Dear BATW,
The summer travel season is over and autumn, with its (hopefully) cooler climes is upon us. A brief respite before holiday travels and winter vacations, and an excellent time to work on those unfinished articles.
As always, your board has been hard at work carving out an excellent fall calendar. I’m particularly excited for the Left Bank Brasserie in Oakland (registration is live and filling quickly) on the 30th and the Berkeley botanical gardens on October 22nd.
Some fresh and timely news: after many months of deliberation and drafting, the BATW board has released an official stance on the usage of AI-generated content in our field. This has drawn on the opinions and input of numerous kind contributors and I am grateful for their thoughtfulness and time. While this is a non-binding document (outside of the BATW magazine) I encourage you to read it and send in your comments to me as this is a public opinion implicit in your continued membership.
Lastly: as politicians like to remind us, it is nearly election season, and that’s true for the BATW board, too. I encourage members old and new to consider tossing in your hat for the available board member openings: it is the surest way of affecting change that enrich this organization for you and creators like you. The board is a dedicated, tight-knit group of folks that work miracles on our behalf — and in return, get to enjoy a lovely board retreat each year alongside other perks. Please email me at president@batw.org if you’re interested.
Sincerely,
Matthew Eley
President