<b style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Times;font-size:medium;font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Calibri;background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">PSA/PRESS RELEASE</span><br>
<span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Calibri;background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Pulitzer-Winning Author, José Antonio Vargas speaks on campus about “undocumented” status and the immigration debate</span><br>
<span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Calibri;background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"></span><br><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Calibri;background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Contact:</span><br>
<span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Calibri;background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Kasey Umland, Program Director, University YMCA</span><br><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Calibri;background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><a href="tel:217-337-1514" value="+12173371514" target="_blank">217-337-1514</a>, </span><a href="mailto:kasey@universityymca.org" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Calibri;color:rgb(17,85,204);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">kasey@universityymca.org</span></a><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Calibri;background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"></span><br>
<span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Calibri;background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"></span><br><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Calibri;background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Website:</span><a href="http://www.universityymca.org/friday_forum/" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Calibri;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> </span><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Calibri;color:rgb(17,85,204);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">http://www.universityymca.org/friday_forum/</span></a><br>
<span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Calibri;background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"></span><br><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Calibri;background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">On<b> </b>Friday,<b> </b>October 26th at 12:00 noon, the University YMCA will host Pulitzer Prize winning journalist José Antonio Vargas to talk about his experiences as an undocumented immigrant and how debate over immigration<b> </b>policies is shaping the 2012 election season. </span><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Calibri;color:rgb(34,34,34);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"></span><br>
<span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Calibri;color:rgb(34,34,34);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"></span><br><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Calibri;background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Since<b> </b>the<b> </b>beginning of his career in journalism eight years ago, Vargas has written hundreds of stories — including covering the 2008 presidential campaign for The Washington Post; profiling Al Gore for Rolling Stone <b>a</b>nd Mark Zuckerberg for The New Yorker; writing and producing a
documentary on the AIDS epidemic in the nation's capital; and winning a Pulitzer Prize for helping cover the Virginia Tech massacre. A little over a year ago, Vargas wrote a groundbreaking essay in the New York Times Sunday Magazine revealing his "undocumented immigrant" status. Since then, he founded Define American and has worked to facilitate dialogue about the DREAM Act and immigration issues. </span><br>
<span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Calibri;color:rgb(34,34,34);background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"></span><br><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Calibri;background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The<b> </b>lectur</span></b><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Times;font-size:medium;font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Calibri;background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">e </span></span><b style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Times;font-size:medium;font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Calibri;background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">is the seventh in a semester long series that examines the major issues<b> </b>of the 2012 election season. All lectures are free and open to the
public. </span><br>
<span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Calibri;background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"></span><br><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Calibri;background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Vargas will also speak on campus the previous evening at 7PM, location: <b>1092 Lincoln Hall (</b></span></b><b style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Times;font-size:medium;font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Calibri;background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">702 South Wright Street<b> </b>Urbana, IL<b>) </b>to
discuss Define American, a non-profit organization that seeks to elevate the conversation around immigration. This lecture coincides <b> </b>with the ongoing “Do I Look Like An American to You?” t-shirt campaign<b> </b>sponsored by Interfaith in Action, La Colectiva, and Amnesty International. T-shirts will be on sale throughout the month of October<b> </b>at the University YMCA. For more information, contact Carol at <a href="tel:%28217%29%20337-1500" value="+12173371500" target="_blank">(217) 337-1500</a>. </span><br>
<span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Calibri;background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"></span><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Calibri;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br>
Read more:</span><a href="http://www.voxxi.com/jose-antonio-vargas-defined-american/#ixzz28GxF82TS" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Calibri;color:rgb(0,0,0);text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> </span><span style="font-size:15px;font-family:Calibri;color:rgb(0,51,153);vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">http://www.voxxi.com/jose-antonio-vargas-defined-american/#ixzz28GxF82TS</span></a></b>