Jennifer (JB) Bean

We did it!! New issue of @femmediahist.bsky.social is LIVE. Pleasure working w/ my co-editor @benspky.bsky.social, FMH team @jmbean.bsky.social and @cainmiller.bsky.social, and our brilliant contributors to make special issue on "Nontheatrical Medias" happen. See Ben's thread for issue content! 🥂

Put the 6 numbers in your phone (all under P for Politician). An example is McCaskill MO, Politician; McCaskill DC, Politician; Politiican Blunt MO, etc., which makes it really easy to click down the list each day.

From experience since the election: if you hate being on the phone & feel awkward (which is many people) don’t worry about it—there are a lot of scripts (Indivisible has some and many others floating around these days). After a few days of calling, it starts to feel more natural.

6) They may get to know your voice/get sick of you—it doesn’t matter. The people answer the phones generally turn over every 6 weeks anyways, so eve if they’re really sick of you they are likely not a permanent staff member.

5) Be clear on what you want—“I’m disappointed that the Senator…” or “I want to thank the Senator for their vote on…” or “I want the Senator to know that voting in________ way is the wrong decision for our state because…”. Don’t leave any ambiguity.

4). Pick 1-2 specific things per day. Don’t rattle off everything that concerns you—they’re figuring out what to put on list. So, only 1-2, & ideally something that will be voted on in next few days, but doesn’t really matter—even if no vote, call anyway. It’s important they keep getting calls.

3) If you can make it personal, make it personal. “I voted for you in the last election and I’m worried/happy/whatever” or “I’m a teacher, and I am appalled by Betsy DeVos,” or “as a single mother” or “as a white, middle class woman,” or whatever.

2). Give them your zip code. They won’t always ask for it, but make sure you give it to them, so they can mark it down. Extra points if you live in a zip code that traditionally votes for them, since they’ll want to make sure they get/keep your vote.

you get transferred to that person, awesome. If you don’t, ask for that staffer’s name, and just keep talking to whoever answered the phone. Don’t leave a message (unless the office doesn’t pick up at all—then you can—but it’s better to talk to the staffer who first answered

WHEN YOU CALL

1). When calling the DC office, ask for the Staff member in charge of whatever you’re calling about (“Hi, I’d like to speak with the staffer in charge of Healthcare, please”)—local offices won’t always have specific ones, but they might. If

Calls are what they pay attention to. Every day, the Senator gets a report of the 3 most-called about topics for that day, and how many, sorted by zip code & area code. She said Republican callers outnumber Democrat callers anywhere from 4-1 to 11-1. Republicans have called. Democrats haven’t.

YOU SHOULD MAKE 6 CALLS A DAY

2 each (DC office & local offices) to your 2 Senators and your 1 Representative.
The staffer was clear that any sort of online contact basically gets ignored, and letters pretty much get thrown in the trash (unless you have a particularly strong emotional story).

Do NOT bother with online petitions or emailing.

1) The best thing to be heard by your congressperson is to have face-fo-face time—if they have town halls, go. Go to their local offices. If you’re in DC, go to the “mobile offices” that their staff hold (located on each congressperson’s website).

FOR ANYONE LOOKING TO TURN ANGER INTO ACTION
Here’s advice from a high-level staffer for a Senator. I’m retyping from Allison McGuffie’s post, which she cut and pasted from a friend.

There are two things that we should be doing all the time right now, and they’ve by far the most important things.

And in celebration of Black History Month, this issue will stream freely on the UC Press website through the end of February!

We will continue to share and promote the issue's contents throughout the week!

Reminder: Our 11.1 issue is free to read throughout Black History Month 🙂

Here is one of the essays included in the issue:

Sundance 2025: Poster and First Clips for World Cinema Documentary Contender “Khartoum” The documentary, created by a collective of filmmakers, centers on five people who reenact their stories of survival after fleeing Sudan’s capital following the outbreak of war.

Coming up at the Sundance Festival: the world premiere of KHARTOUM, produced by the Sudan Film Factory with archive research contributed by our King’s College London project SUDAN MEMORY. Watch this space for the European premiere at the Berlin Film Festival in February.

What’s gone can never be replaced: thoughts on Los Angeles, disasters, and the present moment | MZS | Roger Ebert A few thoughts on the LA wildfires, and what it is doing to American entertainment, culture, and our collective psyches.

This by @mattzollerseitz.bsky.social on the terrible California fires is very good. www.rogerebert.com/mzs/whats-go...

I’m gathering a list of #OpenAccess or #freelyaccessible #Film, #Television, #ScreenStudies, #audiovisualmediastudies Publications, Editors and Advocates People at Bluesky. Please let me know if you’d like me to add you. go.bsky.app/NBipNnW

How to Protect Your Reproductive Health During Trump’s Second Presidency Our comprehensive guide for protecting your access to birth control, medication abortion, and emergency contraception before Donald Trump takes office.

ICYMI: Last month @rewirenewsgroup.com published a comprehensive guide to protecting your reproductive health during the next Trump administration, including how to stock up on birth control and abortion pills, and how to protect your digital privacy rewirenewsgroup.com/2024/12/16/h...

For those of you who want to help, here are some local Altadena organizations who were impacted.

These are all groups I have worked with personally and can vouch for the good work they do.

Thread. #EatonFire

New CFP!

Jobs: postdoctoral posts Women’s Screen Work in the Archives Made Visible / closes 20 January 2025 The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum is recruitng for two postdoctoral posts to support the work of Professor Helen M Hanson (Project Lead), and the project team on the Arts and Humanities Research Council-...

Post-doctoral #opportunities working in an archive - Women's Screen work. #WomenInFilm. 👇

britishphotohistory.ning.com/profiles/blo...

Volume 35 Issue 3 | differences | Duke University Press

It's here!!! I'm extremely excited to share “Unaccountably Queer,” the special issue of Differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies that I edited in honor of Judith Butler’s groundbreaking “Giving an Account of Oneself." read.dukeupress.edu/differences/...

A detail from a broadside from 1617 Germany, showing Martin Luther using a giant quill to post his messages onto a church door is shown. Access the print with the title "Göttlicher Schrifftmessiger/ woldenckwürdiger Traum/ welchen der Hochlöbliche/ Gottselige Churfürst Friedrich zu Sachsen/ ..." here: https://www.bavarikon.de/object/bav:KVC-LUT-0000000000049386?lang=de

If you wanna reach the historical communities of the blue skies, consider using this established hashtag that reaches out to all fields with historical perspectives:

#skystorians

So, users of #historians #historian #bluestorians #blustorian #history etc, join in and enjoy. Let's boost this posting

My amazing colleague @goldenowens.bsky.social rocked this conversation with Boots Riley. I’m a huge fan (of both)! Check it out…

via Decolonial Film Festival: un extrait du film Beyrouth, ma ville (1982) de Jocelyne Saab. En tandem avec le dramaturge libanais Roger Assaf, elle décide de parcourir sa ville assiégée par les Israéliens et de rendre compte de la situation à Beyrouth. #arabcinema #lebanon #palestine

Sweet! Borzage rocks….

I love every post! A bit of light in these darkening wintry days ☀️

This whole thread is good— what *is* the humanities anyways? @miriamposner.com never disappoints