Two new activists, Katie Willis Morton and Jeanne Cosmos, and two long-time activists, Sue Katz and Stephen Holmes, will represent Boston Chapter members' interests at the NWU's Aug 7-9 Delegate Assembly in Chicago, along with three others who have been elected to NWU National Executive Board positions: Jeanne Harnois as NWU Financial Secretary/Treasurer, Barbara Mende as Guide, and Barbara Beckwith as Sergeant-at-Arms.

Our chapter was allocated five delegates: four members announced themselves as candidates, so the positions were uncontested and no mail ballot was necessary.

The Delegate Assembly will address how to support and defend freelance writers' income and rights in the face of tough economic times, disappearing newspapers, blossoming Internet outlets that don't pay, and publishers and other employers more focused than ever on the bottom line.

Here are the candidate statements of the four new delegates:

Jeanne K. Cosmos:

As a Delegate for this Union, my experience and knowledge as Faculty/English as well as a former Attorney and as a Writer would support my being a representative of the Chapter. I am also active in the AAUP at Curry College. As a former attorney, I am able to support the intentions of the union with appropriate verbiage. I am also a Graduate student for my MFA-Writing at Goddard College.

I would bring the diverse perspectives to bear and the meetings and break-out groups. I was a Delegate in 2001 for the Int'l Human Rights Conference, London.

Stephen Holmes:

I would like one of your votes as delegate to the NWU Delegate Assembly. I have been an active member of the Boston Chapter's Steering Committee for several years. I am also the Chapter's CAP representative. If given the opportunity, I look forward to meeting with other NWU activists from around the country and working with them on ways to strengthen and expand this great union of ours. I pledge to go with an open mind and to listen to all sides of the issues before deciding anything. Be assured, however, that I will always put the needs of the Boston Chapter first.

Sue Katz:

I'm an author, blogger, Facebook-er and fan of the Boston Chapter. After being a Delegate to a very fraught 2003 Assembly, I pulled back from national NWU politics and maintained my involvement at the local level. I was on the Diversity and Steering Committees and was co-chair with Charles Coe for a couple of years in the past. More recently I am serving as the eNews editor. I have been involved with Writers Life and calling lapsed members. With a change in HQ administration that includes people I respect, I feel very motivated to participate in the national assembly.

Kathleen Willis Morton:

As a recent member I would enthusiastically serve as a Boston delegate. Enrolling was important step in validating myself as a writer, and soon after I experienced the many professional benefits and valuable services. I would earnestly contribute to membership expansion, and policy and program development efforts drawing on my personal satisfaction with the union and wanting to promote this resource as well as my public relations and project coordinator experience. I am author of The Blue Poppy and the Mustard Seed, Wisdom Publications, and contributor to Publishers Weekly, Shambhala Sun, and Best Buddhist Writing 2008, forthcoming from Shambhala/Random House.