Summer Reading

I'm still unsure how this came about but back in March, the advising department of my alma mater(Go Titans!) contacted me with a request.  They asked if I would be available to co-facilitate a book discussion for  a group of incoming freshman.  Apparently, now all incomings are required to read a book that has been selected by various committees and gather together to discuss it as a part of their Freshman Festival (at least that's what we called it back in the day).

A large part of me was greatly flattered that they dug my name out of a file and contacted me.  A smaller but still significant part of me was a bit freaked out at the idea of presenting myself to new students and faculty members.  I mean, I've been a professional mother now for 5 years and my idea of an intellectual discussion revolves around why the kids can't watch Kids vs. Kat and the moral implications of such a decision.  LOL!  Could I possibly dust off those long-buried brain cells that once could discuss psychological, philisophical and biological concepts with ease?  Well, I decided I was up to the challenge that this presented and accepted the request.

The book that the committee chose was "Interpreters of Maladies" by Jhumpara Lahiri.  It is a compilation of short stories that primarily feature Indian, or Indian-American individuals who are experience any number of "maladies".  The stories were as a whole beautifully written and heart-breakingly moving.  However, I felt that many of them focused on themes that the new students would have difficulties connecting to.  For a (ahem) 31-year old wife and mother of three there were many connections that I could see.

  Then, I met with my other co-faciliators at our planning meeting this past Monday and it all started to come together.  You see, that while many of the themes dealt with marriage, motherhood or professional issues, they all had one other overarching theme that I had missed:  the issue of displacement and finding or making your own home in a culture that is not yours.  My drive home and that remainder of my evening, I spent recollecting on how difficult that transition was from being a high school senior to a college freshman.  I began to realize that as a college freshman who was terrified and completely unprepared for dorm life, that these students (with only 2 days on campus) must feel a great deal of uncertainty and displacement.

I wonder what each of these individuals will do to compsensate for these feelings that arise in these first few uncertain days.  I know that I clung (too hard, probably) to home.  I went home most, if not all weekends, aching terribly for the comfort and familiarity of family and home.  But as I grew more confident at school, I began to focus on what truly was important to me.  Specifically, my faith and my values were strengthened at a place of learning that challenged those beliefs.  I came out of there with a stronger bond with my Savior and with relationships that have far out-reached those academic connections from the classroom.

I am excited to meet these young men and women tonight.  I am anxious to look in their faces and see if I can catch a glimpse of myself thirteen years ago.  And I hope that wherever they stand tonight that in thirteen years, they can be as happy and confident in the place they have chosen for themselves as I am.