Lise's Lens: April 17, 2025

This week I am reading a YA book I picked up at last week’s AISNE conference, thinking about the incredible Zora Foundation exhibit at the Weston Public Library, and watching as students, faculty, and staff celebrate 50 years of Social Justice Day at CSW!

WHAT I’M READING
 
  • At the AISNE conference last week I met some folks from Frugal Bookstore, who were selling some of their popular books. I picked up a YA (Young Adult) book: The Last Bookstore on Earth by Lily Braun-Arnold. Incredibly, Braun-Arnold wrote the novel while she was an undergraduate at Smith College (she must have the best time management skills ever)! While it certainly could have been further edited and developed in certain parts, the author added some good twists and turns to her story. I read it on two plane rides and it was interesting enough that I didn’t put it down!

WHAT I’M THINKING/TALKING ABOUT
 
  • If you haven’t yet been over to the Weston Public Library to view the Zora Foundation exhibit, "Chiaroscuro: Balancing Progress," I highly encourage you to do so. For those who don’t know, Zora is a student organization based here at CSW committed to raising awareness of important social issues through art. Their show this year, which featured work by students from a number of area schools, explored “contrasting aspects of modern technology and its impact on individuals and communities.” I am really proud of our students for all the behind-the-scenes work they did to put this show together, and I was blown away by the artwork on display.
 
WHAT I'M WATCHING/LISTENING TO
 
  • Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the Michael H. Feldman ’67 Social Justice Day here at CSW. This year’s phenomenal programming explored the important topic of the school to prison pipeline. We were honored to welcome a multitude of speakers and workshops presenters, ranging from community organizers and artists to legal professionals and journalists. On days like this, I always like to walk around and take in a bit of as many workshops as I can, and this year I was particularly struck by how engaged and interested our students were in the material. It’s rare that students at the high school level get to spend nearly an entire day approaching one singular topic from so many  different angles. It’s great experience for when they begin attending (and presenting at!) more research conferences in college and adulthood.
     
WHAT CAUGHT MY EYE
 
To mark the 50th anniversary of Social Justice Day, we will be working with artist and muralist Josh Winer to create a custom mural somewhere on campus. Students, faculty, staff, alumni, and parents/guardians will all be invited to contribute! Here’s a photo of Josh’s session yesterday, during which attendees began brainstorming ideas for possible designs.
 
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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.