New York Times and Wall Street Journal best-selling author Wes Moore will speak at Fayetteville State University (FSU) on February 3, 2015, at 3 p.m. in J.W. Seabrook Auditorium. At 6 p.m., that day, Moore will speak and hold a question and answer session in the Rudolph Jones Student Center Room 240-242. The events are part of the Chancellor’s Distinguished Speaker Series and are co-sponsored by the Partnership for Children of Cumberland County, Dr. and Mrs. Eric Mansfield, the Fayetteville Regional Chamber of Commerce, and The Fayetteville Publishing Company. Both are free and open to the public.
Moore is a youth advocate, Army combat veteran, social entrepreneur, and host of “Beyond Belief” on the Oprah Winfrey Network. His first book “The Other Wes Moore” became an instant bestseller. The book was required reading for FSU’s incoming freshmen in fall 2014.
The book outlines an interesting occurrence in Moore’s life. In December 2000, the Baltimore Sun ran a small piece about Wes Moore, a local student who had just received a Rhodes Scholarship. The same paper also ran a series of articles about four young men who had allegedly killed a police officer in a spectacularly botched armed robbery. The police were still hunting for two of the suspects who had gone on the lam, a pair of brothers. One was named Wes Moore.
Moore just couldn’t shake off the unsettling coincidence, or the inkling that the two shared much more than space in the same newspaper. After following the story of the robbery, the manhunt, and the trial to its conclusion, he wrote a letter to the other Moore, now a convicted murderer serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. His letter tentatively asked the questions that had been haunting him: Who are you? How did this happen?
That letter led to a correspondence and relationship that has lasted for several years. Over dozens of letters and prison visits, Moore discovered that the other Moore had a life; not unlike his own. Both had grown up in similar neighborhoods and had difficult childhoods, both were fatherless; they’d hung out on similar corners with similar crews, and both had run into trouble with the police. At each stage of their young lives they had come across similar moments of decision, yet their choices and the people in their lives would lead them to astonishingly different destinies.
FSU is a constituent institution of The University of North Carolina and the second-oldest public institution of higher education in the state. FSU offers nearly 60 degrees at the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral levels. With more than 5,000 students, Fayetteville State University is among the most diverse institutions in the nation.
The Partnership for Children of Cumberland County (PFC) is the nonprofit organization that supports early care and education professionals and parents with resources to prepare children for success in school and nurture responsible, productive citizens who will make a positive contribution to the community. PFC achieves its mission through administration of the Smart Start school readiness initiative and NC Pre-kindergarten program in Cumberland County as well as several other grants.
For more information regarding Wes Moore’s appearances, call (910) 672-1474.
Source: http://www.uncfsu.edu/
Posted By: How May I Help You NC
Tuesday, January 27th 2015 at 3:31PM
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