Friday, July 28, 2017

July 28, 2017: Talks and Events: The Scholars Strategy Network’s Boston Chapter



[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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