As immigration policy is hotly debated around the country in terms of national and cultural security, Crossing the BLVD: Strangers, Neighbors, Aliens in a New America, a book and CD Judith Sloan created with Warren Lehrer, of EarSay, Inc., presents the very human stories of why immigrants and refugees have migrated to the US and what their experiences have been since they came here pre- and post-9/11. Sloan will speak on Immigration and the Changing Face of America through stories included in Crossing the BLVD (http://www.crossingtheblvd.org).

An adjunct professor at the Gallatin School at NYU, she is a cofounder and director of EarSay (www.earsay.org), an artist-driven nonprofit bridging art and human rights in documentary and expressive form and Director of its Arts and Activism for Youth educational arts projects for displaced teenagers.

Crossing the BLVD is a chronicle of the immigrant experience in New York that describes life in the city in both its despair and boundless promise. "The first-person narratives are drawn from taped interviews, while the book’s ever-changing graphics and typefaces mirror the rich pastiche of religion, language, and tradition that coexists in the borough," says the Municipal Art Society of NY. Crossing has received the 2004 Brendan Gill Prize, which is awarded annually for a work of art that best captures the energy and spirit of New York, and has received numerous rave reviews in the media.

Sloan has over 20 years experience in theatre, radio, and literary and multimedia arts, and has received numerous grants and awards various arts institutions and major organizations, including the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Ford Foundation.