Lise's Lens: April 18, 2024
Due to illness, I was sadly unable to attend this year’s Michael H. Feldman ’67 Social Justice Day programming. This is one of our flagship events so I was truly devastated to miss it. But as we say to our students, the work and the research we do at events like this don’t have to be confined to one day. In fact, the hope is that we will all continue to pursue the topics that are interesting to us on our own. So that is exactly what I intend to do over the coming days — to explore this year’s SJ Day topic, “Gun Violence and Legislation,” on my own time.
WHAT I’M READING
- I’m not entirely sure when it was posted, but there are a lot of intriguing reading selections on the topic of gun violence available on this curated list of recommendations from Penguin Random House — including our SJ Day keynote speaker David Hogg’s We Say #NeverAgain and Glimmer of Hope, which also features Hogg’s writing. While I am glad there are so many resources available, it’s also very sad that so many of these books need to exist.
WHAT I’M THINKING/TALKING ABOUT
- When I ask people about David Hogg’s keynote remarks, they say one of the biggest takeaways David imparted on students is that their voices are far more powerful than they think, emphasizing the importance and capacity of hope. And he encouraged students not to let the negative headlines about today’s youth feeling defeated, listless, and unmotivated become a self-fulfilling prophecy. In a world of so much darkness, I was glad to hear that David believes hope is still very much alive in the souls of our students. I believe it too.
WHAT I'M WATCHING/LISTENING TO
- Since I missed out on all of the amazing workshops offered at this year’s event, I have been researching some of our esteemed presenters and workshop topics, like this CNN interview with Dominic Erdozain (one of our amazing presenters!). I can't believe that in the 70s this issue wasn’t nearly as contested, and that even the republican government wanted to ban the use of handguns. I also watched the Ted Talk, The Real Roots of Youth Violence, with Craig Pinkney. What really hit me was when he talks about how, when young people feel invisible and unheard, sometimes they do things to feel visible and heard. And yes, it takes a village to raise a child, but if young people don't feel a part of that village, they will burn it down to feel its warmth.
WHAT CAUGHT MY EYE
Keynote speaker David Hogg addressing the CSW community.
The Cambridge School of Weston is a progressive high school for day and boarding students in grades 9–12 and PG. CSW's mission is to provide a progressive education that emphasizes deep learning, meaningful relationships, and a dynamic program that inspires students to discover who they are and what their contribution is to their school, their community and the world.