29th Annual Testimonial Dinner

Our 29th annual testimonial dinner, held on May 7, was a smashing success. Held at the unionized Colonnade Hotel, we couldn’t have asked for a more impressive group of honorees: Soffiyah Elijah and Howard Cooper (lawyer awards), Dan Kesselbrenner (legal worker award) and Charlotte (Charlie) Noss and Josh Raisler Cohn (student awards).  Please click here read their short bios.

29th NLG Testimonial Dinner Award Recipients (l.-r.): Howard Cooper, Dan Kesselbrenner, Jill Soffiyah Elijah, Josh Raisler Cohn, and Charlie Noss.

The dinner MCs Susan Church (l.) and John Salsberg (r.) kept everything under their strong and professional watch.

We also welcomed our honorees’ guests.  Soffiyah was accompanied by her students from Harvard Law School and  co-workers from the HLS Criminal Justice Institute;  Dan was surrounded by a contingent of his fans from the immigration advocacy community.  In addition to Northeastern students and faculty, Charlie and Josh were surprised by unexpected family members who traveled from other states to celebrate their special day.

We were honored to be joined by one of Howard’s clients, the Hon. Leon Kendall, who traveled with his family from the U.S. Virgin Islands to attend. The judge received a standing ovation after Howard described the criminal contempt charges brought against the judge, following his recusal from a case where he had strongly objected to prosecutorial misconduct.

The family of Judge Leon Kendall traveled from the US Virgin islands to celebrate with us.

Among Soffiyah’s guests were (l.-r.) Lee Goldstein; Omar Sierra, Consul General of the Venezuelan Consulate in Boston, and Anna Pierce from the Criminal Justice Institute of Harvard Law School.

We were delighted to have among our guests a large delegation representing the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, as well as Omar Sierra, Consul General of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in Boston.

en delegates from the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, with Chairman Cedric Cromwell (c.), enjoyed the event with other guests of Howard’s.

Susan Church and John Salsberg joined forces to emcee the dinner program, scoring points for keeping things moving.  Somehow John managed to snag an advance copy of the next day’s Herald, with its full-page photo of Howard on the front. Hey, John, can we auction that off next year?

After years of live auction, this year we switched to a silent auction. Talk about a lot of loot!  Thirty items were offered, including a weekend at L’Enfant Plaza Hotel in Washington, D.C., museum memberships, restaurant dinners, autographed sports memorabilia, and a $100 gift certificate for a tattoo, which another tattoo lover outbid me on.  Dang!

And we have a winner! Trina Realmuto of the National Immigration Project places a bid on our very successful silent auction.

NLG Massachusetts Chapter co-founders (l.-r.) Jim Miller and Roger Geller remembered Howard Zinn.

On a more serious note, we took a moment to acknowledge the loss of the Guild’s long-time friend and the People’s Historian, Howard Zinn. In a fitting tribute, Roger Geller read the remarks he originally wrote for the 1982 dinner program, when Zinn was the honoree at our chapter’s first annual testimonial dinner. Founding member Jim Miller also spoke about Zinn’s remarkable achievements and influence.

Boogying Down! Dozens of dinner guests flocked to the dancefloor at the first-ever NLG dinner dance. Oh, what a night!

Dancing did not distract our “Jefa,” Urszula Masny-Latos (c.), from keeping a watchful eye on the scene; Halim Moris behind.

Finally, we added a DJ and dancing this year, ending the night on a high note.  DJ Jay Harney from Harney Tunes kept us all happy by switching back and forth between older songs and current hits.  Somehow, Urszula seemed to know them all.  I had blisters the next morning from hoofing it up in my girlie shoes. Now that is the sign of a good party.  (To see more pictures from the event, please visit our Flickr!)

- Barb Dougan -
Co-chair of the Board of Directors and served on the Dinner Committee.

All photos by Tony Benningfield, Thom Cincotta, and Carl Williams.