november, 2024
Event Details
Join us for an engaging event with Tim Cloward, as he delves into his new book The City That Killed the President, a creative cultural history of Dallas viewed through the lens of JFK’s assassination. On November 22, 1963, the nation was shocked by John F. Kennedy’s murder, and Dallas was swiftly labeled the “City of Hate.”
Cloward’s work explores how, in the decades since, the city’s artists, writers, and citizens have grappled with the stigma and complexities of that identity through poetry, theater, art, and civic actions. A writer, educator, and founder of the poetry/performance group Dancing Tongue, Cloward brings deep insight into Dallas’s cultural psyche. This book, both a reckoning and reflection, offers a nuanced look at how a city contends with its own difficult history. Don’t miss this powerful discussion that shines a light on Dallas’s past and its continuing impact.
About the book
A creative cultural history of Dallas through the lens of its defining twentieth century event: JFK’s assassination.
The assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, shocked America. Instantly, Dallas was blamed for the killing, labeled “the City of Hate.” In the half century since the president’s murder, this city’s artists and writers have produced important, if often overlooked, work that speaks to the difficult burden of our civic shaming.
Here are the works of poetry, theater, journalism, art, the actions of our citizens and political leaders, all the fragments of our cultural life that address this tortured local history. The City That Killed the President is a fitful discourse offering a window into Dallas itself, a city reluctant to grapple with its past.
About the author
Tim Cloward is a writer/educator who lives in Dallas, Texas. He holds a Ph.D. in Aesthetic Studies from the University of Texas at Dallas. The founder of the poetry/performance troupe Dancing Tongue, he has also worked with Poetry Circus and Question Authority, both acclaimed multi-disciplinary performance ensembles. A prominent arts organizer, he spent a decade as a contributor/programmer for the North Texas Literary organization, WordSpace. He currently teaches a Theory of Knowledge class at Uplift Atlas Academy, where he is helping establish an International Baccalaureate program for underserved urban students. He is married to singer/artist/poet Lisa Huffaker.
