Wheaton church to host 'Conversations That Matter' Nov. 12

On Tuesday, Nov. 12, Trinity Episcopal Church, 130 N. West St. in Wheaton, will host its "Conversations That Matter" series with "Social and Political Aspects of Gun Violence."

Professors Steven Maynard Caliendo and Steve Macek from North Central College will facilitate a conversation on social and political aspects of gun violence and on language and images used in messages about gun violence.

The program begins at 7 p.m. with the doors opening at 6:30 p.m. This event is free. RSVP on the Eventbrite.com website.

Macek is Professor of Communication and Chair of the Department of Communication and Media Studies at North Central College. He teaches courses on media studies and the First Amendment. He is the author of "Urban Nightmares: The Media, the Right and the Moral Panic over the City" (University of Minnesota Press, 2006), a critical analysis of media representations of American cities and the urban poor in the 1980s and '90s.

Caliendo is Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Political Science at North Central College. He is co-founder and co-director of The Project on Race in Political Communication, and is the author of "Inequality in America: Race, Poverty, and Fulfilling Democracy's Promise" (2nd edition Routledge, 2017) and co-author with Charlton McIlwain of "Race Appeal: How Candidates Invoke Race in U.S. Political Campaigns" (Temple University Press, 2011).