[FAN] Mattering: The Secret to a Life of Deep Connection and Purpose
2026-01-29 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Chicago) | Zoom
Thursday, January 29, 2026 | 7:00 PM CT Mattering: The Secret to a Life of Deep Connection and Purpose A FAN webinar featuring Jennifer Breheny Wallace, in conversation with Kelly Corrigan
REGISTRATION: www.bit.ly/JWKCFANWebinar
Bonus Book Giveaway: FAN is giving away copies of Mattering to randomly selected Zoom attendees. Details on the webinar registration page.
In her groundbreaking new book Mattering: The Secret to a Life of Deep Connection and Purpose, award-winning journalist and bestselling author Jennifer Breheny Wallace (FAN ’23) argues that mattering—the feeling that we are valued and have the chance to add value—is a core human need, as essential to our well-being as food and water. Yet in today’s world, that need is increasingly unmet, with serious consequences. As mental and social health crises surge, we often point to social media, the pace of modern life, or polarizing politics. Wallace reveals a deeper, more fundamental problem: what she calls “an erosion of mattering.”
Drawing on rigorous research and deeply moving stories, Wallace explores what happens when people lose—and regain—the sense that they matter. From burned-out employees and overwhelmed caregivers to those navigating grief or major life transitions, Mattering shows how lives are transformed when we are reminded, in small but intentional ways, that we are seen, valued, and needed. Wallace identifies the essential components of what she calls a “mattering core”: recognizing your impact, being relied on (but not too much), feeling prioritized, and being truly known and invested in.
Both a diagnosis and a remedy, Mattering offers a clear call to action along with a practical blueprint for change. With accessible insights and actionable takeaways, Wallace shows how to strengthen our own sense of mattering—and how to build cultures of mattering in our homes, workplaces, and communities—at a moment when it has never been more urgent.
Wallace will be in conversation with Kelly Corrigan, author of four New York Times bestselling memoirs about family life: The Middle Place, Glitter and Glue, Lift and Tell Me More. She is the host of PBS’ Tell Me More and the top 1% podcast Kelly Corrigan Wonders.
This event is suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.
Sponsored by FAN, in partnership with The Alliance for Early Childhood, The Avery Coonley School, Avoca D37, Baker Demonstration School, Beacon Academy, Bennett Day School, Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School, Brickton Montessori School, British International School of Chicago, Catherine Cook School, Chiaravalle Montessori School, Compass Health Center, Countryside Day School, The Cove School, Evanston Scholars, Evanston Township HS D202, The Family Institute at Northwestern University, Family Service Center, Foundation 65, The Frances Xavier Warde School, Francis W. Parker School, Glencoe D35, Glenview Public Library, Gorton Center, Hyde Park Day School, Illinois Student Assistance Commission, Kenilworth D38, Lake Bluff D65, Latin School of Chicago, Leo Catholic HS, Libertyville D70, Lycée Français de Chicago, Magnetar Capital, Near North Montessori School, North Shore Country Day, Northwestern University Office of Neighborhood and Community Relations, Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy, Pope John XXIII School, Regina Dominican HS, Resurrection College Prep HS, Rogers Park Montessori School, Roycemore School, Sacred Heart Schools, St. Bernard’s School, Santa Clara University School of Law, Science & Arts Academy, The Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School, Stevenson HS D125, Township HS D113, TrueNorth Educational Cooperative #804, Wilmette D39, Wilmette Public Library, Winnetka D36, Wolcott College Prep, Woodlands Academy, Youth & Opportunity United.

[FAN] Lucky by Design: The Hidden Economics You Need to Get More of What You Want
2026-02-11 19:00 - 20:00 | Zoom
Wednesday, February 11, 2026, 7:00 PM CT, Lucky by Design: The Hidden Economics You Need to Get More of What You Want, a FAN webinar featuring Judd Kessler, Ph.D., in conversation with Corinne Low, Ph.D. (FAN ’25).
REGISTRATION: www.bit.ly/KesslerFANWebinar
Bonus Book Giveaway: FAN is giving away copies of Lucky by Design to randomly selected Zoom attendees. Details on the webinar registration page.
“Luck is when preparation meets opportunity,” Seneca, the ancient Roman philosopher, once said. For many of us, luck feels like pure chance—the result of outcomes blindly doled out by the universe. A coworker scores coveted World Series tickets; a friend finds the love of their life on Tinder; a neighbor’s child gets into the best preschool in town. But what if Seneca was right—and luck is more than chance? What if there are hidden markets all around us—ones we navigate every day in work, education, and life— that dictate who gets what? And what if it’s possible to learn how to sway the odds in our favor?
According to Wharton economist and market designer Judd Kessler, Ph.D., we do have the power to make our own luck. In Lucky by Design: The Hidden Economics You Need to Get More of What You Want, Kessler pulls back the curtain on the hidden markets we routinely encounter, explaining the rules by which they operate and how to make choices that lead to better outcomes. In familiar markets—such as the stock market or your local farmer’s market—what we get depends on how much we’re willing to pay. Hidden markets don’t rely on prices; instead, they follow a different set of rules, and you can’t simply buy your way into a better position.
Kessler shows that the world doesn’t have to work this way. By revealing how hidden markets function and where we go wrong, he offers practical insight into making smarter choices when money, merit, and timing aren’t what determine the outcome.
Kessler is the inaugural Howard Marks Endowed Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. His research and writing have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Scientific American, Harvard Business Review, Politico, NPR, Hidden Brain, Freakonomics, and more.
Kessler will be in conversation with Corinne Low, Ph.D. (FAN ’25), associate professor of business economics and public policy at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Low is the author of the 2025 book Having It All: What Data Tells Us About Women’s Lives and Getting the Most Out of Yours.
This event is suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.
Sponsored by FAN, in partnership with The Avery Coonley School, Bennett Day School, Baker Demonstration School, Beacon Academy, Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School, British International School of Chicago, Catherine Cook School, Compass Health Center, Countryside Day School, Evanston Scholars, Evanston Township HS D202, Family Service Center, The Frances Xavier Warde School, Francis W. Parker School, Glenview Public Library, Gorton Center, Hyde Park Day School, Illinois Student Assistance Commission, Kenilworth D38, Lake Bluff D65, Latin School of Chicago, Leo Catholic High School, Libertyville D70, Lycée Français de Chicago, North Shore Country Day, Northwestern University Office of Neighborhood and Community Relations, Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy, Pope John XXIII School, Psychgeist Media, Regina Dominican High School, Resurrection College Prep High School, Rogers Park Montessori School, Roycemore School, Santa Clara University School of Law, Science & Arts Academy, The Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School, Stevenson High School D125, Township High School D113, Township High School D214, TrueNorth Educational Cooperative #804, Wilmette Public Library, Woodlands Academy, Youth & Opportunity United.

