Teaching by Example

by AVA WHITNEY-COULTER

Now is a critical moment to bolster mental health support for school-aged children and teenagers, say Ben Painter and Selena La’Chelle Collazo, two of four partners at WholeSchool Mindfulness. “I think a lot of schools are in crisis mode,” says Painter, who focuses on strategic growth for the organization.

WholeSchool Mindfulness helps schools create, fill, and support the position of a Mindfulness Director— a permanent staff member who works at a school and teaches mindfulness to students, staff, and parents. “We strive to live out justice by partnering with communities to practice joy, equity, and inclusion, so community is woven throughout the way that we think about the work that we do,” says La’Chelle Collazo, who is responsible for outreach and recruitment of Mindfulness Directors. Since 2019, WholeSchool has placed 15 Mindfulness Directors in schools across the US.

Reflecting on her own education, La’Chelle Colazzo credits her greatgrandmother, Bertha, who loved to learn but was pulled from school in the sixth grade to look after five younger siblings. La’Chelle Collazo now holds five university degrees. She smiles when she remembers the time that Bertha tried to enroll her in kindergarten at the age of three.

In college, La’Chelle Colazzo struggled with severe depression and mindfulness was the game changer that helped her heal. “I just thought it was going to help me be present. But it really shifted my mental health and gave me a new way to live my life,” she says.

For Painter, mindfulness was part of his education at Middlesex School in Massachusetts, taught by Doug Worthen who later became a cofounder of WholeSchool Mindfulness. Painter says that his practice stayed consistent partly because mindfulness had helped some of his family with mental illness, but mainly because he thought Worthen was cool and relatable.

“I think it speaks to the teacher-student relationship and people embodying the practice in authentic ways—that can be a bit contagious, so these practices will spread at the natural speed of trust within a community,” he says.

“Middlesex was communicating to me that this mental health support isn’t just for some students who need it; this is a kind of foundational learning that we want for all of our students.”

These libraries celebrate community through programming dedicated to exploring the humanity of readers and creating inclusive spaces—reminding us that we’re all interconnected.

Check It Out

Libraries are community hubs, alive with curious readers and researchers, storytelling, and curated workshop programming. The Library of Things takes community services found in libraries one step further. With locations throughout the United Kingdom, the Library of Things lets people borrow “things” they may otherwise buy or not have access to. The process is simple: Reserve, let’s say, a sewing machine, pasta maker, steam cleaner, or cordless hedge trimmer from the online catalog, pick it up at a local self-service kiosk, use the thing, and return it for the next person to use when you’re done. Sound familiar?

Quiet Time

One Saturday each month from October to December 2022, the Tazewell County Public Library in Virginia has opened exclusively to children with autism and their families for their new program Autism in the Library. “We decided to design a program specifically for children with autism because they’re welcome in their library,” outreach services coordinator Tammy Powers told WVVA. During the event, the library offers story time, a sensory room with kinetic sand, clay, Lego, building blocks, and a quiet room.

Lost and Found

If a picture is worth a thousand words, what is a precious family photo, a piece of children’s art, a love letter never sent, or a scribbled note tucked in a library book worth? Perhaps a public exhibition. Ten years ago, Sharon McKellar, a librarian at the Oakland Public Library in California, began collecting the objects left in returned books. Now, the public library displays her collection in an exhibition called “Found in a Library Book,” offering snapshots of the lives of anonymous readers in the community.

Currently, 92% of the English countryside is inaccessible to the public. Reviving an ancient custom of wandering freely, the Right to Roam campaign seeks change through music, picnics, and joy. Campaigners promote responsible stewardship of the land and broader access to nature’s health benefits.

MINDFUL OR MINDLESS?

by AMBER TUCKER

A man trying to return to New York from Canada via bus is now in the grip of the law after being charged with smuggling three dangerous Burmese pythons. He was hiding them (no metaphors, please) inside his pants. But are they emotional support pythons? We may never know.

An Ontario summer camp brought together rural highschool students alongside healthcare professionals to explore career options in health care, while sharing tools like meditation to maintain well-being in a demanding field.

In California, a law taking effect Jan. 1, 2023, decriminalizes jaywalking where “it is safe to do so.” While lawmakers rightly recognize that jaywalking laws enable racial profiling and penalize lower-income people, it’s hardly radical to say that people shouldn’t get criminal charges for crossing a street.

“Wally does things alligators do not do,” Joseph Henney in York, PA, told The Guardian. And he’d be correct, because Wally is his registered emotional support alligator. Henney adds that Wally is “famous for his hugs.” Adorable, as long as he’s not hugging with his jaws.

There’s a new record for the highest price ever paid for sandals: A buyer ponied up nearly $220,000 USD at auction for a pair of Birkenstocks owned in the ’70s by Apple cofounder Steve Jobs. Sadly, without such a keepsake, most of us have only our smartphones to remember him by. ●