[On Tuesday July
25th, I’ll be talking to the Central
Massachusetts Genealogical Society on the topic of “Remembering
the Salem Witch Trials: The Limits and Possibilities of Public History.” So
this week I wanted to highlight five recent talks and events I’ve given or been
part of—please share your own experiences in comments!]
Earlier this
month, thanks to the great work of SSN Organizing Fellow Lyra
DeCastro and Policy Intern Talissa
Lahaliyed, the SSN Boston Chapter held its first event since I took over as
Chapter leader, a social gathering at the awesome Scholars Bistro. Here are three
things I highlighted in my follow up email to the Chapter, with all of which I
could also use your help (especially if you’re in the Boston or New England
areas, but for the second and third you can really be anywhere!):
1)
NCSL event: Our next SSN Boston gathering will
connect to an important local and national event, the
National Conference of State Legislatures’ (NCSL) annual Legislative
Summit. The Summit will be held this year at the Boston State House from August
6-9, and on August 7th SSN will host a get-together there (or
nearby—exact details forthcoming soon, and I’ll update this space as soon as I
have them) for scholars and researchers, state legislators (both local and
national), journalists, and other interested folks. If you’re interested in
attending this important event, please let me know and we’ll make sure you can
join us!
2)
Organizational connections: NCSL is one example
of one of my two main goals for SSN Boston—linking us to as many organizations
as possible. For example, we’re also pursuing ways to link our members and work
to both the Massachusetts Immigrant
and Refugee Advocacy (MIRA) Coalition and Facing History and Ourselves (FHAO). Those
are both Boston-area organizations, which makes sense in terms of shared events
and efforts; but honestly I’m just as open to links with organizations located
anywhere and everywhere. So if you have ideas for organizations or efforts to
which SSN might connect, whether you have your own connections to these groups
or just know of them, I’d really love to hear those ideas. Thanks in advance!
3)
Recruiting: For this one, I’ll plagiarize
directly from my email to all SSN Boston members, as I can’t say it any more
clearly than I did there: “I just wanted to reiterate how much recruiting new
SSN participants is a central goal for the Boston Chapter. From every
discipline, every field, every side of scholarship and research and activism
(not just higher ed, but education overall, journalism, activist organizations,
you name it)—honestly, everybody and anybody for whom SSN's work is a good fit
are very welcome to join us. So I'd love to deputize you all, Young Guns style (more or less…), to go out and get us as many new recruits as
possible, to attend SSN events, become part of our community of contacts, and
be in solidarity as we do this work.” What he said!
July Recap this
weekend,
Ben
PS. Events or
experiences you’d highlight? I’d love to hear about them!
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