Saturday, January 16, 2016

January 16-17, 2016: NeMLA 2016 Preview



[Next week brings a new semester, the last of my 11th year at Fitchburg State University. So this week has brought a series of spring 2016 preview posts, this time focused on the texts we’ll be reading in my spring courses. Leading up to this special weekend post previewing March’s 2016 Northeast MLA Convention!]
I’ve written a lot in this space about the upcoming Northeast MLA (NeMLA) Convention, which will finally begin two months from Sunday. The Winter Newsletter, featuring my President’s Letter and tons of info about the convention, is online here.
If you’re in the Hartford area, in New England or New York or Pennsylvania, or otherwise close enough to consider joining us in Hartford from March 17-20, I sure hope you’ll do so—the auditor registration rate is pretty reasonable, and if that doesn’t work please email me directly and we’ll see if we can figure out a way to get you to the convention. And even if you’re not able to join us, I think the convention’s big themes—public scholarship and the future of the humanities, education and community, issues of academic labor—are important enough that you can and should feel free to add your voice through Twitter (we’re @northeastMLA and the convention hashtag will be #NeMLA2016), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Northeast-Modern-Language-Association-NeMLA-776430012416295/?fref=ts), or right here in comments!
There’s a lot more I could add (again) about the convention, from Thursday’s visit to Hartford schools and opening night reading by Monique Truong through Friday’s presidential sessions (including one Stephen Railton discussing public humanities digital projects!) and keynote address by Jelani Cobb through Saturday’s presidential sessions (including one Jeffrey Renye discussing issues of adjunct faculty and academic labor) through Sunday’s reading by Native American novelist Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel. And that’d still just be scratching the surface of what we’ve worked so hard toward for a couple years now and what will make the Hartford Convention so memorable. So I’ll just say it one more time—join us if you can, and share your voice and join the community in any case!
Next series starts Monday,
Ben
PS. Questions or ideas for NeMLA 2016? I’d love to hear ‘em!

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