Campus Currents

Saturday, Nov. 19, 9 a.m. to noon

Framingham State's Office of Undergraduate Admissions is hosting an Open House event on Saturday, Nov. 19. Registration is required. Explore academic programs with faculty and current students, learn about admissions and financial aid, enjoy a complimentary lunch, take a campus tour, and receive free entry to the Danforth Art Museum. Click here to learn more and register!

This is a great event for anyone in the college-search process!

Nov 15 - December 9, 2022

Reception November 15, 2022 from 4:30-6pm

The three photographers in this show each use the camera to probe at the interior and underlying content of the subject matter they shoot. Bob Alter’s frontally framed exteriors of houses explore the complexity of aspiration and striving. Ashley McDowell’s portraits of her family use light and shadow to highlight the inner workings of human relationships. And Leslie Starobin’s close-up photographs of both indigenous and non-native tree trunks, with bark weathered by age and wood swelling with disease, mirror the human condition.

November is Native American Heritage Month, and we invite you to join us in observing this month in several ways:

1. Nov 16, 2022, 1:30-2:20p, Center for Inclusive Excellence: Join History in the Making for part one of a discussion about the ways in which modern-day society continues to ignore and undervalue Indigenous lives. At this meeting, we will discuss the discoveries of the remains of thousands of Indigenous children on the grounds of residential schools in Canada and the US, along with the impact of residential schools and why they are significant to Indigenous people’s history.

2. Nov 17, 2022, 12:30-2:00p, McCarthy Center Forum: Kristen Wyman, a member of the Nipmuc tribe in Massachusetts, will speak about efforts to restore a 62-acre parcel of land recently acquired in Millis. Drawing on her Indigenous roots and training as an environmental conservationist and consultant, Kristen will strive to answer the question, What does the land need?

3. Nov 30, 2022, 1:30-2:20p, Center for Inclusive Excellence: Join History in the Making for the second discussion about the ways in which modern-day society continues to ignore and undervalue Indigenous lives. At this meeting, we will discuss missing and murdered Indigenous women (MMIW) in the US. We’ll be talking about why MMIW activism matters and how the US legal system directly affects Indigenous communities.

The Campus Sustainability Office is still seeking community input to guide its updates to the University's Climate Action Plan.

Everyone’s feedback is important to help inform future goals and initiatives on campus.

Please complete this brief survey to provide us with your feedback. It should take six to eight minutes of your time, and all responses will be kept anonymous. At the end of the survey, you can enter a raffle to win one of 25 FSU sustainability-themed water bottles design by FSU student Maddie Behringer.

By Publications Intern Leighah Beausoleil

Illustrator Raúl The Third moved to Boston with his girlfriend where he began to make moves toward a career as an artist. Visiting various museums in the area, he noticed the lack of diversity in the artwork.

Growing up, Author Erin Entrada Kelly was a shy, sensitive girl. Always in the shadow of her older sister, Entrada Kelly was only ever noticed for being “racially ambiguous” in a predominantly white community.

Starved of representation in the media as children, both Raúl and Entrada Kelly have made it part of their mission to provide and create that representation they never had through their work.

The two authors shared their journeys toward their careers at the closing of the 2022 Swiacki Children’s Literature Festival Nov. 2.

After his trip to the museum, Raúl said, “I started to think about all the portraits and characters I could have designed that were based on heroes in my life” - including his family.

Incorporating Latinx representation in his art, Raúl began to create zines with these heroic characters, one of which, “Cowboy Boy,” made it all the way to Portland, Oregon and into the hands of the outreach librarian, Cathy Camper.

Itching to provide books with Latinx representation to her local community, Camper reached out to Raúl and together they created, “Lowriders in Space.”

“I really wish I had had this book to read when I was a kid,” Raúl said. “Perhaps my huge revelation as an artist would have come a lot sooner, if only I had seen myself and my family represented in books.”

