Join us for a virtual lunchtime talk about Radicalization, from ISIS and MS-13 to the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, fact and fiction featuring Sul Ross Writer in Residence, novelist, national security correspondent and behavior-change communications specialist Sidney Balman Jr.

At some point in our lives, we may find ourselves somewhere on the radicalization spectrum: Disrespected, disenfranchised, abused or a victim of perceived injustice. But very rarely do we turn to acts of violence or terrorism. What is it that pushes someone over that edge to join a violent extremist organization, attack the US Capitol or hijack an airplane and fly it into the World Trade Center? Sidney Balman Jr has spent a lifetime studying these issues, from the front lines of wars to the dark underbelly of Internet chat rooms during three decades as a reporter and behavior-change communications specialist. His trilogy of novels - Seventh Flag, Murmuration and the upcoming Sisterhood - much of which takes place in West Texas, are works of historical fiction that focus on these themes.

The Writer in Residence at Sul Ross State University and a Pulitzer-nominated national security correspondent, Sid Balman Jr. has covered wars in the Persian Gulf, Somalia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Kosovo, and has traveled extensively with two American presidents and four secretaries of state on overseas diplomatic missions. With the emergence of the web and the commoditizing of content, Balman moved into the business side of communications. In that role, over two decades, he helped found a news syndicate focused on the interests of women and girls, served as communications chief for the largest consortium of U.S. international development organizations, led two successful progressive campaigning companies, and launched a new division at a large international development firm centered on violent radicalism and other security issues on behalf of governments and nonprofits. A fourth-generation Texan, as well as a climber, surfer, paddler, and benefactor to Smith College, Balman splits time between Alpine Texas, where he is the Writer in Residence at Sul Ross State University, and Washington DC with three kids, and two dogs.

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