Memorial: Love, Loss, and the Art of Remembrance is a lyrical and visually powerful exploration of how one community transformed anguish into action. Born from the temporary Highland Park Arts Memorial — sparked by artist-activist Jacqueline von Edelberg in response to the July 4th mass shooting — and evolved in Nashville after the Covenant School tragedy, this book weaves poetry, photography, and personal reflection into a deeply moving journey through grief, healing, and hope. It captures how a public space became sacred ground, how art gave form to sorrow, and how the human need for connection turned mourning into movement.

More than a tribute, Memorial is a call to resist paralysis, to create beauty in the face of darkness, and to remember that healing begins when we come together.

The book is in English and Spanish // El libro está en inglés y español.

When two gutsy moms ventured inside Nettelhorst, their neighborhood’s underutilized and struggling public elementary school, the new principal asked what it would take for them to enroll their children. Stunned by her candor, they returned the next day armed with an extensive wish list. The principal read their list and said “Well, let’s get started, girls! It’s going to be a busy year . . . “

How to Walk to School is the story—from the highs to the lows—of motivated neighborhood parents galvanizing and then organizing an entire community to take a leap of faith, transforming a challenged urban school into one of Chicago’s best, virtually overnight.

The fate of public education is not beyond our control. In How to Walk to School, Susan Kurland, Nettelhorst’s new and entrepreneurial principal, and Jacqueline von Edelberg, the neighborhood mom, provide an accessible and honest blueprint for reclaiming the great public schools our children deserve.