Events

September 2026

Book: Nasty Work: Resist Systems, Explore Desire, and Liberate Yourself by Ericka Hart (304 pages, 2026)

Activity: HealthQ led a workshop called Allyship and the Transgender/Gender Diverse Community. We had the chance to learn about more about nuances of gender identity and pracitce using a variety of pronouns.

Donations: We collected shampoo and conditioner in support of MomBall's donation drive for Beverly Bootstraps. Our book club Hannah is participating in MomBall for the first time this year.

Couldn't attend but want to help? Donate to HealthQ and/or donate to Beverly Bootstraps.

August 2026

Books:

• Nonfiction option: "Prisons Make Us Safer" and 20 Other Myths about Mass Incarceration by Victoria Law.

• Poetry option: My Blue Days Sound Like Blue Jays by Amos Don, who was born and raised in Boston to Haitian immigrant parents and who is currently incarcerated. Read his bio.

Activity: We wrote 31 birthday cards to incarcerated people, for the Abolitionist Mail Project. We also collected Forever stamps, for AMP's stamp drive.

Couldn't attend but want to help? Support AMP's stamp drive. Or shop the Prison Book Program's wishlists.

July 2026

Media: The 1619 Project. Pick your preferred format:

• interactive website (10 essays originally published in the magazine)

• magazine PDF (100 pages, 10 essays)

• book (624 pages, 18 essays + poems and fiction)

• podcast (4 hours)

• Hulu TV series (6 hours)

• See also: Education Materials Collection from The Pulitzer Center

Activity: Field trip to Historic Beverly's Cabot House to see the exhibit Set at Liberty: Stories of the Enslaved People in a New England Town.

Collection: Diana collected batteries to give to Ben of the Beverly Waste Reduction Committee, so he could bring them to this battery take-back event in Boston.

June 2026

Book: The Stonewall Reader edited by the New York Public Library. The full text is freely available on the Internet Archive, courtesy of NYPL; download the PDF and other formats.

Guest Speaker: Kathryn Henderson from Voter Choice Massachusetts joined us for a discussion about bringing ranked choice voting to Beverly. Watch this 2-minute video for an overview of RCV.

Activity: We held a donation drive for NAGLY, the North Shore Alliance for LGBTQ+ Youth. We collected snacks and drinks, cleaning supplies, books, clothing, and shoes. Check out their wishlists, and also their boutique's needs.   

Community Event: Several book club members participating in the annual Reading Frederick Douglass Together, hosted by Historic Beverly.

May 2026

Book: Weathering: The Extraordinary Stress of Ordinary Life in an Unjust Society by Arline T. Geronimus.

Guest Speaker: City Councilor Keith Sonia soft launched the Beverly Engagement Project with us.

April 2026

Book: All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine K. Wilkinson.

Activity: We upcycled cardboard into postcards and wrote to our state legislators (Rep. Hannah Bowen and Senator Joan Lovely) about bills we care about:

• Oppose HR.2289 - American Broadband Deployment Act of 2025 (learn more)

• Support H.3755 - An Act Establishing Driver Privacy Protections (read this one-pager from the ACLU of MA)

• See also: Progressive Mass legislaive agenda and endorsed legislation for 2025-2026

March 2026

Books:

• Nonfiction option: Another World Is Possible: Lessons for America from Around the Globe by Natasha Hakimi Zapata

• Fiction option: Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements edited by adrienne maree brown and Walidah Imarisha

Activity: Period supplies

• Collected donations of period supplies for Beverly Bootstraps

• Packed 60 grab-and-go period kits for River House

• Folded zines: Tips to Fight Menstrual Stigma, from this NPR story

Learn more about period poverty and menstrual equity from the Alliance of Period Supplies and PERIOD.

February 2026

Book: All About Love: New Visions by bell hooks.

Activity: We wrote 25 birthday and Eid cards to incarcerated people, for the Abolitionist Mail Project.

January 2026

Book: Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde by Alexis Pauline Gumbs

Activity: Pack 50 kids' snack bags for Beverly Bootstraps

Community Event: Martin Luther King, Jr. Annual Breakfast, where 5 members of the book club read the land and labor acknowledgments at the start of the program, at the invitation of the city's DEI Director.

December 2025

No book this month - action planning instead!

November 2025

An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

October 2025

Dreaming of Home: How We Turn Fear into Pride, Power, and Real Change by Cristina Jiménez

September 2025

We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance by Kellie Carter Jackson

August 2025

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer

July 2025

Disability Intimacy: Essays on Love, Care, and Desire edited by Alice Wong

June 2025

A Land With a People: Palestinians and Jews Confront Zionism edited by Esther Farmer, Rosalind Pollack Petchesky, and Sarah Sills

May 2025

What It Takes to Heal: How Transforming Ourselves Can Change the World by Prentis Hemphill

April 2025

Loving Corrections by adrienne maree brown

Social Justice Candidate Forum

Sunday, October 26, 2025 | 1:30 - 3:00 PM

🎬 Watch the recording

Ahead of Beverly's municipal elections on November 4, 2025, we hosted a candidate forum at the Beverly Public Library.  We asked candidates questions that were submitted in advance by community members.

Topics we covered:

• Immigration & ICE

• LGBTQIA+

• Diversity & Representation

• Access & Affordability

Mayoral candidates who attended in person:

• Mike Cahill

• Brendan Sweeney

City Councilor at Large candidates who attended in person:

• Kenann McKenzie-DeFranza

• Keith Sonia

• Euplio "Rick" Marciano

• Kyle Stanley Retallack

City Councilor at Large candidates who submitted video entries:

• Julie Flowers

• John Mullady