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August 2020 News
Our hearts have been lifted by honoring the life of the recently departed John Lewis.
What a guiding light! May his parting words be a mission statement for all of us.

“Democracy is not a state. It is an act,
and each generation must do its part to help build what we called the Beloved Community,
a nation and world society at peace with itself.”
Celebrating Margaret Randall
Poet, essayist, oral historian, photographer, and activist Margaret Randall will be featured on Creatives in Conversation, a virtual interview series focused on artists, which is hosted by poet and scholar Mary Dezember.

Wednesday, August 5, 2020, 5:30 – 6:45 PM MST

Learn more about Margaret Randall in Dezember's article, "Poetry and Risk"
Margaret Randall is the recipient of the 2020 Paulo Freire Award. She joined the Paulo Freire Democratic Project (PFDP) for a discussion of current events and her lifetime of revolutionary activism, writing, and art. Watch.
The Albuquerque Museum held a virtual launch of Randall’s memoir I Never Left Home, in which she tells stories from her extraordinary and influential life.
Ever prolific, Margaret Randall has written a unique second memoir—My Life in 100 Objects—to be published by New Village Press on September 15th. This fascinating narrative illustrated with her own color photographs is available for pre-order now. In it, Randall shares memories prompted by the objects and places that have been significant to her throughout her turbulent and beautiful life.

"Even as they stretch all the way back to her childhood in the ’40s, or her young adulthood in the ’60s, her stories have never been more of the moment: who gets to come to this country, who gets to love whom, and every other hard-won freedom still at stake today."
—Garret Caples, Editor, City Lights Spotlight
Mindy Fullilove Updates
MAS Virtual Event to Feature Mindy Thompson Fullilove

August 10, 2020, 4:30 pm EDT

Join the Municipal Art Society (MAS) for a conversation on the importance of place, featuring social psychiatrist Mindy Thompson Fullilove with Matthew Chavez of Subway Therapy and Molly Garfinkel of City Lore.

Mindy Fullilove was featured in the Center for Architecture's Presidential Lecture series, where she discussed her forthcoming book Main Street: How a City’s Heart Connects Us All with Ron Shiffman, planner, architect, professor, and lead editor of Beyond Zuccotti Park: Freedom of Assembly and Occupation of Public Space. Fullilove highlighted the integral role that main streets play in the health and vibrancy of cities and their inhabitants. Watch the conversation.
"As urbanists think about the future of cities, communities, and connections in this new world, Main Street is the place to start this analysis. . . ." —Nupur Chaudhury, MUP, MPH, Host, NupurSpectives

After an 11-year study of Main Streets in 178 cities and 14 countries, Fullilove discovered the power of city centers to “help us name and solve our problems.” In an era of compounding crises including racial injustice, climate change, and COVID-19, the ability to rely on the power of community is more important than ever.

Due to academic demand, Main Street: How a City's Heart Connects Us All will be released in early September!

Fullilove joined the Association of Midwest Museums and the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum to discuss how cultural institutions can help to expose, confront, and address the false histories that shape the current moment of civil unrest.

Fullilove continues to use her blog to advocate for informed and comprehensive responses to the dual public health crises we are currently facing: racism and COVID-19.
New Hulu Series on Keith Knight
A forthcoming hulu TV series Woke is based on the life and work of nationally syndicated cartoonist Keith Knight. Knight, who is the illustrator and coauthor of the Beginner’s Guide to Community-Based Arts, developed and co-produced the TV series. The show, starring Lamorne Morris as Keef, will premiere on September 9th.

Knight served as a panelist with fellow creators and cartoonists to discuss work-life balance, sanity, and survival in the midst of the pandemic.

In the image on the right, Knight, creator of The K Chronicles, remembers John Lewis. 
Spoon Jackson in Long Time Gone 
The Prison Music Project’s ten years of work culminated in the release of their album Long Time Gone, which features lyrics by several incarcerated artists including Spoon Jackson, co-author of By Heart: Poetry, Prison, and Two Lives. Purchase By Heart and Long Time Gone here. Proceeds go to communities impacted by mass incarceration.

Spoon Jackson joined Ani DiFranco, Zoe Boekbinder, and other Long Time Gone collaborators in a town hall event to discuss the project, answer questions from the public, and to reaffirm the humanity of the incarcerated artists and illuminate the hope that exists within them.
Strategies for Placemaking with Children
Amy Wagenfeld of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) interviews Victoria (Tori) Derr, Louise Chawla, and Mara Mintzer, co-authors of Placemaking with Children and Youth: Participatory Practices for Planning Sustainable Communities, about strategies for engaging children and teens in city planning and design. Read parts one, two, and three of this instructive ASLA Professional Practice Network series.
Placemaking Cover
Disability Pride
Disability Pride Month brought two important anniversaries: one year since the publication of Such a Pretty Girl: A Story of Struggle, Empowerment, and Disability Pride and the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. We highlight this 2019 interview with author and disability rights activist Nadina LaSpina urging us to not forget all that remains to be done within the disability rights movement.
Such a Pretty Girl is now available as an audiobook!
An Answer to America’s School-Reopening Problem
Sharon Gamson Danks, author of Asphalt to Ecosystems: Design Ideas for Schoolyard Transformation spoke about outdoor learning as an equitable way to reopen schools in this The Atlantic article by Olga Khazan!
Outdoor Education
in the Time of Covid-19

Sharon Danks also brought her expertise to this New Mexico in Focus recorded discussion with specialists in children's learning in nature.

Racial Justice Reading List
New Village Press has compiled a community-sourced reading list of books that focus on racial justice and help to build an understanding of the many forms of injustice in our nation. We encourage you to order from a Black-owned bookstore. Find one near you.
For a personal look into the racial aspects of environmental justice, we highly recommend Carl Anthony’s memoir The Earth, the City, and the Hidden Narrative of Race — available now as an audiobook.