[FAN] Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do about It
2026-02-12 19:00 - 20:00 | Zoom
Thursday, February 12, 2026, 7:00 PM CT, Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do about It, a FAN webinar featuring Richard V. Reeves, Ph.D., in conversation with David Schreiber, MD.
REGISTRATION: www.bit.ly/ReevesFANWebinar
Bonus Book Giveaway: FAN is giving away paperback copies of Of Boys and Men to randomly selected Zoom attendees. Details on the webinar registration page.
Boys and men are struggling. Profound economic and social changes of recent decades have left many losing ground in the classroom, the workplace, and the family. While the lives of women have changed, the lives of many men have remained the same—or in some cases, worsened.
In the widely praised book Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do about It, Richard V. Reeves, Ph.D.—a father of three sons, a journalist, and the founding president of the American Institute for Boys and Men (AIBM)—takes on the complex and urgent crisis of boyhood and manhood. Reeves argues that our attitudes, institutions, and laws have failed to keep up, and that politicians across the ideological spectrum have offered more heat than solutions.
Reeves examines the structural challenges facing boys and men and offers fresh, evidence-based solutions that turn the page on the corrosive narratives surrounding this issue. Of Boys and Men makes the case that helping the other half of society does not require abandoning the ideal of gender equality. The book was named a “Best Book of 2022” by The New Yorker and The Economist and was a 2024 Summer Reading Selection of Barack Obama.
In addition to leading AIBM, Reeves is a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, where he previously held the John C. and Nancy D. Whitehead Chair in Economic Studies. His work has appeared in The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times. Earlier in his career, Reeves was director of the U.K.- based think tank Demos, director of futures at the Work Foundation, principal policy adviser to the U.K. minister for welfare reform, social affairs editor at The Observer, economics correspondent at The Guardian, and a researcher at the Institute of Psychiatry at the University of London.
Reeves will be in conversation with David Schreiber, MD, a psychiatrist specializing in child, adolescent, and adult crisis care. Dr. Schreiber is the CEO and co-founder of Compass Health Center, which provides in-person and virtual Partial Hospitalization (PHP) and Intensive Outpatient (IOP) services across Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, with additional virtual care available in Washington, DC, and Virginia.
This event is suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.
Sponsored by FAN, in partnership with The Avery Coonley School, Bennett Day School, Baker Demonstration School, Beacon Academy, Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School, British International School of Chicago, Catherine Cook School, Compass Health Center, Countryside Day School, Evanston Scholars, Evanston Township HS D202, Family Service Center, The Frances Xavier Warde School, Francis W. Parker School, Glenview Public Library, Gorton Center, Hyde Park Day School, Illinois Student Assistance Commission, Kenilworth D38, Lake Bluff D65, Latin School of Chicago, Leo Catholic High School, Libertyville D70, Lycée Français de Chicago, North Shore Country Day, Northwestern University Office of Neighborhood and Community Relations, Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy, Pope John XXIII School, Psychgeist Media, Regina Dominican High School, Resurrection College Prep High School, Rogers Park Montessori School, Roycemore School, Santa Clara University School of Law, Science & Arts Academy, The Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School, Stevenson High School D125, Township High School D113, Township High School D214, TrueNorth Educational Cooperative #804, Wilmette Public Library, Woodlands Academy, Youth & Opportunity United.

[FAN] The Way of Excellence: A Guide to True Greatness and Deep Satisfaction in a Chaotic World
2026-02-16 19:00 - 20:00 | Zoom
Monday, February 16, 2026 | 7 PM CT – NOTE THAT THE TIME HAS CHANGED FROM 12 PM to 7 PM CT! The Way of Excellence: A Guide to True Greatness and Deep Satisfaction in a Chaotic World A FAN webinar featuring Brad Stulberg, in conversation with Angela Duckworth, Ph.D. (FAN ’12, ’16)
REGISTRATION: www.bit.ly/StulbergFANWebinar
Bonus Book Giveaway: FAN is giving away copies of The Way of Excellence to randomly selected Zoom attendees. Details on the webinar registration page.
In The Way of Excellence: A Guide to True Greatness and Deep Satisfaction in a Chaotic World, bestselling author and performance coach Brad Stulberg offers a practical guide to realizing our potential amid the chaos of modern life by reconnecting to ourselves through the pursuit of excellence. Combining modern science, timeless wisdom, and actionable strategies, Stulberg redefines excellence—not as a finish line to cross, but as an ongoing process of growth and becoming that allows us to reach our fullest potential while staying deeply connected to our values and what truly matters.
Inspired by research from diverse fields and grounded in real-world application, Stulberg frames excellence as the integration of mastery and mattering, providing a clear, sustainable path for pursuing meaningful goals with focus and intention. Unlike “hacks” and the hustle culture of “pseudo-excellence,” this book champions meaningful challenges that align with our values and goals and foster deep satisfaction, fulfillment, and contribution.
Stulberg explores critical principles such as defining and living in alignment with your values, cultivating focus, prioritizing consistency over intensity, building genuine confidence, and creating environments that foster our best performances. He shows how striving for genuine excellence can reconnect us to ourselves, our work, and each other, creating lives rich in meaning and purpose.
Stulberg is the bestselling author of The Practice of Groundedness and Master of Change, and coauthor of Peak Performance. He regularly contributes to The New York Times, and his work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal and The Atlantic, among other outlets. He is co-host of the podcast excellence, actually and is on faculty at the University of Michigan.
Stulberg will be in conversation with Angela Duckworth, Ph.D. (FAN ’12, ’16), the Rosa Lee and Egbert Chang Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, faculty co-director of the Penn-Wharton Behavior Change for Good Initiative, and founding faculty co-director of Wharton People Analytics. She is also co-host of the podcast No Stupid Questions.
This event is suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.
Sponsored by FAN, in partnership with The Avery Coonley School, Avoca D37, Bennett Day School, Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School, British International School of Chicago, Catherine Cook School, Compass Health Center, Evanston Scholars, Evanston Township HS D202, Family Service Center, Foundation 65, The Frances Xavier Warde School, Francis W. Parker School, Glencoe D35, Glenview Public Library, Gorton Center, Hyde Park Day School, Illinois Student Assistance Commission, Lake Bluff D65, Lake Forest Community High School D115, Latin School of Chicago, Libertyville D70, Lycée Français de Chicago, Near North Montessori School, North Shore Country Day, Northwestern University Office of Neighborhood and Community Relations, Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy, Pope John XXIII School, Regina Dominican High School, Resurrection College Prep High School, Rogers Park Montessori School, Roycemore School, Santa Clara University School of Law, The Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School, Stevenson High School D125, Township High School D113, Township High School D214, TrueNorth Educational Cooperative #804, Wilmette Public Library.

