Wednesday, December 21, 2016

December 21, 2016: Wishes for the AmericanStudies Elves: Liberation’s List



[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?

No comments:

Post a Comment