[Each
of the last few
years, I’ve made
a number of holiday
wishes to the AmericanStudies
Elves, things I’d love to see happen in the coming year. As you might have
always known, the Elves are really all of us—so let’s work to make these and
other great things happen in 2017! I’d love to hear your wishes, and causes or
individuals or projects I can support as well, in comments!]
On a few levels
to arriving at a very 21st century wish.
1)
I haven’t yet had the chance to meet David Perry, the Medieval history
professor who’s also become one of our leading
public scholars and journalists on disability rights. But thanks to our
mutual friend, my FSU
colleague Kisha Tracy, I connected with David with Facebook, where he
shared his own wish related to …
2)
This
Amazon wishlist for Chicago’s Liberation
Library. Like a lot of charitable and activist organizations, Liberation
Library depends on donations and financial support—and thanks to the intertubes
and concepts like Amazon’s wishlist, it’s possible to offer such support from
anywhere, and through connections like that provided by David (or now, y’know,
me in this post). Which is great, because ...
3)
Liberation
Library does really really important work, at the intersection of education,
young Americans, and mass incarceration. I’ve thought a lot about those issues,
including this past semester in my
Seminar’s conversations about The
New Jim Crow. But I’m ashamed to admit that I hadn’t heard of
Liberation Library until David linked to their wishlist. So I wanted to make up
for lost time, and make good on that multi-part 21st century connection,
with a wish of my own for the AmericanStudies Elves: that we all both support
this great organization and keep sharing our own knowledge and passions with
all those to whom we’re connected. Deal, Elves?
Next wish
tomorrow,
Ben
PS. What do you
think? Wishes or causes you’d share?
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