[FAN] Shared Wisdom: Cultural Evolution in the Age of AI
2026-02-19 19:00 - 20:00 | Zoom
Thursday, February 19, 2026 | 7:00 PM CT. Shared Wisdom: Cultural Evolution in the Age of AI A FAN webinar featuring Alex “Sandy” Pentland, Ph.D., in conversation with Lisa Kay Solomon
REGISTRATION: www.bit.ly/PentlandFANWebinar
Bonus Book Giveaway: FAN is giving away copies of Shared Wisdom to randomly selected Zoom attendees. Details on the webinar registration page.
In Shared Wisdom: Cultural Evolution in the Age of AI, Alex “Sandy” Pentland, Ph.D., delves into the history of innovation, emphasizing how technologies and cultural inventions have shaped human society. Humanity’s great leaps forward—the rise of civilizations, the Enlightenment, and the Scientific Revolution— were all propelled by cultural inventions that accelerated our rate of innovation and built collective wisdom. Solving today’s global challenges, from climate change and pandemics to failing social institutions, will require similarly fundamental inventions.
Shared Wisdom provides a unique perspective on human society and offers insights into how we can use technologies like digital media and AI to augment, rather than replace, our human capacity for deliberation. Drawing on his expertise in both social science and technology, Pentland bridges the gap between these disciplines and offers a holistic view of the challenges and opportunities we face in the age of AI. By examining our deep history, he argues that the better we understand the key factors that accelerate cultural evolution, the greater our chances of surmounting our current problems.
Pentland is a Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI and Toshiba Professor of Media Arts & Science at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. He is a serial entrepreneur, was named one of the “100 People to Watch This Century” by Newsweek and “one of the seven most powerful data scientists in the world” by Forbes. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, an advisor to Abu Dhabi Investment Authority Lab, and an advisor to Google, AT&T, and the UN Secretary General.
Pentland will be in conversation with Lisa Kay Solomon (FAN ’24), a lecturer and the Futurist in Residence at the Stanford University d.school. She is the host of the How We Future podcast and Substack and the co-author of the bestselling books Moments of Impact and Design a Better Business.
This event is suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.
Sponsored by FAN, in partnership with The Avery Coonley School, Baker Demonstration School, Barrington D220, Beacon Academy, Bennett Day School, Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School, British International School of Chicago, Catherine Cook School, Compass Health Center, Countryside Day School, Evanston Scholars, Evanston Township HS D202, The Family Institute at Northwestern University, Family Service Center, The Frances Xavier Warde School, Francis W. Parker School, Glencoe D35, Glenview Public Library, Gorton Center, Hyde Park Day School, Illinois Student Assistance Commission, Kenilworth D38, Lake Bluff D65, Lake Forest Community High School D115, Latin School of Chicago, Leo Catholic High School, Libertyville D70, Lycée Français de Chicago, Magnetar Capital, Near North Montessori School, North Shore Country Day, Northwestern University Office of Neighborhood and Community Relations, Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy, Pope John XXIII School, Psychgeist Media, Regina Dominican High School, Resurrection College Prep High School, Rogers Park Montessori School, Roycemore School, Sacred Heart Schools, St. Bernard’s School, Santa Clara University School of Law, Science & Arts Academy, The Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School, Stevenson High School D125, Township High School D113, Township High School D214, TrueNorth Educational Cooperative #804, UChicago Network for College Success, Wilmette Public Library, Wolcott College Prep, Woodlands Academy, Youth & Opportunity United.

[FAN] The Balancing Act: Creating Healthy Dependency and Connection Without Losing Yourself
2026-02-24 19:00 - 20:00 | Zoom
Tuesday, February 24, 2026 | 7:00 PM CT. The Balancing Act: Creating Healthy Dependency and Connection Without Losing Yourself A FAN webinar featuring Nedra Glover Tawwab, LCSW, in conversation with Natalie Y. Moore
REGISTRATION: www.bit.ly/TawwabFANWebinar
Bonus Book Giveaway: FAN is giving away copies of The Balancing Act to randomly selected Zoom attendees. Details on the webinar registration page.
Licensed therapist Nedra Glover Tawwab, LCSW (FAN ’23), has built a remarkable platform exploring relationships and self-care—two New York Times bestsellers, 1.8 million Instagram followers, a weekly podcast, and a widely-read newsletter. Her newest book, The Balancing Act: Creating Healthy Dependency and Connection Without Losing Yourself, extends her groundbreaking work by offering a roadmap to relationships that honor both dependency and individuality.
With signature clarity and honesty, Tawwab explores what it means to cultivate healthy dependency in contrast to the extremes of hyper-independence or codependency that many of us struggle with. While her previous books examine the importance of setting boundaries for internal peace, The Balancing Act combines boundary-setting with building and maintaining relationships through genuine connection. Covering attachment styles, family systems, social media habits, and cultural norms, Tawwab addresses why we swing between hyper-independence and hyper-dependence, how to recognize unhealthy patterns from codependency to indiscriminate distrust, and practical strategies for strengthening relationships while maintaining individuality.
Each chapter combines relatable vignettes, expert guidance, and reflective questions that empower readers to evaluate their patterns, navigate conflict, and build relationships that feel authentic, nourishing, and balanced. Whether seeking more closeness with a partner, clarity with a friend or family member, or greater agency in your own life, The Balancing Act offers a path toward connections that sustain rather than drain you.
Tawwab will be in conversation with Natalie Y. Moore, an award-winning journalist and author and senior lecturer and director of audio programming at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
This event is suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.
