Change: gradually, excruciatingly
"Change never happens at the pace we think it should... Gradually, excruciatingly slowly, things start to happen, and then suddenly, seemingly out of the blue, something will tip.” - Judy Heumann
READ | JULY
I just finished reading disability activist Judith Heumann’s memoir, Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of A Disability Rights Activist. It’s a must read for anyone who wants to learn more about disability rights from someone who was at the forefront of the movement and passing legislation. Judy was on the leadership for the San Fancisco 504 sit-in, a historic 26 day protest that led to the implementation of regulations for Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. It also paved the way for the Americans with Disabilities Act, a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability and ensures equal opportunities for individuals with disabilities. Including in employment, public accommodations, transportation, state and local government services, and telecommunications. The 35th anniversary for the ADA was Sat, July 26th. But today, medicaid cuts are putting people with disabilities back at risk. Your activism is just as important now as it was decades ago.
A few more books on my must read list are: Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century and Year of the Tiger: An Activist’s Life both by Alice Wong. She is also the founder and director of the Disability Visibility Project. Also on my list is Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body by Rebekah Taussig. Rebekah also has a fantastic Substack you should also subscribe to. And if you’re looking for a podcast that has you crying, laughing, nodding, and telling all your friends, I recommend tuning into Scratch That: Parenting and Reparenting Off Script with Rebekah Taussig & Caitlin Metz.
Recommended watching: Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution. The documentary film highlights the experiences of one group of disabled young people (including Judy Heumann) at Camp Jened, a summer camp for disabled teens and youth. And how their time influenced their journey to activism and adulthood.
Buy all the above at your local bookstore or borrow at your library. If they don’t have any, request your library purchases.
Disability justice and inclusion benefits EVERYONE.
“Change never happens at the pace we think it should. It happens over years of people joining together, strategizing, sharing, and pulling all the levers they possibly can. Gradually, excruciatingly slowly, things start to happen, and then suddenly, seemingly out of the blue, something will tip.” ― Judith Heumann
ART NEWS | JULY
I am honored to join an incredible group of artists for an upcoming exhibition at the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art at Pepperdine University in Malibu. The exhibit, Hold My Hand, is expertly curated by museum director Andrea Gordy and is on view Sep 6th, 2025 through March 29, 2026. Below is an excerpt from the exhibit description:
“Across a wide range of practices in contemporary art, the hand appears over and over again as a symbolic image, nodding to its role as an artistic tool par excellence. As this exhibition underscores, the hand also alludes to forms of labor, intimacy, and care that resonate beyond the realm of art-making. Christine Mitchell Adams and Samantha Roth record the caresses, grips, and tugs of mothers and infants alike, while Karl Haendel embodies tenderness and vulnerability in his large-scale portraits. In Yvonne Rainer’s landmark Hand Movie (1966), she uses her fingers to dance while she is otherwise immobilized post-surgery, allowing her hand to stand in for the whole body, as do delicate fingerprints and scratches in Carmen Argote’s most recent paintings. Elana Mann sculpts noisemakers that look like hands, drawing a crucial connection between speech and action, while the duo Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader employ their hands (and faces) as vehicles of communication that exceed the capacity of spoken language.”
The list participating artists has me feeling incredibly humble. Some of these artist have been heroes for me for years. Please click through to learn more about each. Artists include Christine Mitchell Adams, Kelly Akashi, Carmen Argote, Karl Haendel, Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader, Elana Mann and Sharon Chohi Kim, Joetta Maue, Roksana Pirouzmand, Yvonne Rainer, Samantha Roth, and Lauren Seiden.
I’ll share more about it as we get closer to opening. Unfortunately I won’t be able to hop over for the opening (my kiddo will have just started kindergarten) but I’ll be joining an artist talk at the museum which we’re working on scheduling. Stay tuned!
SEE | JULY
This month I wanted to share a handful of exhibits I would love to see and unfortunately can’t make it to. If you’re in the vicinity of any of these, take note!
Sara Cwynar, Alphabet, on view Feb 13 - Aug 3, 2025. ICA, Boston.
I Am Part Of Art, CATA’s 2025 Annual Art Show, on view at Lichtenstein Center for the Arts in Pittsfield, MA from July 9 - Aug 22, 2025 and at the Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA from July 4 - Sep 22, 2025.
We Were Never Here, works by Jocelyn Fine, Barbara Ishikura, Brianna Lance, Dana Nechmad, and Melanie Vote on view July 24 - Aug 23, 2025. KALINER Gallery in NYC
Dean Mulone, Melting Place, on view July 17 - Aug 10, 2025. Boston Sculptures Gallery, Launchpad Gallery, Boston, MA
Lisa Sorgini, In-Passing, on view July 18 - Sep 13, 2025. Homecoming Gallery, Amsterdam
Jo Nanajian, 2025 Artist in Residence at Gallery 263, on view July 1 - Aug 9, 2025. Gallery 263, Cambridge, MA
LIBRARY HAUL | JULY
I have so many photos of our “library hauls” over the past 4+ years—children’s books we borrow and love from our local library. Our current assortment:
Titles shown above, clockwise from top left:
Rubia and the Three Osos by Susan Middleton Elya and illustrated by Melissa Sweet
My Olive Tree by Hazar Elbayya
Sato The Rabbot, The Moon by Yuki Ainoya
Team Up by Raúl the Third with colors by Elaine Bay
The Most Beautiful Thing by Kao Kalia Yang and illustrated by Khoa Le
The following is one of the earliest pics I have when I started doing these library haul captures. If you couldn’t tell, I love picture books. I have a huge folder of these on my phone so I may do a catch up and a separate newsletter drop with them:
Titles shown above, clockwise from top left:
The Moon’s Almost Here by Patricia MacLachlan and illustrated by Tomie dePaola
Small World by Ishta Mercurio and illustrated by Jen Corace
Bowwow Powwow by Gordan Jourdain and illustrated by Jonathan Thunder
Winnie the Pooh’s Colors
Hip-Hop Lollipop by Susan McElroy Montanari and Brian Pinkney
Hank’s Big Day by Evan Kuhlman and illustrated by Chuck Groenick
LISTEN | JULY
My friend Meggie Sullivan (founder of BIGMESS, check it out) recently shared the song Mountain Top by Rio Kosta and I’m not embarrassed to say they have been on repeat since. I encourage you to add to your must listen to list.
A podcast episode I’d like you all to listen to is from the podcast If We Knew Then—Down Syndrome Podcast. In this episode hosts Stephen and Lori speak with Ila Halby, one of the four founders of Zeno Mountain Farm. Zeno runs free, accessible, camps year-round; supporting people with disabilities, cancer, and traumatic brain injuries, along with Veterans, people in recovery, and ever-expanding kindred groups. This is an older episode but an important listen if we want to learn more about the importance of inclusion and representation (and not the stereotype kind).
“At the heart of it, Zeno is a philosophy, a story, a place, and most importantly, a people.”
We love Zeno and the people and recently visited again for the annual musical and ribbon cutting ceremony for the completion of a new building.
On the note of listening, it’s long overdue that I bounce off Spotify. I can’t get behind this company. What are your favorite music and podcast streaming services?? Drop below in the comments: