America's bittersweet-heart

What is it about celebrity humanitarian efforts that gets us so riled up? Every time Brad and Angelina's nannies adopt another orphan from a third-world country, we suddenly feel angry and deflated, as though the fact that we rescued our pooch from a kill shelter has been publicly overshadowed. (Why weren't we on the cover of People? Those shots are expensive, you know!) And no matter how many weekends we volunteer for local non-profits, most of us will never be given a public platform to speak about important issues - so pardon us for feeling slighted when Ginger Spice was named a UN goodwill ambassador only moments after hanging up her glittery platform sneakers. (Seriously, screaming "Girl power!" earns one globetrotting opportunities on behalf of women's rights?) We usually like our celebrities the way we like our exes: self-involved, out of touch, and totally bereft of any redeeming qualities, so that we can never be confronted with horrifying evidence that this person might be both impossibly attractive and a half-decent human being, after all. But we've always been partial to the philanthropy of actress Ashley Judd, maybe because the Golden Globe-nominated star all but suspended her Hollywood career at its height to focus on work with organizations like YouthAIDS, Women for Women International, and Equality Now. (The fact that she's appeared in movie roles only intermittently since the early 2000s makes it hard to invoke the cynical argument that celebs just go charitable for PR purposes.) On April 5, the actress releases her book All That Is Bitter and Sweet, a memoir that collects her reflections on traveling through slums, brothels, and hospices around the world, expounding on how her experiences promoting social justice compelled her to finally tackle some very personal issues of her own. And from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday, April 8, she'll appear at the C. Walsh Theatre (55 Temple Street, Boston, 617.557.2007) for "Bittersweet Humanitarianism," a discussion being staged as part of Suffolk University's Ford Hall Forum, the nation's oldest continuously operating free public lecture series. The lectures more often attract speakers from the political, economic, and healthcare sectors, experts who tackle subjects that might seem dry to some. (But those of us who still pine for college seminar days find them totally interesting; check out the full schedule at fordhallforum.org to see why.) This is a rare opportunity to see a red-carpet favorite chat about topics far more substantive than those discussed with Joan Rivers. And yes, she'll stick around to sign copies of the book, too.