Sponsored by FAN, in partnership with The Alliance for Early Childhood, The Avery Coonley School, Avoca D37, Baker Demonstration School, Beacon Academy, Bennett Day School, Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School, Brickton Montessori School, British International School of Chicago, Catherine Cook School, Compass Health Center, Connections for the Homeless, Countryside Day School, Evanston Scholars, Evanston Township HS D202, The Family Institute at Northwestern University, Family Service Center, Foundation 65, The Frances Xavier Warde School, Francis W. Parker School, Glencoe D35, Glenview Public Library, Gorton Center, Hyde Park Day School, Illinois Student Assistance Commission, Kenilworth D38, Lake Bluff D65, Latin School of Chicago, Leo Catholic High School, Libertyville D70, Lycée Français de Chicago, Magnetar Capital, Near North Montessori School, North Shore Country Day, Northwestern University Office of Neighborhood and Community Relations, Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy, Pope John XXIII School, Regina Dominican High School, Resurrection College Prep High School, Rogers Park Montessori School, Roycemore School, Santa Clara University School of Law, Science & Arts Academy, The Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School, Stevenson High School D125, Township High School D113, Township High School D214, TrueNorth Educational Cooperative #804, UChicago Network for College Success, Wilmette Public Library, Winnetka D36, Wolcott College Prep, Woodlands Academy, Youth & Opportunity United

[FAN] Picky: How American Children Became the Fussiest Eaters in History
2026-02-26 19:00 - 20:00 | Zoom
Thursday, February 26, 2026 | 7:00 PM CT. Picky: How American Children Became the Fussiest Eaters in History. A FAN webinar featuring Helen Zoe Veit, Ph.D., in conversation with John Waller, Ph.D.
REGISTRATION: www.bit.ly/VeitFANWebinar
Bonus Book Giveaway: FAN is giving away copies of Picky to randomly selected Zoom attendees. Details on
the webinar registration page.
Are children naturally picky, or did pickiness develop over the past century? Picky: How American Children Became the Fussiest Eaters in History by historian Helen Zoe Veit, Ph.D., is an eye-opening investigation into why American kids no longer eat broadly and with gusto. As an award-winning historian of American food, Veit demonstrates compellingly that mass childhood pickiness is a cultural invention – not a biological inevitability.
Pickiness used to be almost nonexistent. Well into the 20th century, Americans saw children as joyful omnivores who were naturally curious and eager to eat. Kids in the past loved spicy relishes, vinegary pickles, and bitter greens. They spent their allowances on raw oysters and looked forward to their daily coffee. American parents of the past assumed children could enjoy the same food as adults, and they almost always did.
Pickiness used to be almost nonexistent. Well into the 20th century, Americans saw children as joyful omnivores who were naturally curious and eager to eat. Kids in the past loved spicy relishes, vinegary pickles, and bitter greens. They spent their allowances on raw oysters and looked forward to their daily coffee. American parents of the past assumed children could enjoy the same food as adults, and they almost always did.
Veit is an associate professor of history at Michigan State University and the director of the “What America Ate” and “America in the Kitchen” projects. She was an advisor for HBO’s The Gilded Age, and her work is often cited in The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and more.
Veit will be in conversation with John Waller, Ph.D., Associate Professor of the History of Science and Medicine at Michigan State University who has published seven books spanning science, medicine, and social history, and has just completed a major study of group dynamics across the past 12,000 years of human history.
This event is suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.
Sponsored by FAN, in partnership with The Alliance for Early Childhood, The Avery Coonley School, Baker Demonstration School, Beacon Academy, Bennett Day School, Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School, Brickton Montessori School, British International School of Chicago, Catherine Cook School, Chiaravalle Montessori School, Compass Health Center, Countryside Day School, Evanston Township HS D202, Family Service Center, Foundation 65, The Frances Xavier Warde School, Francis W. Parker School, Glencoe D35, Glenview Public Library, Gorton Center, Hyde Park Day School, Kenilworth D38, Lake Bluff D65, Lake Forest Community High School D115, Latin School of Chicago, Leo Catholic High School, Libertyville D70, Lycée Français de Chicago, Near North Montessori School, North Shore Country Day, Northwestern University Office of Neighborhood and Community Relations, Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy, Pope John XXIII School, Regina Dominican High School, Resurrection College Prep High School, Rogers Park Montessori School, Roycemore School, Sacred Heart Schools, St. Bernard’s School, Santa Clara University School of Law, Science & Arts Academy, The Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School, Stevenson High School D125, Township High School D113, Township High School D214, TrueNorth Educational Cooperative #804, Wilmette Public Library, Wolcott College Prep, Youth & Opportunity United.

[FAN] How to Feel Loved: The Five Mindsets That Get You More of What Matters Most
2026-03-02 19:00 - 20:00 | Zoom
Monday, March 2, 2026 | 7:00 PM CT How to Feel Loved: The Five Mindsets That Get You More of What Matters Most. A FAN webinar featuring Sonja Lyubomirsky, Ph.D., in conversation with Daniel Pink (FAN ’18, ’22).
REGISTRATION: www.bit.ly/SLFANWebinar
Bonus Book Giveaway: FAN is giving away copies of How to Feel Loved to randomly selected Zoom attendees. Details on the webinar registration page.
Why, in an age of constant connection, do so many of us still feel lonely, anxious, or unseen? In their new book, How to Feel Loved: The Five Mindsets Get You More of What Matters Most, Sonja Lyubomirsky, Ph.D. — the world’s preeminent expert on happiness — and Harry Reis, Ph.D., one of the world’s leading authorities on relationships and connection, reveal the simple yet powerful shifts that can transform how we experience our closest relationships.
The authors argue that the problem isn’t the number of friends we have or how busy our social calendars are — it’s that too often, our interactions don’t leave us feeling genuinely loved. We may worry that if people really knew us — our flaws alongside our strengths — their affection would disappear. Or we may quietly conclude that we’re simply not lovable enough.
How to Feel Loved offers a liberating alternative. You don’t need to reinvent yourself, impress others, or bend over backward to earn love. Instead, the key lies in shifting how you approach your next conversation. The authors present five practical mindsets that can fundamentally change the way you relate to others — habits that, with practice, will help you create relationships where you feel deeply known, valued, and loved.
Lyubomirsky is Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Riverside, and the author of the bestselling The How of Happiness and The Myths of Happiness (published in 39 countries). She has been featured across a wide range of media, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic, as well as the Today show, NPR, and CNN.
Lyubomirsky will be in conversation with Daniel Pink (FAN ’18, ’22), the author of seven bestselling nonfiction books ranging from human motivation and the science of timing to a graphic novel career guide. His deeply researched works have been translated into 46 languages and have sold more than five million copies worldwide.
This event is suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.
Sponsored by FAN, in partnership with The Alliance for Early Childhood, The Avery Coonley School, Avoca D37, Beacon Academy, Bennett Day School, Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School, Brickton Montessori School, British International School of Chicago, Catherine Cook School, Compass Health Center, Countryside Day School, Evanston Township HS D202, The Family Institute at Northwestern University, Family Service Center, Foundation 65, The Frances Xavier Warde School, Francis W. Parker School, Glencoe D35, Glenview Public Library, Gorton Center, Hyde Park Day School, Illinois Student Assistance Commission, Kenilworth D38, Lake Bluff D65, Lake Forest Community High School D115, Latin School of Chicago, Leo Catholic High School, Libertyville D70, Lycée Français de Chicago, Magnetar Capital, North Shore Country Day, Northwestern University Office of Neighborhood and Community Relations, Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy, Pope John XXIII School, Regina Dominican High School, Resurrection College Prep High School, Rogers Park Montessori School, Roycemore School, Santa Clara University School of Law, Science & Arts Academy, The Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School, Stevenson High School D125, Township High School D113, Township High School D214, TrueNorth Educational Cooperative #804, Wilmette Public Library, Woodlands Academy, Wolcott College Prep, Youth & Opportunity United.

