I'm excited to be teaching EN 110 Good Books again this summer. I kept the same format as I did last year because students' comments were very positive about the class.
This past winter term, we read Resilience: Two Sisters and a Story of Mental Illness by Jessie Close as our Diversity Common Reader book at NMU. I enjoyed reading the book, hosting a public discussion about mental illness and the book, and attending the talk by Jessie Close on March 21st. The book, and Jessie's talk, reminded me of the power of story - how sharing our stories with each other can help us to heal and to help others to better understand us and the world around us.
That is what Good Books is all about, really. Reading stories and developing a better understanding of ourselves and those we live with around the globe.
Jessie and her sister, Glenn Close, started a nonprofit organization called Bring Change 2 Mind. Their mission is to "end the stigma and discrimination surrounding mental illness."
http://bringchange2mind.org/
That's one of my goals as well: to use literature to help end the stigma of mental illness. In 2014, I published an article in the Language Arts Journal of Michigan about this issue: http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/lajm/vol30/iss1/6/
Last summer, in New York, I presented on the issue at the International Federation of Teachers of English/Conference on English Education convention as well.
http://commons.nmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1126&context=facwork_conferencepresentations
I'm looking forward to a wonderful six weeks in Good Books this summer!
Kia Jane :)
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