[Letter to the alums]

2 November '08

Dear Diplomats,

Though, until recently, our website was frozen, the program itself has been anything but ... We've recently established new yearly exchanges with two consortium programs, PRESCHO in Cordoba, Spain as well as Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan, and we've also added a new French exchange student per year, from Paris VII. Along with these exchanges, we've also brought to Smith, in just the last three years, students from Argentina, Bosnia–Herzegovina, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Kenya, Tanzania, Turkey, and Uzbekistan—in part through a new collaboration with the Five College World Language Center.

We've also been working closely with the American Studies undergraduate faculty (four of whom received tenure in the last few years), and have benefitted greatly from the leadership and support of Rick Millington, chair of the AMS Executive Committee for the past four years, as Dan and Helen prepare for retirement. In sum, although we still miss Peter and his leadership daily, the transition seems successful, and we continue to do the work we always have— with Smith College, and American Studies itself, all the better for it.

Though there are a bundle of other developments which I ought inform you about (including, for example, the planning of a new International Center at Smith, with the AMS Diploma Program in the thick of things), that will have to wait. As you know, certain other issues are more pressing...and once again, as they used to chant in the '60s, the whole world is watching.

In the past few years, I've been scheming about various ways to tap into the knowledge base and skill sets of the AMS Diplomats. For one project in particular, I think the time has come. So...this is it gang! I hereby announce a call for contributions to the first issue of a new online review, chatter. What I have in mind is quite simple: a space and forum for Americanists from outside the U.S. to voice their thoughts on a whole slate of issues. Ever since WWII, of course, much of the world has heard broadcasts from the Voice of America. If the past eight years have made nothing else clear, by now we've been made aware that the Ear of the U.S. needs a hearing aid. In some small fashion, that's what I have in mind here. For our trial issue, the theme will be "Dear Uncle Sam..." In other words, what I'm asking from you all is an open letter to the next U.S. president—an explanation of one or two things that, from your various perspectives, you think the President will need to know.

So that's your homework assignment (haven't had one of those for a while, have you?). 250–500 words, written in the form of a letter. Begin with "Dear Uncle Sam" and close with your name and hometown. In order to make this work, I'll need to get the issue up and running by Inauguration Day, 20 January 2009. So get me your submissions by December 15th. I'll go through the lot of them, edit mercilessly, and post the best and the brightest—just in time to help shape the next administration's foreign policy. And be forewarned, some of you may also be enlisted: we're going to need an editorial board for this review, and it can only work if the planning for future issues comes from you all, not me.

It has also occurred to me that you may have questions about the name. As our title, or brand, chatter is meant to be both enigmatic and edgy. The review's home page will be a pseudo–dictionary definition along the following lines: chatter: n. 1. Speech characterized as idle talk, frequently that of women, the young, or other populations held in low esteem, e.g. "Stop your chatter and go to sleep!"; 2. Conversations overheard as a result of covert surveillance, e.g. "The level of chatter increased significantly in the days and weeks before the attack." In essence, what I'm after here is a sort of semiotic revaluation, i.e., taking a word with a negative valence and spinning it in the other direction (think, for example, of "Black is Beautiful").

Though I've already gone on too long, I must mention one more initiative as well. At the request of many of you, I've started a "Diploma in American Studies" facebook group, to help our alums find each other and stay in touch. In order to access the facebook group, you'll first need to set up a facebook page for yourself (www.facebook.com), and then search for the group under the "Applications" part of the page. Once you've found us, you'll then need to ask me or one of the other group administrators to add you to the group, since this is a closed forum. Once you've accomplished all that, I'd also like you to post your contact info and give a brief bio update. On the "Discussion Board," there's a category set up where you can put this information on the site.

So...that's all for now. I'll be waiting—breathlessly—for your contributions to chatter. Not only because I'm looking forward to hearing from you all, also because I didn't plan on breathing before next Wednesday, in any case.

Best regards,

Jim