[FAN] The First Eight: A Personal History of the Pioneering Black Congressmen Who Shaped a Nation
2026-03-10 19:00 - 20:00 | Evanston Township High School Auditorium, 1600 Dodge Ave, Evanston, IL, 60201
The First Eight: A Personal History of the Pioneering Black Congressmen Who Shaped a Nation A FAN in-person featuring Rep. James E. Clyburn, in conversation with Natalie Y. Moore. Evanston Township High School Auditorium, 1600 Dodge Ave., Door 6, Evanston, IL 60201
No registration required.
Bonus Book Giveaway: FAN is giving away copies of The First Eight to attendees, while supplies last.
Today, South Carolina Congressman James E. Clyburn (SC-06) is renowned as a Democratic kingmaker and one of the most distinguished Black political leaders in American history. But behind him stand eight other remarkable men: the first Black politicians elected to Congress from his home state, who blazed the path for his own ascent. Since arriving in Congress in the early nineties, Congressman Clyburn has been guided by their wisdom and example — and sobered by their struggles, particularly against the enduring demon of American racism.
South Carolina’s first eight Black congressmen all rose to office in the wake of the Civil War and emancipation — only to see their gains extinguished as the dark veil of Jim Crow fell across the South. It would take nearly a century before the ninth Black representative from the state, Clyburn himself, was elected.
In The First Eight: A Personal History of the Pioneering Black Congressmen Who Shaped a Nation, Rep. Clyburn brings these men’s stories — and their message of liberty — to the nation they served. Among them: Joseph Rainey, born enslaved in 1832, who became the first Black politician elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in American history; Robert Smalls, celebrated for his extraordinary Civil War heroism, when he commandeered a Confederate vessel and delivered it — and his freedom — to the Union; and Richard Cain, editor of a widely read newspaper for Black South Carolinians and a figure deeply associated with Emanuel AME Church, one of the oldest and most distinguished Black churches in America, and where nine Black congregants were murdered in a racist mass shooting in 2015.
Through the trials, tribulations, triumphs, and setbacks all nine men faced, Rep. Clyburn illuminates a whole new way of understanding the arc from the Civil War to the present day.
The First Eight is a singular blend of history and memoir — at once a monument to eight trailblazing Americans, a meditation on progress, and a clear-eyed reckoning with how far we have yet to go in our nation’s ongoing struggle for true democracy.
Rep. Clyburn will be in conversation with Natalie Y. Moore, an award-winning journalist and author and senior lecturer and director of audio programming at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
This event is suitable for youth ages 12 and up. It will be recorded but not live streamed and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.
Sponsored by FAN, in partnership with The Avery Coonley School, Avoca D37, Baker Demonstration School, Beacon Academy, Bennett Day School, Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School, Brickton Montessori School, British International School of Chicago, Catherine Cook School, Compass Health Center, Countryside Day School, Evanston Scholars, Evanston Township HS D202, Family Service Center, Foundation 65, The Frances Xavier Warde School, Francis W. Parker School, Glenview Public Library, Gorton Center, Hyde Park Day School, Illinois Student Assistance Commission, Kenilworth D38, Lake Bluff D65, Latin School of Chicago, Leo Catholic High School, Libertyville D70, Lycée Français de Chicago, Near North Montessori School, North Shore Country Day, Northwestern University Office of Neighborhood and Community Relations, Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy, Pope John XXIII School, Regina Dominican High School, Resurrection College Prep High School, Rogers Park Montessori School, Roycemore School, Santa Clara University School of Law, Science & Arts Academy, The Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School, Stevenson High School D125, Township High School D113, Township High School D214, TrueNorth Educational Cooperative #804, Wilmette Public Library, Woodlands Academy, Youth & Opportunity United.

[FAN] Dopamine Kids: A Science-Based Plan to Rewire Your Child's Brain and Take Back Your Family in the Age of Screens and Ultraprocessed Food
2026-03-13 12:00 - 13:00 | Zoom
Friday, March 13, 2026 | 12:00 PM CT (Note earlier-than-typical start time) Dopamine Kids: A Science-Based Plan to Rewire Your Child’s Brain and Take Back Your Family in the Age of Screens and Ultraprocessed Foods A FAN webinar featuring Michaeleen Doucleff, Ph.D., in conversation with Heidi Stevens.
REGISTRATION: www.bit.ly/MDoucleffFANWebinar
Bonus Book Giveaway: FAN is giving away copies of Dopamine Kids to randomly selected Zoom attendees. Details on the webinar registration page.
Nearly everything you’ve heard about dopamine is wrong. It’s not the molecule of happiness — it doesn’t give us pleasure; it gives us motivation. Today, unprecedented “dopamine surges” pull us toward technology and ultraprocessed foods like magnets, many times a day, and neuroscientists have now begun to understand how these surges alter our choices, habits, and moods — driving adults and kids toward activities that bring no real enjoyment and leave us feeling sad, lonely, anxious, and depressed.
When Michaeleen Doucleff, Ph.D. (FAN ’21), set out to address her own family’s screen time and dependence on processed foods, she discovered that study after study refuted nearly everything the media claims about dopamine. She took that new neuroscience and merged it with practical experience to shift the power dynamic back to families — so that instead of devices and foods controlling us, we control them. The result is Dopamine Kids: A Science-Based Plan to Rewire Your Child’s Brain and Take Back Your Family in the Age of Screens and Ultraprocessed Foods, a five-step operating manual for habit remodeling that helps parents create boundaries, replace screen time with equally enticing alternatives, remove triggers, and celebrate new choices — ultimately weakening the neurological pull of devices and making dopamine work in a family’s favor.
Doucleff’s research culminates in a four-week plan to build screen-free sanctuaries that protect conversation, focus, sleep, and adventure. Where Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation sounded the alarm about screens, Dopamine Kids is the handbook for solving the problem — teaching kids a healthy relationship with technology and food while meeting their genuine biological and emotional needs. Doucleff has a chemistry doctorate from UC Berkeley, a postdoctoral fellowship at the NIH, more than a decade covering children’s health for NPR’s science desk, a Peabody Award, and the New York Times bestseller Hunt, Gather, Parent.
