Best known for Passages, her landmark study of the transitions of adulthood that changed the way millions of people look at their lives, Gail Sheehy is one of America's most respected social observers. Her writing has been celebrated for her ability to weave journalistic observation with the acuity of a seasoned therapist. For her latest book, Middletown, America: One Town's Passage from Trauma to Hope, she spent two years studying the grieving families in the New Jersey community hardest hit by the trauma of September 11. She'll speak about rituals of grieving and the challenge of living in the "new normal"-- the difficult passage through shock and upheaval, the return of the capacity to love, and the commitment to constructing a new life