Miscellaneous
On this very special episode of the Paleo Policy Podcast, I spoke with Massachusetts State Representative, Jack Lewis, on Access Framingham about his plan to submit a bill in support of a new state symbol for the Commonwealth, a dinosaur! In fact, I was inspired to begin this podcast after deciding to lobby for a Massachusetts state dinosaur myself. The thought of a state dinosaur for my adopted home was inspired by my home state's decision to designate Augustynolophus morrisi as new symbol for the state of California. After reading about the passage of CA bill AB1540 in 2017 and finding out that Massachusetts had yet to designate a state dinosaur of their own, I began to see how public policy and paleontology intersected with each other. I was fortunate enough to cross paths with Rep. Lewis through the Head of Collections and Operations at the Beneski Natural History Museum, Hayley Singleton (Former podcast guest, S1 E2), and now we are working towards making this ambition a reality!