Waunakee Public Library

Mike Curato: Author Talk & Book Signing (Banned Books Con)

Mike Curato is the award-winning author/illustrator of the wildly popular Little Elliot picture books. His debut young adult graphic novel, Flamer, received critical acclaim and earned several awards including the Lambda Literary Award for Young Adult. Curato will talk about his journey to publish Flamer, and what has happened since.

For those who can't make it in person, view the live stream here: https://youtube.com/live/j8fOHZlSaas?feature=share (This event will not be recorded.)

Twice in a Lifetime: experience with an exhibition on the Pandemic of 1918 & how it resonates in 2020

In 2018 Micaela Sullivan-Fowler installed an exhibition called "Staggering Losses: WW1 and the Influenza Pandemic of 1918." Little did she know that the exhibition would be shuttered by another Pandemic, the one we are experiencing in 2020. She will give a short background on the exhibition itself, how the "Spanish Flu" affected our local populations and how the exhibition resonated for those who visited. Micaela will also touch on the similarities and differences between the two Pandemics.

Teaching in Polarized Times

Teaching in Polarized Times

The political climate in the United States makes it extremely challenging for schools and universities to fulfill their historic obligation to teach for democracy.  During the session, Dean Diana Hess will argue that despite significant and growing challenges to democratic education in K-12 schools and higher education, it remains a vitally important part of our mission.

Let's Talk About It: Identifying and Responding to Mental Health Stigma

What is stigma? What creates stigma? Can you recognize mental health stigma? Why is mental health stigma a problem? What can we do to reduce mental health stigma? Mental illness stigma comes in many forms. Exclusion, silence, and labeling are just a few. Through self-reflection, discussion and interactive exercises, learn about how you can recognize mental health stigmas, what happens when people are stigmatized, and what you can do to help reduce the resulting problems.

Healing Through Storytelling

How does one address subjects too painful to speak of, too personal to publicize?And how does one do it in a manner that is both entertaining and informative? Come and meet author and speaker Karl Stewart and discover how he found a path through the Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder (PTSD) that ravaged his family. Learn how the writing of two novels, The Seventh Cruise, and Up Harvey’s Creek provided the venue, first to explore the illness that plagued his father, and secondly how an eleven year old boy sought to cope with it.

Stories from the Field: Mental Health Resources in Dane County for Kids and Families

Karen Jepsen worked as a social worker at Journey Mental Health Center for 34 years. For the first 11 years she worked on the crisis phones in the Adult Emergency Services Unit, and the second part of her career was spent in the Youth Crisis in Emergency Services unit. Seven years ago the Adult and Youth Crisis units were combined, so at that point, she served both children, their families and adults.