AWTT artist Robert Shetterly delivered this address to an in-house and online audience at the Center for Global Humanities, University of New England, on the evening of January 28, 2026. Some video highlights: Shetterly’s reflections on L. Frank Baum’s original story The Wonderful Wizard of Oz—focusing on Dorothy’s act of “radical compassion” (saving her dog), […]
When I was just a baby, my mama told me, “SonAlways be a good boy, don′t ever play with guns”But I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die.When I hear that whistle blowin’, I hang my head and cry (oh yeah!) – Johnny Cash, Folsom Prison Blues One of the curious aspects […]
Ever since discovering playground kickball in the second grade, I have loved sports. In high school I ran track (a mediocre 400 meters), played football (a decent linebacker), basketball (a good corner jump shot), and baseball (always a little afraid of line drives). I loved the competition, the practice—loved improving my competence, loved team camaraderie. I enjoyed […]
“… as a teenager, I kept thinking, Why don’t the adults around here just say something? Say it so that they know we don’t accept segregation? I knew then and I know now that, when it comes to justice, there is no easy way to get it. You can’t sugarcoat it. You have to take […]
Looking back on 2025, AWTT Education Director Connie Carter calls on all of us to find the inspiration we need to meet the challenges of 2026.
AWTT welcomed middle-school and high-school students and their faculty sponsors for the 2025-26 Samantha Smith Chellenge kick-off event at Orono High School on November 13, 2025. In 2025-26 the Samantha Smith Challenge is getting a redesign. Instead of ending the SSC year with a big celebration of student projects—as AWWT has done in past years—we’re flipping the script, starting […]
As Labor Day 2025 approaches, we are mindful of all of the labor advocates who have gone before us, improving the lives of working people. If you go to the AWTT portrait gallery and filter for “worker’s rights,” you’ll find forty such outstanding figures who have fought and sacrificed over the decades, to bring workers […]
Thanks to former Times Union reporter Paul Grondahl for covering the unveiling of Dr. Alice P. Green’s portrait on May 22, 2025. Grondahl also wrote the brief AWTT biography of Green that accompanies her portrait. The following article includes exerpt’s from Grondahl’s report, which appeared in the Albany Times Union on May 28. ALBANY — When […]
Artist Robert Shetterly’s visit to the Oregon Episcopal School in Portland earlier this month was a resounding success. The school hung an exhibit of twenty portraits in their chapel during the month of May 2025 and invited Shetterly to visit for a day. The theme of the exhibit was ecojustice. Shetterly visited classes in all […]
About 200 middle-school and high-school students gathered at Orono (ME) High School May 20, 2025 to celebrate their participation in this year’s Samantha Smith Challenge. Approximately 500 students took part in this year’s program, although not all were able to make the trip to Orono. Schools represented include: Monarch Learning Academy (FL) Hazelwood Elementary School […]