WI YSSer's Local TedX Talk Goes National!

Great news about WLA YSS member Dawn Wacek and her TedX talk!
This past February UW-La Crosse hosted a show in town and invited some community people including their youth librarian at the La Crosse Public Library whose "idea worth spreading" was a fine-free library. Dawn's talk, recorded and loaded up on the TEDx platform, caught the attention of the curation team at the bigger international TED level and Dawn's talk is front and center as of November 15, 2019 on the TED homepage today (with 166K views after 10 hours). Check it out!

Books in Barbershops

Alvin Irby, the founder of Barbershop Books, has a plan.

He wants to inspire and support literacy and reading among black boys who have little opportunity in their schools and community to see reading modeled by black men.  So his organization creates child-friendly reading spaces in barbershops and provides early literacy training to barbers across the country.

Read the Book Riot article by Mya Nunnelly with the story here.

Free is Key - Library Fines and Access Ted Talk

Do you have 14 minutes to hear YSS member Dawn Wacek present a TedX-La Crosse talk recently on the implications of fines - and no fines? Great examination of the issues and much food for not just thought...but action!

The Danger of a Single Story

On point for Black History Month, Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie gives a powerful TED talk about the critical misunderstandings that come when we only hear a single story about people.  View the complete talk HERE.