Author: Magazine Editor

Mental health advocate and spoken-word artist Hakeem Rahim, this year’s Talbot Speaker, shared his story as part of a presentation to destigmatize mental illness, encourage students to reach out when they’re hurting, and to be supportive friends when someone they know needs help. Mr. Rahim received a psychology degree from Harvard and later received a dual master’s degree from Columbia University’s Teacher’s College. In 2012, Mr. Rahim began openly sharing his journey with mental illness. He has testified in front of the House of Representatives and Senate, and has shared his story with over 60,000 students. In 2016, he launched the I Am Acceptance College Tour Campaign. He is a TEDx speaker and a member of the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance’s national board. Mr. Rahim is the President and CEO of I Am Acceptance Inc, a nonprofit committed to building a platform based on values of community, wellness, and acceptance. He is also the founder and CEO of Live Breathe, LLC. “Many people are suffering in silence, and it doesn’t have to be that way. It’s OK to talk about mental illness. There is no shame in seeking treatment, and a diagnosis is not the...

In works that explore the intersection of ubiquitous moments in history and intimate, personal narrative, poet and Bingham Visiting Writer Ron Smith asks, “What is my place and what keeps me in it?” A native of Savannah, Georgia, Mr. Smith is the author of Running Again in Hollywood Cemetery, Moon Road, Its Ghostly Workshop and The Humility of the Brutes. A distinguished poet and critic, his work has appeared in many periodicals, including The Nation, Kenyon Review, New England Review and The Georgia Review, as well as several anthologies. He holds degrees from the University of Richmond and Virginia Commonwealth University, and has studied at Bennington College, Worcester College at Oxford University and the Ezra Pound Center for Literature in Merano, Italy. Mr. Smith was selected as an inaugural winner of the Carole Weinstein Poetry Prize in 2005, and now serves as a curator for the prize, and he was Poet Laureate of Virginia from 2014–2016. He teaches at St. Christopher’s School in Richmond, Virginia and as an adjunct professor at the University of Richmond. “The number-one job of any writer, in any genre, is to tell the...

Young people have the power to stem the tide of anti-Semitism and other hateful incidents, said Robert Trestan, executive director of the Anti-Defamation League’s Boston Office. Mr. Trestan spoke to Class II students at the invitation of the Jewish Student Union. Prior to joining the ADL, Mr. Trestan served for more than a decade as director of civil rights at the Boston Housing Authority and previously worked as an assistant public defender in Naples, Florida. He received his J.D. from the University of Miami School of Law and his bachelor’s degree from Trent University. “The most powerful thing you have is your voice. Speak out. If you do it collectively, you can make a huge...

“The arts are not just ephemeral,” says Harvard Professor Sarah Lewis. “They carry real weight in the real world.” Professor Lewis was the Margaret A. Johnson Speaker this year. An assistant professor in Harvard’s Department of Art and Architecture and the Department of African and African American Studies, Professor Lewis works at the nexus of visual representation, racial inequity and social justice. Professor Lewis is the guest editor of the landmark “Vision & Justice” issue of Aperture, now required reading for all incoming freshman at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. She is author of The Rise: Creativity, the Gift of Failure, and the Search for Mastery. She has been the keynote speaker at a range of events and institutions, including TED, SXSW, the Aspen Ideas Festival and the Federal Reserve Bank. “Arts and imagery model for all of us what we can become. We can’t become what we can’t...