CSW Welcomes Writer/Filmmaker Sandra Guzman
CSW was proud to welcome award-winning feminist writer and documentary filmmaker Sandra Guzman to CSW to help kick off Latinx Heritage Month. Sandra’s work “explores identity, land, memory, race, sexuality, spirituality, culture, and gender” and has been featured by numerous media outlets.
To begin the visit, the community came together to view the HBO documentary, The Latino List, a project for which Sandra served as an interviewer. Afterwards, Sandra joined students, faculty, and staff for an all school assembly. In her remarks to the community, Sandra expressed her hope that community members end the day with a greater understanding of the diverse nature of the Latinx community, recognizing that there is not one uniform way to be Latinx. Sandra also touched upon the concept of intersectionality, and explained her personal motivations behind creating the work that she does.
“I strive to bring stories of marginalized communities to the center,” she said, going on to explain how stories and storytelling serve as an incredible opportunity to help people on the margins be seen as more human and more whole.
She closed by acknowledging that despite her impressive resume and the many people she has had the privilege to meet and interview over the course of her career, she still has much to learn. As she navigates the world and interacts with all different kinds of people, Sandra says she always strives to check her privilege, listen, learn, make space, and watch her language, and encouraged members of the CSW community to do the same.
At the end of the assembly, students had the chance to ask Sandra questions about her personal recollections, The Latino List film, her interview techniques, and her perspective as a Latinx creator.
Thank you, Sandra, for a wonderful day!
CSW—a gender-inclusive day and boarding school for grades 9-12—is a national leader in progressive education. We live out our values of inquiry-based learning, student agency, and embracing diverse perspectives in every aspect of our student experience. Young people come to CSW to learn how to learn and then put what they learn into action—essential skills they carry into their futures as doers, makers, innovators, leaders, and exceptional humans who do meaningful work in the world.