Providence Journal / Frieda Squires
NEWPORT, R.I. -- One-time presidential candidate Gary Hart spoke in Newport on Friday as part of a day-long conference on storytelling co-sponsored by Salve Regina University and The Providence Journal.
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- Coming Home, a Providence Journal documentary and eight-part series that tells the stories of several Rhode Islanders who have served in the decade since the 9/11 attacks, and the after-effects of war
Hart was the keynote speaker at the inaugural Story in the Public Square conference hosted by the Pell Center for International Relations. Hart served in the U.S. Senate with Clairborne Pell, the Newport Democrat for whom the center is named. A lifelong Coloradan, Hart twice was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. He is the author of more than a dozen books, some written under a pseudonym.
He mostly stayed away from politics in his speech, focusing instead on the theme that stories connect us to "home."
"We need stories to tell us where we are, we're we are headed," Hart said. "We need stories most of all to find our way home."
