Campus Currents

Thursday, Feb. 18, 1:30 p.m.
SOLD OUT - visit following link to join the waiting list: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/black-boys-beyond-stereotypes-a-call-to-action-registration-136312260641

As part of our commitment toward becoming an anti-racist institution, in recent months members of the FSU community have been encouraged to watch the documentary film Black Boys. The film takes a powerful look at the dehumanization of black males in the United States through "an intimate, intergenerational conversation at the intersection of sports, education, and criminal justice." We now have an opportunity to have an important discussion about the film with students, faculty, and staff in the FSU community, as well as members of the public. This panel discussion will include two of the film's commentators: Dr. Travis Bristol, Assistant Professor of Education at the University of California, Berkeley, and Mr. Conan Harris, former Executive Director of My Brother's Keeper Boston. Also speaking as a panelist will be FSU Mathematics and Secondary Education student Dan Karanja '21.

Prior to the event, be sure to watch the film, free of charge at: https://www.blackboysfilm.com

Post-event Debrief Sessions

Black Boys Documentary Debrief with the Anti-Racist Dialogues Group
February 22nd from 3:00 – 4:00pm. Please register here to receive the Zoom info.

Black Boys Documentary Debrief with Dr. Patricia Sanchez-Connally and Patty Birch
February 25 at 2:30 p.m. E-mail inclusivex@framingham.edu to register.

February 17, 2021, 4:30-6 p.m.

Register at: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_vehLYSdUROaFHSq7BtD0mg

The keynote will challenge the audience to examine and explore issues related to bias, privilege, supremacy and belief systems. Additionally, we learn how to take action against individual and systemic bigotry, privilege and oppression. We need #MooreLeaders committed to justice, equity and change across America. Are you ready? Now Is The Time for us to be #MooreWoke and #MooreFocused on inspiring #MooreGoodTrouble

Dr. Eddie Moore, Jr. has pursued and achieved success in academia, business, diversity, leadership and community service. In 1996, he started America & MOORE, LLC to provide comprehensive diversity, privilege, leadership and #BecomingAntiRacist training/workshops. Dr. Moore is recognized as one of the nation’s top speakers and educators. His interview with Wisconsin Public Radio won the 2015 Wisconsin Broadcasters Association's Best Interview in Medium Market Radio, 1st Place, he is featured in the film “I’m not Racist….Am I?” and in the article "5 Clear Ways to Tell Whether You'll Be a Good Leader in 2021." Dr. Moore was recently named one of Wisconsin's 51 Most Influential Black Leaders and he is also the Founder/Program Director for the national/international White Privilege Conference (WPC). In 2014, Dr. Moore founded The Privilege Institute (TPI) which engages people in research, education, action and leadership through workshops, conferences, publications and strategic partnerships and relationships.

This event is co-sponsored by Arts & Ideas and the Center for Inclusive Excellence.

By publications intern Soren Colstrup

Students and faculty at Framingham State kicked off Black History Month on Tuesday, February 4th 2021 with a poetry performance and workshop which focused on using lightness and darkness to convey thoughts and feelings.

Celebrated Poet Porsha Olayiwola began her workshop titled “I Shimmer Sometimes, Too: A Poetry Performance and Workshop” by asking the participants to think of something they could change in their own personal history and in global history.

The workshop continued with a reading of the poem “Backwards” by Warsan Shire. The poem focused on the darkness and lightness involved with tragedy as the events of the poem were told backwards.

Participants were later asked to recall their choices of personal and global change, narrow them down to one, and write five facts about it. Olayiwola encouraged them to tell their story choices in the form of poetry, backwards, using darkness and lightness.

Participants were also encouraged to insert magic within their stories in order to help rewrite the ending of a tragic story in a positive way.

Olayiwola said, “I got this idea [for the workshop] from ‘Reconfiguring the Light,’ an essay I read by Italo Calvino, an Italian philosopher and writer who wrote a variety of notes to writers and this particular one is on light and lightness.”

“In the essay, he talks about Medusa and Perseus, the hero who defeats her. He specifically examines that in order to defeat Medusa you had to look at her in a different way. Perseus used a mirror and looked at the monster through the mirror and was able to defeat her.”

“I think about that essay in the context of writing and how do we figure out how to talk about really hard difficult things through lightness. How do we even exist through a pandemic, protest, politics? How do we talk about these sometimes-traumatizing things and be able to feel good?”

The workshop exercise produced some very powerful poetry as the workshop participants contrasted the darkness and lightness of their tragic stories, while telling them backwards or retelling them in a way that incorporated magic.

After conducting the workshop, Porsha also held a poetry reading via zoom from 4:30-6.