Doucleff will be in conversation with Heidi Stevens, Director of External Affairs for the University of Chicago’s TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health. She writes a weekly nationally syndicated column, “Balancing Act.” Stevens has been a FAN board member since 2021.
This event is suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.
Sponsored by FAN, in partnership with The Alliance for Early Childhood, The Avery Coonley School, Avoca D37, Beacon Academy, Bennett Day School, Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School, Brickton Montessori School, British International School of Chicago, Catherine Cook School, Compass Health Center, Countryside Day School, Evanston Township HS D202, The Family Institute at Northwestern University, Family Service Center, Foundation 65, The Frances Xavier Warde School, Francis W. Parker School, Glencoe D35, Glenview Public Library, Gorton Center, Hyde Park Day School, Illinois Student Assistance Commission, Kenilworth D38, Lake Bluff D65, Lake Forest Community High School D115, Latin School of Chicago, Leo Catholic High School, Libertyville D70, Lycée Français de Chicago, Magnetar Capital, North Shore Country Day, Northwestern University Office of Neighborhood and Community Relations, Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy, Pope John XXIII School, Regina Dominican High School, Resurrection College Prep High School, Rogers Park Montessori School, Roycemore School, Santa Clara University School of Law, Science & Arts Academy, The Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School, Stevenson High School D125, Township High School D113, Township High School D214, TrueNorth Educational Cooperative #804, Wilmette Public Library, Woodlands Academy, Wolcott College Prep, Youth & Opportunity United.

[FAN] The Creativity Choice: The Science of Making Decisions to Turn Ideas into Action
2026-03-17 19:00 - 20:00 | Zoom
Tuesday, March 17, 2026 | 7:00 PM CT
The Creativity Choice: The Science of Making Decisions to Turn Ideas into Action
A FAN webinar featuring Zorana Ivcevic Pringle, Ph.D., in conversation with Marc Brackett, Ph.D. (FAN ’19, ’25).
REGISTRATION: www.bit.ly/PringleFANWebinar
Anyone who has ever participated in a brainstorming session knows that most of us do not lack ideas. Yet many people never breathe life into them. To turn inspiration into real achievement, you must decide to act—and then decide to act again and again, despite obstacles, until your thoughts take shape and come to life. This is what psychologist Zorana Ivcevic Pringle, Ph.D., calls the creativity choice.
In her new book The Creativity Choice: The Science of Making Decisions to Turn Ideas into Action, Pringle—a senior research scientist at Yale University’s Center for Emotional Intelligence—draws on twenty years of research to dispel one of our most stubborn myths: that creativity is an innate gift reserved for the Albert Einsteins, Steve Jobses, and Coco Chanels of the world. In fact, creativity is a decision. And it is one that anyone can learn to make.
With stories ranging from an entrepreneur who built a national nonprofit, to a YouTuber who turned a hobby into a professional career, to a business leader who established a company culture of innovation, Pringle illuminates
how people make creative ideas happen. She shows what it takes to get started, the psychological and emotional tools needed to navigate the creative process, and the social conditions that allow creativity to flourish—from the casual relationships that spark unexpected ideas, to the close bonds that sustain risk-taking and perseverance.
Among her key insights: problem finding matters more than problem solving; emotions are not obstacles to creativity but valuable information that can be strategically harnessed; and the difference between a one-hit wonder and a consistent innovator often comes down to the quality of one’s social network. Pringle also explores why people who genuinely want to be creative so often avoid it, and how accepting the anxiety that accompanies originality is itself the first creative act.
Pringle studies the role of emotion, emotional intelligence, and self-regulation in creativity and well-being, as well as how to use the arts (and art-related institutions) to promote emotion and creativity skills. She will be in conversation with Marc Brackett, Ph.D. (FAN ’19, ’25), the founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, a professor in the Child Study Center at Yale University, and the author of the 2019 bestselling book Permission to Feel and 2025’s Dealing with Feeling.
This event is suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.
Sponsored by FAN, in partnership with The Alliance for Early Childhood, The Avery Coonley School, Avoca D37, Baker Demonstration School, Barrington D220, Beacon Academy, Bennett Day School, Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School, Brickton Montessori School, British International School of Chicago, Catherine Cook School, Compass Health Center, Countryside Day School, The Cove School, Evanston Scholars, Evanston Township HS D202, Family Service Center, Foundation 65, The Frances Xavier Warde School, Francis W. Parker School, Glencoe D35, Glenview Public Library, Gorton Center, Hyde Park Day School, Illinois Student Assistance Commission, Kenilworth D38, Lake Bluff D65, Latin School of Chicago, Leo Catholic High School, Libertyville D70, Lycée Français de Chicago, Magnetar Capital, North Shore Country Day, Northwestern University Office of Neighborhood and Community Relations, Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy, Pope John XXIII School, Regina Dominican High School, Resurrection College Prep High School, Rogers Park Montessori School, Roycemore School, Santa Clara University School of Law, Science & Arts Academy, The Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School, Stevenson High School D125, Township High School D113, Township High School D214, TrueNorth Educational Cooperative #804, UChicago Network for College Success, Wilmette Public Library, Winnetka D36, Wolcott College Prep, Woodlands Academy, Youth & Opportunity United.

[FAN] A Life of Art, Music, and Changing the Culture
2026-03-19 19:00 - 20:00 | Evanston Township High School Auditorium, 1600 Dodge Ave, Evanston, IL, 60201
Thursday, March 19, 2026 | 7:00 PM CT
Everybody’s Fly: Art, Music, and Changing the Culture
A FAN in-person featuring Fab 5 Freddy, in conversation with Theaster Gates
Evanston Township High School Auditorium, 1600 Dodge Ave., Door 6, Evanston, IL 60201
No registration required.
Bonus Book Giveaway: FAN is giving away copies of Everybody’s Fly to attendees, while supplies last.
Blondie’s declaration on their 1980 hit “Rapture” introduced listeners around the world to Fred Brathwaite, also known as Fab 5 Freddy, a pioneering cultural icon whose fearless creativity reshaped the worlds of art, style, and music. Next spring, Viking is proud to publish his electrifying memoir Everybody’s Fly: A Life of Art, Music, and Changing the Culture.
Everybody’s Fly is an essential, street-level cultural history from one of our most curious, passionate, and inspiring minds still working today. Picking up where Patti Smith’s (FAN ’19) Just Kids leaves off, it offers an intimate look into how New York’s underground art and music scene—guided by Fab’s singular vision of what could be possible— irrevocably transformed mainstream culture from the late 1970s to today.
