FREE SPEECH
The nonprofit First Amendment Coalition welcomes a new executive director this week, lawyer and journalist David Snyder, who worked as a freelancer for the New York Times then as a reporter at the Washington Post before becoming an attorney. The First Amendment Coalition maintains a free legal hotline (firstamendmentcoalition.org/legal-hotline) to respond to questions – from journalists and the public at large – about access to public records; your right to attend government meetings; access to court documents and proceedings; and other free speech-related topics.
WHO’S IN TOWN?
Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is in town this week to speak to the students and staff of the Naval Postgraduate School as a guest lecturer. Gates served as defense secretary from 2006-11, serving under both presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, the only one in history to be asked to remain in office for a newly elected president. Gates has served eight presidents of both parties in various positions, including as CIA director and National Security Advisor. He started his career in 1966 with the CIA, where he worked for 27 years as an intelligence professional.
10am Thurs Jan. 5. King Auditorium, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey. Not open to the public. www.nps.edu.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“[Jim Marshall] finally worked up his courage to ask Miles [Davis] why he had a green trumpet. Miles looked straight at Jim and said, ‘Motherfucker, I didn’t ask you why you had a black camera!”
- See story, “Marshall’s Arts”