Clio may be the muse of History, but sometimes I think Heraclitus should occupy that pedestal. I entertain this notion aware of the unfortunate inferences that might be drawn from descriptions of him as "The Obscure," and his reputation as the "weeping philosopher." And I do so not simply because his work - "a continuous treatise On Nature" - might have paved an early path for environmental history. Rather, I think of Heraclitus in this way because philosophers much more learned than I have concluded that the seemingly incoherent qualities of his fragmentary writings aimed "to produce readers who have a proper grasp of the world and their place in it." Further these scholars suggest that Heraclitus was critical of those who poured great effort into collecting information but did little of the hard work necessary to understand its meaning. These ideas surely provide useful touchstones for all who labor in the garden of the humanities. 

 

More than this, Heraclitus gave us a handful of aphorisms (variously rendered), emphasizing the ubiquity of change: "everything flows"; "life is flux"; "No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man"; "The Only Thing That Is Constant Is Change." Change is the essence of history, of course, and so we might justly conclude that Heraclitus framed the historians' charter, especially as those who have pored over these words find them both subtle and profound. Yes, they mark the pervasiveness of change, but they also point up the fact that some things stay the same only by changing.

 

I have found myself musing (pun entirely intentional) about such things lately. Change has not been the only constant of the last several months, but it has certainly carved its ringing grooves through ASEH and my experience. Our society is in transition. As I write, and as these words reach your screens, Lisa Mighetto is in her last days as Executive Director of ASEH. We marked her retirement, publically and in advance, with a celebration of her enormous contributions to the affairs and well-being of the Society at our annual meeting in Riverside. Part of that occasion was the presentation, to Lisa, of a collection of warm commendations of her work, friendship, and overall invaluable contributions to ASEH from two dozen colleagues who worked with her over the years. This tribute has been posted on ASEH's website. It spans the twenty years of Lisa's time as secretary and then as Executive Director - half the lifetime of the society; the Lisacene? We know when this began, but I am considering the formation of a new committee, chaired by John McNeill, to assemble the evidence necessary to certify the Lisacene as epochal. Thank you Lisa. You will be missed.

 

David Spatz, who has been working alongside Lisa the last two months learning the many ropes that end on the ED's desk, will assume "sole charge" on 1 October. Welcome David. We recognize that there is much for you to learn, but we are confident that the change you represent will help lead us forward.  We won't place you on that pedestal with Heraclitus or Clio - just yet.  Nor do we expect or want ASEH to stay the same as you assume your new role. Indeed, there are many ways in which the Society needs to change. Many of these are documented in the new Strategic Plan, which is currently before the Executive Committee. 

Developed and refined through a protracted process, it will - if approved by the EC - be posted on the website early in October. I encourage all members to read it. We have sought to distil meaning from, and find appropriate direction amid, the shifting social, cultural, economic, technological, and other flows that bear in upon organizations such as ours at this time. Life is flux. Particularly acute, because it requires our concerted individual and collective attention, is the need to ensure that people of all ethnicities, nationalities, genders, and sexual orientations feel entirely welcome, respected and included within the orbit of ASEH activities. We hope that the Strategic Plan provides each of you, as members of ASEH, with a sharpened sense of the world in which the society operates, even as it encourages you to think about your place in it. 

 

Our journal Environmental History is also in transition, as new editors Mark Hersey and Stephen Brain, both of Mississippi State University work in tandem with Lisa Brady toward the assumption of full editorial control on 1 January 2019. We will mark Lisa B's stellar work with the journal at a later date. Many things about the journal will remain the same for the foreseeable future: its name, its broad format, its publication by OUP, and so on. But as issue follows issue the editors will realize, as all journal editors probably have, the wisdom of Heraclitus's aphorism about the river. Constant as we hope the flow of manuscript submissions will be, it will never be the same this year as it was last, and our editors will find themselves "different men" as the result of their labours (with the aid of Heraclitus's touchstones) on our behalf. Thank you in anticipation. We look forward to the same ever-changing but constantly stimulating assemblage of material that has distinguished our major publication for many years.

 

 

by Mary E. Mendoza, Penn State University

 

Public engagement matters and, as historians, we have a lot to offer. With that in mind and given the current political climate, I have been making a point to engage with the public in ways that I never have before and this is a brief note to encourage others to do the same. It's not as difficult as you might think, and you don't necessarily have to have a media contact to do it. There are several blogs out there looking for someone with expertise in environmental history to write for them and, the new Washington Post column Made by History is a column run by historians, for historians. This summer, a number of our colleagues published in that column as headlines about the border, the administration, women's rights, and many other topics dominated the news. I wrote a piece, complimentary to my article in Environmental History about the history of border fences at the U.S.-Mexico divide. I also co-authored a piece about the history of immigration law as it pertains to definition of a public charge.

 

Given the ways in which many issues of the day are deeply entangled with environmental history, it makes sense for us to use our expertise to engage the broader public. The process is not nearly as daunting as it might seem. All you have to do is send an email to the venue of your choice, pitch an idea, and then, if they go for it, you send a draft which they will edit and eventually print. You can find the contact information for most blogs on the about or contact tabs of the website and for the "Made by History" column all you have to do is email the editors at the address listed on the website.

 

Engaging with the public not only provides context for folks who might not otherwise have that information, it also proves that studying history and the humanities has value. In this time of political divisiveness and disregard for accurate information, we have a lot of power. Let's get out there and use it.

 

Mary E. Mendoza is an assistant professor of history and Latinx studies at Penn State University, the David J. Weber Fellow for the study of southwestern America at Southern Methodist University, and a Nancy Weiss Malkiel Scholar for the Woodrow Wilson Foundation.