I've got a meeting of Women's Studies later today. It's the first bang of the new semester gong. Yesterday I read the minutes of the meeting of December 13, 2006. And there it was, big as day, staring me in the face.
Item 1(i): Kathleen, Teri, Robyn, and Deb will contact potential speakers.
Oops...
It's obvious that thinking and begging needs to be done. Women's Studies has this brand new Mission Statement that I wrote helped write over the past year, about helping students becoming full global citizens and all, in keeping with the college's mission statement:
to prepare students to attain academic, personal and professional excellence in a multicultural and global society.
Women's Studies members have been working on an issue: Human Trafficking. As a member of the Women's Studies faculty (actually, I edit and publish our e-zine), I'm learning along with everyone else.
So there I was on December 13. It all comes back to me now...that's what minutes are good for. There I was, participating in a discussion about what we could do this March (Women's History Month) that would display what we have learned in such a way as to promote the ALANA Conference at Bloomfield, which happens on Friday, March 30...especially because we are going to become the New Jersey Project's new home (sort of at the last minute, so that the Project wouldn't die). And people were talking about getting speakers, maybe having a lecture series throughout the month, with some of our classes dedicated to attending those lectures, so there is a 'willing and eager' guaranteed audience, to be scheduled for whenever was going to be convenient for the speakers, plus maybe some street theater and a traffic blocking parade/demonstration to help educate the public. Anyway, I heard this voice utter the words:
I can ask people at this blog I participate in if they can speak...or maybe know someone who can.
It was me. Then I got sick...and forgot. Like I said, that's what's good about minutes.
So I've had a day of memory...and a night of synthesizing. And here I am thinking and trying to describe what's in my head. First off, if you are or know someone who is knowledgable about the issue of human trafficking, we'd love to host a lecture by you in March. We don't have much, so it would really help if you were in the NYC/North Jersey area. We are thirsty for knowledge and hungry for learning here with an extremely diverse student body.
But here's another idea in case that doesn't fit. Could you write a diary about human trafficking to be published in March? Maybe I could help generate some sort of blog structure throught the month leading up to the conference.
Do you want to do some good? Do you want to lend a hand? Is a Bloomfield Project going to be born? It can be.
Update: I forgot to mention that we already have feelers out to AFSC and Bill Moyer (pie in the sky), that the Kathleen mentioned is Sister Kathleen, so a group of Catholic nuns is already involved, and I have contact information for United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) and UNICEF. Good ideas all.
--Robyn Serven
--Bloomfield College (Bloomfield, NJ)