'Peanuts' First Black Character Franklin Turns 50; NPR, July 30, 2018

Cecilia Lei and James Delahoussaye, NPR; 'Peanuts' First Black Character Franklin Turns 50

"It was especially defining for a 6-year-old Robb Armstrong, author of Fearless: A Cartoonist's Guide to Life and creator of JumpStart, one of the most widely syndicated black comic strips ever.

"1968 is a very vivid year for me," Armstrong told NPR's Renee Montagne in an interview for Weekend Edition. Two months after King was killed, Bobby Kennedy was assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Armstrong's older brother also died that year, just 30 days before Franklin's debut.

For Armstrong, a young black boy who declared to his mother at the age of 3 that he was going to be a cartoonist, Franklin's inclusion was extraordinary."

Creating Chaos Symposium on the Future of Libraries speakers share how they innovate in education; American Libraries, February 11, 2018

Terra Dankowski, American Libraries; Creating Chaos

Symposium on the Future of Libraries speakers share how they innovate in education

"[Peter] Piccolo [executive director of innovation at the Imaginarium: Denver Public Schools Innovation Lab] kicked off “Libraries Transform: Education Innovation” at the American Library Association’s 2018 Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits in Denver on Saturday by sharing his organization’s framework for creating change: design thinking and research, two concepts familiar to library professionals. The session was part of the Symposium on the Future of Libraries series, and Piccolo was joined by copresenter Nina Sharma, managing director of the University of Denver’s Project X-ITE.

“As human beings, we’re not biologically wired to change,” Piccolo said. “You have to manage change intentionally.” He offered 10 key takeaways to spur innovation and inspire attendees, including creating psychological safety for employees so they’re inclined to take risks; eliminating structural barriers so people have incentive to innovate; inviting “diversity of perspective and creative chaos” instead of waiting for eureka moments; and being an ambidextrous leader who does not confuse innovation with implementation.

Piccolo also stressed that innovation means having a bias toward action—even if that means failure. “Failure has been romanticized,” he said. “There’s bad failure and good failure, and when there’s good failure you have to know how to improve.”

Motoko Rich, New York Times; Caroline Kennedy, an Ambassador Whose Role Transcended the Embassy; New York Times, 1/11/17

Motoko Rich, New York Times; Caroline Kennedy, an Ambassador Whose Role Transcended the Embassy

"“We never know when our actions will have the greatest impact,” Caroline Kennedy, the United States ambassador to Japan, wrote, “and it’s often not when we expect.”

That note two years ago, Ms. Shiomura recalled, “really helped me.” It lifted her from a depression over the criticism she faced from political rivals and on social media and inspired her to continue to fight for women’s rights. Months later, at a reception at the ambassador’s residence for female leaders, Ms. Kennedy greeted her with raised fists and told her, “Don’t let these troubles get you down.”

In multiple moments like these, Ambassador Kennedy, who will depart Japan next Wednesday after three years here, sought to convey to women across the country a quiet message of empowerment...

“I just think being a woman ambassador, and I think visible women in positions of leadership, does help change attitudes,” Ms. Kennedy said in an interview this month in her office at the United States Embassy in Tokyo."

It’s Time to Get Real About Racial Diversity in Comics; Wired.com, 7/25/15

Laura Hudson, Wired.com; It’s Time to Get Real About Racial Diversity in Comics:

"Like virtually every other form of entertainment, the world of comic books has been increasingly grappling with issues of diversity especially over the last several years as social media and Internet platforms have amplified the voices of minority creators and critics. And in many ways, there’s been a sea change. “Diversity of every sort—racial diversity, gender diversity, acknowledging minority sexualities—is experiencing an explosion of recognition and representation in comics,” says C. Spike Trotman, creator of the long-running webcomic Templar, Arizona.

But as the faces on the pages popular comic books have steadily grown more diverse, the hiring practices of publishers haven’t necessarily kept pace. While there are certainly more minority creators earning bylines than there were a decade ago, the editors and creators of mainstream comics remain overwhelmingly Caucasian—a demographic imbalance that has sparked increasingly loud discussions about what diversity really means and where it matters."