“At its basic form, poetry is defined as the expression of thoughts and feelings. As humans, I believe all we have is our time, thoughts and feelings. It’s important to know that that is what people are bringing to the table in these workshops and to always show respect,” said Olayiwola.

E-mail inclusivex@framingham.edu for questions or registration information.

February 17th, Meet & Greet at 1:30 p.m., lecture at 4:30 p.m. Dr. Eddie Moore Olivia A. Davidson Voices of Color Speaker for 2021. In collaboration with Arts and Ideas Series.

February 18th at 1:30 p.m. Black Boys Documentary sponsored by Chris Walsh Center for Educators and Families of MetroWest at Framingham State University.

February 18th at 7 p.m. Shana Gibbs will be sharing her experience as the President of Massachusetts Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (MassRID) and Vice President of Community Relations for the Massachusetts State Association for the Deaf (MSAD)’s.
In collaboration with the American Sign Language Club (ASL).

February 23rd at 4:30 p.m. Domingo Guyton, “The N Word from Slavery to Hip Hop.”

February 25th at 2:30 p.m. Black Boys Documentary debrief with Dr. Patricia Sanchez-Connally, Associate Professor, Sociology and Patty Birch, Director of Inclusive Excellence Initiatives, CIE

February 24th at 4:30 p.m.

Register at: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_GXWeEQhRSCWEAKpv3qPpHA

In their acclaimed solo show, (Un)Documents, award-winning actor and poet Jesús I. Valles journeys across both sides of a river with two names, moving between languages to find their place in a nation that demands sacrifice at the altar of citizenship. In doing so, they create a new kind of documentation written with anger and fierce love.

Friday, Feb. 19th, at 7 p.m.

Register here: https://cm-center.org/events/astronights15

AstroNights is a live, family-friendly exploration of your night sky that you can join from the comfort of your home. View live on YouTube or join the Zoom Webinar for extra interactive features! Our educators leave audiences with simple advice for observing your real night sky when the program is over. From the colorful characters in our own solar system to the weird and wonderful things far beyond, each program is sure to contain something of interest to armchair astronomers of all ages.

The Chris Walsh Center for Children and Families of MetroWest presents a free film screening of Intelligent Lives followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Dan Habib

Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021 at 7 p.m.

Register at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/free-film-screening-of-intelligent-lives-registration-131735890595?aff=

INTELLIGENT LIVES stars three pioneering young American adults with intellectual disabilities—Micah, Naieer, and Naomie—who challenge perceptions of intelligence as they navigate high school, college, and the workforce. Academy Award-winning actor and narrator Chris Cooper contextualizes the lives of these central characters through the emotional personal story of his son Jesse, as the film unpacks the shameful and ongoing track record of intelligence testing in the U.S. INTELLIGENT LIVES is a catalyst to transform the label of intellectual disability from a life sentence of isolation into a life of possibility for the most systematically segregated people in America.

Check out the following Study Abroad Events: #ramsabroad

Study Abroad Fair: Partner Schools in Europe and the UK
Wednesday, Feb. 17, 11 a.m.
Register at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSecozIIzD-67jtH9aLF02PNfKWevnC_xbW-hdxSletOpaZDWg/viewform

Study Abroad Fair: Programs Around the World
Wednesday, Feb. 24, 1:30 p.m.
Register at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSecozIIzD-67jtH9aLF02PNfKWevnC_xbW-hdxSletOpaZDWg/viewform

Drop in Study Abroad Advising
Wednesday at 1:30 throughout the semester
Register at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd-xATEjFDAfaVYOyna911WvwvAzD7do7mfeqliRTO1Y5BPmg/viewform

Attention FSU students seeking a master’s degree, graduate assistantship positions are now posted for the academic year 2021-2022. Please check the Graduate Studies website for more information.
https://www.framingham.edu/academics/graduate-studies/graduate-assistanship-program/graduate-assistantships

February 24th, 12:30 to 2 p.m.

RSVP to Professor Joe D'Andrea: jdandrea@framingham.edu
ZOOM: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82111161494

FSU is committed to the development of a collaborative community, so how should university members go about creating an environment in which behavior like collegiality is both expected and developed in the classroom, in the library, and in the office?

Please join us in a lunchtime discussion series about collegiality: Feb. 10 and Feb. 24, on Zoom. Discussion facilitated by Shin Freedman, Jim Freedman, and Joe D’Andrea.

-FSU Marketing Professor Werner Krings recently had an article he co-authored titled "Industrial marketing management digital media optimization for B2B marketing" published in the top tier journal Industrial Marketing Management Q1 number 19. A link to the article is found here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S001985012100002X