Dear LSA Community,
Thank you for joining us for the annual meeting in Denver. It was an extraordinary meeting, including an important graduate student workshop, an evocative opening plenary, terrific panels, and the first time that past presidents joined together for a closing plenary. Colleagues joined from throughout the world—traveling from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and Central and South America. Scholars from Mexico and Canada rounded out our North American contingency. I thank each of you for lending your time, talent, and expertise to our convening.
As we turn to August, new opportunities await as the school year opens for many. Refined thoughts will be expressed at conferences. New publications will sit atop our desks. We will revisit, teach again, or launch new courses. If we are fortunate, we may even take a course or two. Fresh opportunities for engagement and leadership will emerge. I look forward to reading the innovative, rigorous scholarship produced and edited by members of our LSA community. For our graduate students, we are ready and eager to support your efforts in entering the teaching market this fall. With so much opportunity, there is much to be grateful for.
However, I also recognize that as we move into the fall and “back to school,” there is still much work to do. Book bans will keep important materials off the shelves in schools. Meaningful access to educational opportunities will in the end reflect the resources available to communities, schools, and families. For economically disenfranchised families, the opening of a new school year comes with hope and sometimes despair. Only weeks from now, the greater disparities in our societies will soon be revealed.
It is this tension that is ever present in law and society—privilege and opportunity that sits across from disadvantage and adversity. Yet, even with such tension, I am also mindful about the powers of hope and aspiration. In my mind, hope sits at the roots of justice.
With the dawning of a new school year, I wish each of you the power of hope, an abundance of inspiration, the occasion(s) to embrace your aspirations, and the opportunity to lift another whose ambitions are to lead, learn, and teach.
My best,
Michele Goodwin