[This past week,
after many
years of planning and many
posts in this space, I helped host the 2016 Northeast MLA
convention in Hartford. It was an amazing four days, and I could write much
more than a week of recap posts—so here I’ll focus specifically on the new
initiatives I brought to the convention. If you were part of NeMLA 2016 in any
way, please share your own recaps and responses in comments!]
I can’t end a
week of NeMLA recaps without thanking a few of the many people who made this
conference so amazing and successful. The list goes way beyond these (including
for example the entire wonderful NeMLA Board),
but they are those for whom my personal gratitudes are most clear and in need
of sharing.
1)
First and foremost, this convention—like all our
conventions, but even more than usual because of all that I asked of them—would
never have happened at all, much less been so amazing, without the phenomenal
NeMLA staff. That starts with Executive Director Carine
Mardorossian, Associate Executive Director Brandi So, and
Administrative Coordinator Renata Towne; but
also includes so many others, from Graduate Assistant/Webmaster Jesse Miller and Marketing
Coordinator Derek McGrath to
Chair Coordinator Kristin LeVeness
and CV Clinic Coordinator Indigo Eriksen.
It’s no exaggeration to say that NeMLA is both the most effective and the most
supportive academic community I’ve ever been around, and that starts with all
these folks and all that they do. Thanks all!
2)
When it comes to my most specific Presidential
initiatives (ie, those about which I’ve written in this space all week), it’s
safe to say that none of them would have gotten off the ground if so many of my
friends and colleagues hadn’t responded positively to my invitations to take
part in them. From my FSU colleagues and friends Joe Moser and Katy Covino
joining the Thursday school visits to my dissertation mentor and friend Carolyn
Karcher taking part in Friday’s public humanities conversations to my longtime
New England ASA colleague and friend Siobhan Senier helping make our Sunday creative
reading happen, among many other examples, these sessions became an inspiring reflection
of how broad and deep my communities are, and how lucky I am to be part of
them. Thanks all!
3)
And then there’s love. It’s not just that my
Dad, Stephen Railton, joined us on the first of those Friday President-sponsored
sessions, helping get them off and running so perfectly with his digital
humanities projects and perspective. It’s not just that my Mom, Ilene Railton,
came along to take part in that day of sessions and connect with our presenters
and site. It’s most definitely all those individual things, of course—but through
them, and through all the presences and contributions I’m highlighting in this
post, it’s the overall sense that NeMLA 2016 connected to every part of my life
and work, influenced and strengthened every side of my career, and was thus a
culmination of all that I’ve done so far and an inspiring step toward what’s
next. So once more, with feeling, thanks all!
Special post on
what’s next for NeMLA this weekend,
Ben
PS. Thoughts on
this post? Other NeMLA follow ups you’d share? I’d really love to hear them
(and feel free to email them to me
if you prefer)!
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