June 2021 News

Glenna Lang paints a compelling picture of Scranton’s rich history and community-centered way of life, and how these molded Jane Jacobs's influential ideas and writing about cities.

— Paige Gebhardt Cognetti, Mayor,
City of Scranton
Jane Jacobs's First City: Learning from Scranton, Pennsylvania by Glenna Lang launched in Scranton as part of the Observe Scranton: Jane Jacobs's First City Festival hosted by the Center for the Living City. The five-day festival included a flag-raising ceremony marking the first annual Jane Jacobs Day in the City of Scranton, Jane Jacobs's First City readings and book signings, and city-wide Jane Jacobs Walks.

To learn more about Jane Jacobs's First City, read a review and author interview by Scranton native Bruce Rosenstein, and stay tuned for a recording of the NYC launch at Rizzoli Bookstore with discussant Andrew Berman.
Photo Left: Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti (on left) chats with author Glenna Lang at Scranton's First Friday. Glenna inscribed a copy of her book for Mayor Cognetti to give to President Biden. Photo Right: During a Jane Jacobs Walk, Glenna Lang (on right) signs books in front of Jane Jacobs's childhood home in Dunmore.
In the Struggle Forthcoming in July
In the Struggle: Scholars and the Fight Against Industrial Agribusiness in California by Daniel O'Connell and Scott Peters brings together the stories of eight politically engaged scholars from the early 1900s to present day. As the narrative unfolds, their previously censored and suppressed research is introduced into the public arena for the first time.

"The intimate narratives of scholar-activists remind us that research is critical in the fight for social and economic justice and is also dangerous business."
— Erica Kohl-Arenas, Faculty Director, Imagining America
Students Share Community Leaders' Stories

In the Struggle co-author Scott Peters was faculty lead on a Cornell University capstone project honoring and supporting community leaders involved in economic and community development efforts in the surrounding community. The project brought together the oral histories of thirteen Cornell Civic Leader Fellows, recorded in a free digital book: 13 Leaders: Stories of Community Building for Systemic Change.
Mindy Fullilove on Nearing the Pandemic's End
Social psychiatrist Dr. Mindy Fullilove studies displacement, urban mental health, and collective consciousness. New Village Press published her Urban Restoration Trilogy featured in her new website: mindyfullilove.com. The trilogy investigates what is and isn't working for urban America.
Tuesday, June 15 – Friday, June 18, 2021
Register to attend in Indianapolis or online

Mindy Fullilove will be the keynote speaker for this conference hosted by Project for Public Spaces. This year’s theme is “The Route to Recovery,” and the program will provide an opportunity to explore how public spaces can act as agents of healing from the pandemic.

In an essay published on The New School's Urban Matters, Mindy Fullilove explored how we can continue to move forward as the end of the pandemic comes into view.

Mindy Fullilove, a self-described working class intellectual, offers up a reflection on the term "scholar activist" for the journal Radical Housing. In the end, she shares some ideas on the role working class intellectuals can play now.

In a recorded discussion hosted by the Metropolitan Group, Dr. Mindy Fullilove offered her thoughts on the importance of commons in collective wellness, especially in the aftermath of the pandemic. Her book Main Street: How a City's Heart Connects Us All focuses on a key common area for all cities, the commercial Main Street, and under what conditions these town centers thrive.
New Essay about Visitors
Last month, Katelyn Detwiler reflected on how Ann Snitow's memoir, Visitors: An American Feminist in East Central Europe, speaks to our present moment.

"Because [Ann Snitow] was a participant, observer, and analyst of several periods of revolutionary change, at the outset of the rampage of COVID-19 . . . I longed to know what she would make of the situation into which we were plunging."
Inspiring the Next Generation of Truth Tellers
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows hosted middle-school student artists to view their artwork and poetry on display in her main office.

“Challenging young people to think deeply about the world and their place in it through art and poetry is a wonderful project and we’re honored to display it,” said Secretary Bellows. “I was delighted to get the chance to meet the students and hear what they learned about themselves through this project.”

The students made the artwork in partnership with Americans Who Tell the Truth, a non-profit arts and education organization co-founded by artist Robert Shetterly. The organization seeks to foster and inspire a profound sense of citizenship in students.

Forthcoming in September, Portraits of Racial Justice is the first in the Americans Who Tell the Truth series. It illuminates people who dare to speak up about the shortcomings of America’s behavior and who bring us their visions for a better world.

Poignant, powerful, and deeply moving, these full-color portraits, vividly constructed by the masterful painter Robert Shetterly, reveal the moral courage of Americans—men and women, old and young—who risk everything to live their truth in pursuit of equality and social justice for all.
Ecoart in Action

Forthcoming in February, Ecoart in Action: Activities, Case Studies, and Provocations for Classrooms and Communities offers models for integrating art, science, and community-engaged practices into on-the-ground environmental projects. This book was created with the help of 67 internationally established ecoartists.
  • Co-editor Aviva Rahmani recently spoke on Episode 6 of the Art + Activism lecture series, "Art as Strategy," hosted by WEAD. Watch the event.

  • Contributor Vaughn Bell’s plantscapes are currently on display at Kew Gardens. Learn more.

Aviva Rahmani's memoir, Divining Chaos, will be published by New Village Press in 2022.
More Updates
Green Schoolyards America in the News

As schools continue to transition to outdoor learning during the pandemic, more and more districts have turned to Green Schoolyards America for guidance. Learn more in a new article from Archinect.

Outdoor Magazine recently listed Green Schoolyards America as 1 of their 48 reasons to feel optimistic. Read the good news.
Sharon Danks (pictured above) is the founder and director of Green Schoolyards America and author of Asphalt to Ecosystems: Design Ideas for Schoolyard Transformation,

François Matarasso and Arlene Goldbard, author of New Creative Community: The Art of Cultural Development, recently published the first edition of the “Art and Community Notebooks” collection. Both participatory art practitioners, their free resource offers a conversation and guidance on the ethics of participatory art.

This annual event celebrates the lives of incredible women whose lifelong activism has made real and lasting change in the world. It is cohosted by Labor Arts and the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition and generously supported by the Museum of the City of New York, the Puffin Foundation, and the 21st Century ILGWU Heritage Fund.

Congratulations to this year's honorees: Barbara Dane, Suelika Cabrera Drinane, Debby King, Wilhelmina Perry, and Murial Tillinghast!