Andrew Solomon’s website
23 min TED talk Andrew Solomon: Love, no matter what
35 min Audio: On Medical Problems and Social Solutions same talk with additional material
Distance from the Tree is No Measure of Some Fruit’s Quality by Suzanne Burdett (summary of this event)
What are t
he consequences of extreme differences between parents and children? At this GPS event, National Book Award winning writer Andrew Solomon asks, how do you nurture a child who may be unlike anything you’ve encountered before? To what extent should parents accept their children for who they are and to what extent should they help them become their best selves?
Based on Solomon’s best seller “Far from the Tree: Parents, Children & the Search for Identity” and his own experience growing up, this presentation will examine how families accommodate children with physical, mental and social disabilities and find courage in the face of heartbreaking prejudice and unimaginable difficulty.
Be inspired by the stories of parents facing the challenges of raising children who are unlike any child they had encountered before. Solomon will share anecdotes of parents coping with mental illness, with children who are prodigies, and children who are LGBT. Hear the stories of their universal struggle toward tolerance and compassion and the courageous power of parental love.
This free program will begin at 7 p.m. April 11 at the College of DuPage McAninch Arts Center, 425 Fawell Blvd. in Glen Ellyn.
Solomon is a professor of clinical psychology/psychiatry at Columbia University and Weill-Cornell Medical College.