Because Fab doesn’t just have a great story—he is the story. Name a seismic cultural shift of the last five decades, and chances are, he wasn’t just there—he was making it happen. He’s the graffiti artist who turned subway tags into fine art, showing his work most recently at the Saatchi Gallery in London; the visionary behind the first hip-hop movie; the bridge between Jean-Michel Basquiat and the downtown punk scene; the first person to take rap global on MTV as the original host of Yo! MTV Raps; the director behind iconic music videos for Snoop Dog, Nas, Queen Latifah, and KRS-One; and, of course, the inspiration for the opening rhyme of Blondie’s number one smash hit “Rapture”—the song that propelled hip-hop from the Bronx to popular culture for the first time. With a spirit of joyful creativity, he shattered racial and artistic boundaries, bridging worlds and bringing underground movements to the mainstream.
Vibrant, rhapsodic, and compulsively readable, Everybody’s Fly is a love letter to the art of seeing, a fascinating account of an inimitable creative life, and a celebration of what it means to shape culture.
Fab will be in conversation with Theaster Gates, world-renowned artist, archivist, social innovator, and professor and Special Advisor to the President at the University of Chicago. Gates creates work that focuses on space theory and land development, sculpture, and performance.
This event is suitable for youth ages 12 and up. It will be recorded but not live streamed and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.
Sponsored by FAN, in partnership with The Avery Coonley School, Avoca D37, Baker Demonstration School, Beacon Academy, Bennett Day School, Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School, Brickton Montessori School, British International School of Chicago, Catherine Cook School, Compass Health Center, Countryside Day School, Evanston Scholars, Evanston Township HS D202, Family Service Center, Foundation 65, The Frances Xavier Warde School, Francis W. Parker School, Glenview Public Library, Gorton Center, Hyde Park Day School, Illinois Student Assistance Commission, Kenilworth D38, Lake Bluff D65, Lake Forest Community High School D115, Latin School of Chicago, Leo Catholic High School, Libertyville D70, Lycée Français de Chicago, North Shore Country Day, Northwestern University Office of Neighborhood and Community Relations, Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy, Pope John XXIII School, Regina Dominican High School, Resurrection College Prep High School, Rogers Park Montessori School, Roycemore School, Santa Clara University School of Law, Science & Arts Academy, The Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School, Stevenson High School D125, Township High School D113, Township High School D214, TrueNorth Educational Cooperative #804, Wilmette Public Library, Woodlands Academy, Youth & Opportunity United.

[FAN] There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America Brian Goldstone, Ph.D.
2026-04-14 19:00 - 20:00 | Evanston Township High School Auditorium, 1600 Dodge Ave, Evanston, IL, 60201
Tuesday, April 14, 2026 | 7:00 PM CT
There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America A FAN in-person keynote address by Brian Goldstone, Ph.D. Evanston Township High School Auditorium, 1600 Dodge Ave., Door 6, Evanston, IL 60201
No registration required.
Book Giveaway: FAN is giving away copies of There Is No Place for Us at the event, while supplies last.
The working homeless. In a country where hard work and determination are supposed to lead to success, there is something scandalous about this phrase. But skyrocketing rents, low wages, and a lack of tenant rights have produced a startling phenomenon: People with full-time jobs cannot keep a roof over their head, especially in America’s booming cities, where rapid growth is leading to catastrophic displacement. These families are being forced into homelessness not by a failing economy but a thriving one.
In a gripping and deeply reported book, There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America, Brian Goldstone, Ph.D., plunges readers into the lives of five Atlanta families struggling to remain housed in a gentrifying, increasingly unequal city. Maurice and Natalia make a fresh start in the country’s “Black Mecca” after being priced out of DC. Kara dreams of starting her own cleaning business while mopping floors at a public hospital. Britt scores a coveted housing voucher. Michelle is in school to become a social worker. Celeste toils at her warehouse job while undergoing treatment for ovarian cancer. Each of them aspires to provide a decent life for their children—and each of them, one by one, joins the ranks of the nation’s working homeless.
Through intimate, novelistic portraits, Goldstone reveals the human cost of this crisis, following parents and their kids as they go to sleep in cars, or in squalid extended-stay hotel rooms, and head out to their jobs and schools the next morning. These are the nation’s hidden homeless, omitted from official statistics, and proof that overflowing shelters and street encampments are only the most visible manifestation of a far more pervasive problem.
Goldstone is a journalist and author whose longform reporting and essays have appeared in The New York Times, Harper’s Magazine, and The New Republic, among other publications. There Is No Place for Us was a finalist for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, named one of the 10 Best Books of 2025 by The New York Times and The Atlantic, and selected as one of Barack Obama’s favorite books of the year. He has a Ph.D. in anthropology from Duke University and was a Mellon Research Fellow at Columbia University. In 2021, he was a National Fellow at New America.
This event is suitable for youth ages 12 and up. It will be recorded but not live streamed and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.
Sponsored by FAN, in partnership with The Avery Coonley School, Avoca D37, Baker Demonstration School, Beacon Academy, Bennett Day School, Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School, Brickton Montessori School, British International School of Chicago, Catherine Cook School, Compass Health Center, Connections for the Homeless, Countryside Day School, Evanston Scholars, Evanston Township HS D202, Family Service Center, Foundation 65, The Frances Xavier Warde School, Francis W. Parker School, Glencoe D35, Glenview Public Library, Gorton Center, Hyde Park Day School, Illinois Student Assistance Commission, Kenilworth D38, Lake Bluff D65, Latin School of Chicago, Leo Catholic High School, Libertyville D70, Lycée Français de Chicago, Near North Montessori School, North Shore Country Day, Northwestern University Office of Neighborhood and Community Relations, Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy, Pope John XXIII School, Regina Dominican High School, Resurrection College Prep High School, Rogers Park Montessori School, Roycemore School, Santa Clara University School of Law, Science & Arts Academy, The Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School, Stevenson High School D125, Township High School D113, Township High School D214, TrueNorth Educational Cooperative #804, Wilmette Public Library, Woodlands Academy, Youth & Opportunity United.

[FAN] An Objective Look at Meditation Methods and Enlightenment
2026-04-16 19:00 - 20:00 | Zoom
Thursday, April 16, 2026 | 7:00 PM CT
An Objective Look at Meditation Methods and Enlightenment
A FAN webinar featuring Elaine N. Aron, Ph.D., in conversation with Mary C. Commerford, Ph.D.
REGISTRATION: www.bit.ly/AronFANWebinar
For this event, clinical and research psychologist Elaine Aron, Ph.D., author of the international bestseller The Highly Sensitive Person, will discuss her new book Spirituality Through a Highly Sensitive Lens: An Objective Look at Meditation Methods and Enlightenment. In it she offers the first ever objective overview of meditation methods and paths to enlightenment.
