As the world evolves around us, so does the idea and respect for diversity here on the campus of Keene State College. A group of faculty and staff members, students and people from the community gathered in the Atrium Conference room in the student center this past Friday to discuss New York Times best-seller and National Book Award Winning author Andrew Solomon’s, “Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity.”
English Professor William Stroup has been the co-coordinator and coordinator of the Keene is Reading book club since 2004. He has introduced many readings as well as authors such as Denise Rey, Tracy Kidder, Priscilla Gilman and others to the students and the community of Keene. Supporters of the program that was founded in 2001 include the Symposium Committee, Academic Affairs and Office of Diversity and Multiculturalism, whose theme for the year revolves around “the evolving commons” Stroup said.
“One of the things that struck me when I was trying to think about what the name ‘the evolving commons’ means to me, was the value that we place on diversity, the value we place on trying to be as inclusive a campus as we can and that lead me to think about this extraordinary moment. In fact this is probably one of the first things we will talk about today at the session, where he [Solomon] is saying, what we have, it isn’t that old ‘melting pot’ idea, where it’s the things that we share that we have in common, but what unites us is difference,” Stroup said.
Melissa Plumley / Equinox Staff: Students, faculty and staff gathered on Friday, Sept. 13, to discuss Andrew Solomon’s New York Time’s best-seller, “Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity.” Professor of Women and Gender Studies, Sarah Hottinger is on the right.
Stroup’s goal for the program this year was to have a book that can be talked about throughout the year “to keep the discussion going,” Stroup said. Solomon’s, “Far From the Tree” covers topics such as homosexuality, autism, deafness, schizophrenia, trans gender, and children of rape. He considers the interrelationships of families and how we accept difference or independence.
“There is an extraordinary range to the chapters of the book and I’m hoping that, whether it’s from your own story or your own identity, or part of your life as a sister, as a brother, as an aunt, uncle as a teacher, as a friend, that there is something in the book where people can find a purpose to ways of thinking about identity and difference,” Stroup said. In order to motivate the discussions even more, Andrew Solomon will be speaking on campus this upcoming spring semester, on March 5. “He is a much sought after speaker so we are really excited about that,” Stroup said.
Minutes before the program began, Stroup considered his hopes for the first discussion. “I’m hoping that people who have just heard about the book, but haven’t had a chance to start reading, can learn a little about it. I’m open to the possibility that people who have picked up the book, have had the same reaction I did from the very first page, which was a very powerful, emotional one. I don’t plan at all to lecture. I’m hoping to hear from readers and to have real discussion,” he said. The professor also hopes that the people who leave the program will talk to the people in their residential halls and their friends, as well as make connections with the classes they are in or teaching and “that can be a part of a larger campus discussion,” he said.
Sara Hottinger, professor of women and gender studies, is two chapters into the book. Hottinger considers it important for not only faculty and staff, but also for students to be a part of the discussion.“It’s an opportunity to talk with faculty and staff outside the official constraints of the classroom,” she said. “Here we can all come together and talk without those and exchange ideas.” Hottinger continued, “I think its great to have faculty, staff, student and community members coming together to talk about what is clearly an important book, not only here at Keene state but also across the nation. As we’ve seen from the fact that it’s a best-seller and the fact that its on everyone’s mind right now, a lot of people are talking about it and to kind of bring that conversation back to our local community and exchange our ideas about it I think is a really important thing that professor Stroup is doing and organizing.”
Hottinger brings up a feminist scholar named Audra Lord who argues that “We live in a culture that teaches all of us to fear difference,” Hottinger said. “I think that Andrew Solomon really gets at that fear.” She points out that parents hope for independence in their children, and to be their own person, but not too much. I think that at a college campus, where hopefully there is diversity and people who are different, we come together to learn and to live. We need to find and discover and create better ways to deal with difference. I think that Solomon’s book might help us do that a little bit, by looking at an intimate parent-child relationship where difference is so crucial,” Hottinger said. She added, “I think Keene State College is pretty homogeneous in many ways, but I think we are working on expanding our diversity in terms of our faculty, staff and student body and as we do that we have to ask more and more questions about ourselves and our level of comfort on campus and what that comfort means.”
Stroup concluded, “To be a completely typical person is not only nearly impossible, or perhaps indeed impossible, but also an experience that is without joy or challenge, or without significance that has to prove itself in the world somehow.”
Kenzie Travers can be contacted at mtravers@keene-equinox.com
Contributions from Julie Conlon jconlon@kene-equinox.com