“Think & Drink” or “Lunch & Learn”–Either Way, It’s Organizing

By Bonnie Tenneriello and Judy Somberg

We underestimate the value of talking. You can tweet or facebook all you like, but real-time conversation is how lasting organizing happens. As Malcolm Gladwell recently wrote in the New Yorker (October 4), real risk-taking activism occurs only in groups whose members know and trust each other.

Sarah Fuhro addresses the 'Think & Drink' group. Photo by Sara DeConde.

Thus the Chapter’s speaker series, “NLG Presents,” aims to overthrow the established order through subversive talk, food, and drink (alcohol optional) on the second Wednesday of each month. It has moved from a brown bag “Lunch and Learn” to an evening “Think and Drink” at Kennedy’s Midtown on Province Street, but the comradeship is the same. We do not just listen to speeches, but think together about issues and work that matter to all of us.

This past year has brought leading organizers and thinkers of many stripes to the Guild’s table. Hopefully, each of them recruited some support for their cause.

• The foreclosure crisis was the topic in January, when Nadine Cohen and Jeff Feuer and activists from City Life –Vida Urbana talked about their joint efforts to stop foreclosures and evictions.

• Barb Dougan of Families Against Mandatory Minimums spoke in February about her organization’s efforts to overturn harsh drug sentencing laws – efforts that bore fruit later in the year with the passage of S. 2583, a bill allowing drug offenders in county Houses of Correction to be eligible for parole after serving one-half their sentences.

• In March, John Bonifaz and Jeffrey D. Clements of Free Speech For People explained the dangers of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which opened the floodgates for corporate money in elections but also created efforts to amend the Constitution so that a corporation is not a “person” entitled to free speech. (You may have heard them recently on Democracy Now.)

• Guild members and friends shared personal insights on international struggles for justice on two occasions. In June, Marjorie Suisman and her son Max Geller described their experience in Palestine and grassroots activism to end the Israeli occupation. In October, Nancy Kohn talked about her recent trip to Cuba, the plight of the Cuban 5, and her work with Pastors for Peace.

• Guild members also shared their literary triumphs. In April Mark Brodin read from his new book on the life of Bill Homans, a legendary Boston civil rights lawyer. And in July Iris Gomez read from her newly published novel, Try to Remember — an “enthralling fiction debut,” according to Publisher’s Weekly.

• Most recently, Cole Harrison of United for Justice with Peace and Sarah Fuhro of Military Families Speak Out spoke in November about the realities of war in Afghanistan and Iraq, and strategies for ending it. The discussion with Chapter members showed how passionately we feel about the war, its tremendous cost in dollars as well as lives, and how painfully powerless many of us feel to stop it.

Look for announcements of future talks, join the conversation, meet new friends, and bring your own work to the table. Right now the Chapter is discussing whether the lunch or evening format works best, so please share your thoughts by e-mailing nlgmass@igc.org. Also, please let us know if you are interested in a particular issue or a project – from inside or outside the Guild.

Bonnie Tenneriello is a member of the Mass. Chapter’s board of directors and a staff attorney at Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts. Judy Somberg, a solo practitioner, is also a board member.