Benjamin H. Shepard In Conversation With Jay Blotcher
Discussing His Book ON ACTIVISM, FRIENDSHIPS, AND FIGHTING
Saturday, November 8, 2025
4:00 PM 5:00 PM
Blue Heron Books
High Falls, NY
ON ACTIVISM, FRIENDSHIPS, AND FIGHTING: ORAL HISTORIES, STRATEGIES AND CONFLICTS In this provocative and illuminating book, veteran progressive organizer and social worker Benjamin Heim Shepard traces a pressing dynamic of social movements: friendship and conflict. The book goes in-depth into the reasons and ways leading activists became involved in activism, the friendships they formed, and the conflicts they faced.
Free admission. Light refreshments. Powerful ideas.
Benjamin Heim Shepard, PhD, LMSW, works as Professor of Human Services at City Tech/CUNY. He has organized protests with ACT UP, SexPanic!, Reclaim the Streets, the Clandestine Rebel Clown Army, CitiWide Harm Reduction, Housing Works, More Gardens Coalition, and Occupy Wall Street.
Jay Blotcher, a member of New York City's ACT UP and Queer Nation. An Ulster County resident since 2001, Blotcher cofounded New Paltz Pride and the Hudson Valley LGBTQ Center.
"Shepard’s latest book stands as a testament to our need for connection, care, and community while exploring the role that friendship plays in resistance and advocacy. This highly relevant, insightful, and inspiring read integrates emotion, care, and vulnerability with sociopolitical analysis, inviting us to broaden the coalition of change through allyship, collaboration, and radical friendship." — Logos Journal
"This book offers a more accurate prescription for finding meaningful friendships: make friends through shared passion for activism. Shepard shows how friendships within activist communities can endure conflicts, emphasizing the importance of vulnerability, listening, and shared purpose to sustain movements despite internal challenges." — Victoria Noe Blog
"On Activism, Friendships, and Fighting archives powerful oral histories revealing the complexities of activist relationships, including conflict and rupture. Shepard’s work is a vital guide to dialogue and collective meaning-making, encouraging us to find common ground through shared humanity and values of justice and care." — IndiePubs