Library); Manchester (at First Congregational Church, hosted by Mark Skinner Library); Middlebury (at Ilsley Public Library); Montpelier (at Kellogg-Hubbard Library); Newport (at Goodrich Memorial Library); Norwich (at Norwich Congregational Church, hosted by Norwich Public Library and Norwich Historical Society); and Rutland (at Rutland Free Library). The program is free, accessible to people with disabilities and open to the public.
St. Johnsbury First Wednesdays listing http://www.vermonthumanities.org/WhatWeDo/FirstWednesdays/FirstWednesdaysStJohnsbury/tabid/170/Default. aspx First Wednesdays Brochure http://www.vermonthumanities.org/portals/0/documents/First%20Wednesdays/20122013/1stWedBrochureVHC2012-2013.pdf

The Vermont Humanities Council is a private nonprofit working to bring the power and the pleasure of the humanities to all Vermontersof every background and in every community. The Council strives to make Vermont a state in which every individual reads, participates in public affairs, and continues to learn throughout life. ###