Westby Middle and High School’s special education departments hosted a Winter Carnival that welcomed students from area schools and Chrisanthemum adult day services clients. With games, crafts, music, and snacks, the event showcased the power of community and brought people together to celebrate inclusion and joy.

Three citizenship ceremonies in the nation’s capital highlighted the resilience of thousands of immigrants who are now officially part of the American community. Despite a year of changes and challenges to the naturalization process, each ceremony felt inspiring and hopeful. Those in attendance celebrated a major milestone in the pursuit of shared values and inclusion.

In 2017, poet Raymond Antrobus stepped into a Durham classroom and met Thomas, an 11-year-old with silver hearing aids whose curiosity changed the writer’s life. Their brief exchange now anchors Antrobus’s forthcoming memoir, The Quiet Ear: An Investigation of Missing Sound, an exploration of deafness, poetry, and the search for meaning.