Would your library like to showcase an immersive, thought-provoking, and timely exhibit? Khadijah Costley White (NJLA keynote speaker 2018) is looking for space to host a temporary installation that explores kids’ experience of active shooter drills. The exhibit is 25’ x 6’ and needs a space with double doors. Prof. White’s message and contact info are below:
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I’m writing because I’m launching the listening installation on the impact and experience of school code red drills in April and I’m looking for different spaces in the tri-state area to share it. It’s titled “This is Not a Drill: The Feelings, Memories, and Cultural Impact of Active Shooter Drills”. I first became interested in the drills as a researcher and local mom, surprised at the lack of evidence for such intrusive approaches to deal with mass shootings. I learned that a lot of children were expressing stress and anxiety in response to the drills, some even starving themselves of water for fear of being caught in them. NJ has some of the most extensive active shooter drill requirements in the country, so it seemed especially important to collect voices here.
In 2020, I won a Whiting Public Engagement Fellowship award to do this project. Most of the folks who previewed it last year described it as “powerful” (more on the Whiting Award here). Originally I planned to do short films, but when Covid hit I decided to do an immersive exhibition with the stories I collected.
Thanks for your time and consideration,
Khadijah
Khadijah Costley White, PhD
Associate Professor
Whiting Public Engagement Fellow 2020-2021
Author of Branding Right-Wing Activism: The News Media and the Tea Party
For appointments: https://khadijahwhite.youcanbook.me
Journalism and Media Studies Department, Office 111
School of Communication and Information
Rutgers University, New Brunswick
4 Huntington Street
New Brunswick, New Jersey (USA) 08901-1071
khadijah.white [at] rutgers.edu
www.khadijahwhite.com