Why spirituality through a “Highly Sensitive Lens”? This is not a book or a talk just for highly sensitive people (HSP), though Aron is one. She reflected on meditation and enlightenment for years and saw a huge need for objective, complete information on all the many kinds of meditation and on all views of enlightenment. There were no books that fully described all forms of meditation and that provided the necessary information to make an informed choice. Further, most people do not realize that every form of meditation began with the purpose that you, the meditator, would reach nirvana. God Realization. Enlightenment. Awakening. Yet meditation teachers often do not talk much about it. They are apprehensive that students will see view it as unattainable or will aim for it and be disappointed.
Aron wants meditation and enlightenment discussed together, as they were meant to be. She maintains that a spiritual supernova exploded in the Sixties, but like a distant supernova, its light has only now reached us. Many
people began meditating back then, and while many stopped, some continued for fifty or more years. Suddenly more people, both meditators and others, are “waking up” to a state of profound inner peace, unshakeable calm, and clearer focus. There are hundreds of books and websites about this person’s enlightenment and that person’s method of getting there, but no overview of this chaos or the actual research on it.
But what about all those unethical spiritual teachers you hear about? Aron is very interested in this issue, explaining that one can “wake up” and still need to “clean up” your complexes. She addresses both in every chapter, and how to avoid being a casualty, whether due to tendencies in a teacher or in yourself.
Aron will be in conversation with Mary Commerford, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist, psychoanalyst, and instructor at an analytic training institute in NYC. She was for 21 years the director of the counseling center at Barnard College. Before switching to clinical psychology, trained in ministry at Yale University Divinity School, working subsequently as a chaplain. She has been a member of a meditation community for over 40 years.
This event is suitable for youth ages 12 and up. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel. Sponsored by FAN, in partnership with The Avery Coonley School, Avoca D37, Baker Demonstration School, Beacon Academy, Bennett Day School, Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School, Brickton Montessori School, British International School of Chicago, Catherine Cook School, Compass Health Center, Countryside Day School, Evanston Township HS D202, The Family Institute at Northwestern University, Family Service Center, Foundation 65, The Frances Xavier Warde School, Francis W. Parker School, Glenview Public Library, Gorton Center, Hyde Park Day School, Illinois Student Assistance Commission, Kenilworth D38, Lake Bluff D65, Latin School of Chicago, Leo Catholic High School, Libertyville D70, Lycée Français de Chicago, North Shore Country Day, Northwestern University Office of Neighborhood and Community Relations, Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy, Pope John XXIII School, Regina Dominican High School, Resurrection College Prep High School, Rogers Park Montessori School, Roycemore School, Santa Clara University School of Law, Science & Arts Academy, The Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School, Stevenson High School D125, Township High School D113, Township High School D214, TrueNorth Educational Cooperative #804, Wilmette Public Library, Woodlands Academy, Youth & Opportunity United.

[FAN] The New Perimenopause: An Evidence-Based Guide to Surviving the Zone of Chaos and Feeling Like Yourself Again
2026-04-29 19:00 - 20:00 | Regina Dominican High School, 701 Locust, Wilmette, IL, 60091
Wednesday, April 29 | 7:00 PM CT
The New Perimenopause: An Evidence-Based Guide to Surviving the Zone of Chaos and Feeling Like Yourself Again
A FAN in-person featuring Mary Claire Haver, MD, in conversation with Heidi Stevens
Regina Dominican High School, O’Shaughnessy Theater, 701 Locust Rd., Wilmette, IL 60091
No registration required.
Book Giveaway: FAN is giving away copies of The New Perimenopause to attendees, while supplies last.
For many women, the years leading up to menopause arrive without warning and without a name. Anxiety, fatigue, joint pain, brain fog, disrupted sleep, volatile moods, and changes in sexual health can surface as early
as a woman’s mid-thirties — well before menstrual irregularity signals that anything hormonal is underway. Too often, those symptoms are dismissed by physicians or misattributed entirely. Mary Claire Haver, MD, has spent her career changing that.
In her new book The New Perimenopause: An Evidence-Based Guide to Surviving the Zone of Chaos and Feeling Like Yourself Again, Dr. Haver, a board-certified OB/GYN, a certified culinary medicine specialist, a certified menopause provider, and the founder of The ‘Pause Wellness, maps what she calls the hormonal “zone of chaos” — the years of endocrine fluctuation that precede menopause and generate an outsized toll on women’s daily lives. The symptoms are real, they are physiological, and they are manageable. Her book gives women the science, the clinical tools, and the language to insist on care that addresses what their bodies are doing.
The New Perimenopause delivers clear, science-backed explanations of what’s happening in the body across every dimension of the perimenopausal transition — menstrual changes, energy, mood, sleep, and sexual health — alongside a frank account of why addressing these changes now constitutes preventive medicine for the decades ahead. Haver walks women through the latest research on progesterone therapy, including both its benefits and side effects, and equips them with practical tools: checklists, questions to bring to the doctor’s office, and strategies for navigating a medical system that has historically underserved women in midlife. Whether or not a woman has yet noticed any symptoms, the book removes the mystery from this transition and restores the sense of agency that too many women lose during it.
Haver, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The New Menopause and The Galveston Diet, will be in conversation with Heidi Stevens, Director of External Affairs for the University of Chicago’s TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health. She writes a weekly nationally syndicated column, “Balancing Act.” Stevens has been a FAN board member since 2021.
This event is suitable for youth ages 12 and up. It will be recorded but not live streamed and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.
Sponsored by FAN, in partnership with The Avery Coonley School, Beacon Academy, Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School, Brickton Montessori School, British International School of Chicago, Catherine Cook School, Compass Health Center, Countryside Day School, Evanston Township HS D202, Family Service Center, The Frances Xavier Warde School, Francis W. Parker School, Glenview Public Library, Gorton Center, Hyde Park Day School, Illinois Student Assistance Commission, Lake Bluff D65, Latin School of Chicago, Leo Catholic High School, Libertyville D70, Lycée Français de Chicago, North Shore Country Day, Northwestern University Office of Neighborhood and Community Relations, Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy, Pope John XXIII School, Regina Dominican High School, Resurrection College Prep High School, Rogers Park Montessori School, Roycemore School, Santa Clara University School of Law, Science & Arts Academy, The Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School, Stevenson High School D125, Township High School D113, TrueNorth Educational Cooperative #804, Wilmette Public Library, Wintrust Financial, Woodlands Academy, Youth & Opportunity United.
