pgEd presented a workshop for high school students at the American Society of Human Genetics, as well as have our poster accepted at the meeting. We attended many intriguing talks (some of which we will revisit in this space in the weeks to come) and got to catch up with old and new friends, many of whom as just as passionate about public engagement and education as we are!
We were especially excited to get to see “On Beauty“, a film by Joanne Rudnick (of “In the Family” fame) from Kartemquin Films, which follows photographer and activist Rick Guidotti’s efforts to showcase all the beauty and difference in the world around us. From the Positive Exposure site, “The photos give people the permission to see beauty and interpret beauty in their own right. Not to see beauty that is dictated by industry’s ideas of what is acceptable. What started with photographs, has grown into a wide variety of programs created to empower people living with difference – and to educate the world around them.” We have included a link to the trailer – which features one snippet of language that might not be appropriate for all audiences – to which if you are lucky enough to ever see Rick speak in person, will warn you about!
At ASHG, Rick introduced the film, took questions, received a standing ovation, and very kindly dove into an hour-long (at least!) meet and greet line with the high school students (and ahem, a few other, slightly-older-than-high-school age fans as well, see above). There are many other projects aside from the film within Positive Exposures, such as physician education efforts and the Pearls Project – but see the film if you can! It has been widely acclaimed, and rightly so.