Reading for Pleasure

Readings from – Where We Stand: Class Matters by Bell Hooks
Facilitator: Angela Watson, Assistant Director, Housing and Residential Life
Sunday, November 5, 2006
6:30 pm
Unity House
Over the past twenty years, class distinctions in America have shifted, blurring the lines between upper, middle and lower classes. And yet, we seldom recognize the power of class in American life, and the extent to which this system of stratification significantly influences our individual achievements. According to bell hooks, “…nowhere is there a more intense silence about the reality of class differences than in educational settings” where many students are uncomfortable talking about social class or the institutional structures that reinforce such a system. In this session, we will discuss how class matters - in college and in everyday life.

Readings from – Leading with Soul: An Uncommon Journey of Spirit by Lee G. Bolman & Terrence E. Deal
Facilitator: Carnell Jones, Jr., Ed.D., Registrar, Registrar’s Office
Sunday, November 12, 2006
6:30 pm
Unity House
Inspired by the works of such visionary writers as M. Scott Peck and Max De Pree, Leading with Soul depicts a powerful story of one beleaguered executive’s quest for passion and purpose in work and in life. Leading with Soul teaches that the heart of true leadership can only be found in the heart of a leader. The authors draw upon a diverse mix of many of the world’s spiritual traditions, poetry, philosophy, social science teachings on leadership and organizations to offer the reader an invitation to participate in understanding the ties that bind spirituality and leadership together.

Readings from – Letters to a Young Brother: MANifest Your Destiny by Hill Harper
Facilitator: Anthony Baird, M.Ed., Assistant Director, Career Resource Center
Sunday, November 19, 2006
6:30 pm
Unity House
This motivational but approachable book, with its contemporary language is ideal for students clamoring for advice and encouragement on how to successfully cope with the personal and social realities of college life. Harper devotes a considerable among of time discussing issues involving education, employment, interpersonal relationships, identity development, the allure of materialism, and the power of words and faith – real issues confronting today’s college students. A young black actor and graduate of Brown University and Harvard Law School, Harper has written this book to inspire young people, of both sexes and all races, at a time when popular culture offers little positive direction.

Readings from – In Small Things Remembered by James Deetz
Facilitator: Dr. Norman L. Barber, Director, Residential Education
Sunday, November 26, 2006
6:30 pm
Unity House
The Story of Parting Ways: the Colony of New Guinea is not widely known in Plymouth. Nor is it easily found in books on American history. As one of the first free black settlements in the New World, the Colony of New Guinea offers only a glimpse of Colonial American history that is easily overshadowed by the nation’s more prominent historic attractions – the Plymouth Rock, the Mayflower Replica, and the Plymouth Plantation. And yet, the story of the Colony of New Guinea portrays a history of Plymouth Massachusetts that goes beyond the Pilgrims. It portrays African-Americans not as passive victims of history, but as American heroes and true patriots of the American Revolution who were willing to give their life in our nation’s struggle for independence and integrity. This presentation will explore the Revolution’s Black soldiers from the Colony of New Guinea.

 Last Updated On: 10/26/06