“Invisible” as a young Filipino girl, Entrada Kelly was always assumed to be Mexican or Chinese by her peers and as she reached junior high, she described how the shadow of her older sister began to loom darker over her.

“Once I got to middle school, I started to actively want to disappear,” Entrada Kelly said.

As a result, she said she would create lists of the various aspects she hated about herself.

Throughout her childhood, however, there was one constant safe space for Entrada Kelly - reading and writing.

As she grew into the author she is today, she realized the ages 8 to 12 were the most pivotal to her and decided this was the age group she wanted to write for. During this process, she thought about representation.

“When I was growing up, I never saw immigrant families. I certainly never saw Filipinos - barely saw any Asians,” she said. “I thought about that girl, the little Erin who was making those lists and was feeling invisible. The little girl who dreamed of having blue eyes.”

She added, “I want young people to read the books that I write and feel seen.”

“My hope for you is that you are that person for the young people in your life. You're that person that says, ‘I see you,’” Entrada Kelly said. “It means something to them.”

A Conversation with Osman Sesay ’22: Interning at the Cannes Film Festival

Tuesday, Nov. 15, 10 a.m.
Alumni House, 42 Adams Road or via Zoom
RSVP Here

The next Coffee and Conversations talk of 2022-2023 welcomes FSU senior and Communication Arts major, Osman Sesay. He was the recipient of the Cannes Internship Scholarship and attended the 2022 Cannes International Film Festival in France. Please join us in a conversation with Osman as he discusses his experiences interning as part of the American Pavilion at the festival.

Osman will take us through a day as a Cannes Intern, and how this experience will shape his plans after graduation. He was required to keep a journal of his experiences including a script analysis based on attending a film screening. He met many people associated with the film industry including celebrities, directors, and executives.

Thursday, Nov. 17, 2:30 p.m.
McCarthy Center Forum

“Mass Incarceration 101” is a historical walk through the injustices that prison systems have caused for Black lives in America. This presentation is hosted by FSU alumna Tasia Clemons '18, an educator focused on prison reform vs. prison abolition. This discussion will touch on the
history of the Black individual in America, Slavery, Jim Crow, Black Codes, the first prison boom, the war on drugs, as well as the history of the prison system and how mass incarceration has impacted the Black Family. She will aim to answer the controversial question: REFORM or ABOLITION?

This event is funded by the Department of Sociology and Criminology and CDI. For any questions, or to request sign language interpretation, please contact psanchezconnally@framingham.edu and zgonen@framingham.edu.

Monday, Nov. 14, 2:30 p.m.
Alumni Room, McCarthy Center

Representative Jack Patrick Lewis, representing the 7th Middlesex District (Ashland & Framingham), serves on the House (and Joint) Committee for Ways and Means; Joint Committee on Children; Committee for Families and Persons with Disabilities; Joint Committee on Export Development and Joint Committee on Public Health. He has sponsored dozens of bills to serve the public interests, such as those aimed at promoting teaching about Native American Culture and history and LGBTQ+ inclusive curriculum, assisting HIV positive people, expanding access to adoption, authorizing a consent program to prevent and reduce incidence of sexual assault, expanding access to emergency insulin, repealing homophobic and transphobic laws, and many other issues of public concern.

He will speak about his political journey, early influences in his political career, and what he does as a legislator to promote legislation in the public interest.

This event, taking place as part of an FSU American Politics class, is open to the entire FSU community. There will be a question-and-answer period following Representative Lewis’s talk. We hope you will come to learn and to have a dialogue with Rep. Lewis.

Mix and Bake to Give and Take: Blue Ribbon Winner Peanut Clusters!

Friday, December 9th at 3:30

Register here!

'Tis the season to celebrate the end of the semester. Join us to mix and bake some peanut clusters. This effortless candy is great to pack up and share or nibble on throughout the winter break, but fair warning, it’s hard to eat just one! Come have some fun as we let the secret out of the bag for these simple treats, mix up a batch of delicious and award-winning (blue ribbon at the Pima County Fair) treats, and of course, taste a cluster or two!