literature, community, education, social justice
“Transforming silence into language and action” - Audre Lorde
OUR VISION
Our goal is to encourage people everywhere to read our selections, contemplate their meanings, engage with our commentary and, most importantly, work for social justice. In the process of discussing many of these books and poems, we have discovered that we perceive the world differently. That is, we are better able to understand the experiences of others and have even found some commonality in the struggles and emotions of many of the individuals and characters in these stories and poems. A number of them have managed to find solutions to the dilemmas and conundrums confronting us. We believe that as we deepen our compassion for each other, we enrich our own lives. We hope you will be inspired to create new meanings, write your own stories, and share your own “private library” of memories and experiences. Literature, in whatever form, is truly a bridge to knowledge and understanding—not only of others, but also of ourselves.
“In Senegal, the polite expression for saying someone died is to say his or her library has been burned. When I first heard the phrase, I didn’t understand it, but over time I came to realize it was perfect. Our minds and souls contain volumes inscribed by our experiences and emotions; each individual consciousness is a collection of memories we’ve catalogued and stored inside us, a private library of a life lived. It is something that no one else can entirely share, one that burns down and disappears when we die. But you can take something from that internal collection and share it—with one person or with the world, on the page or in a story recited—it takes on a life of its own.” - Susan Orleans (The Library Book)
“…for some people, the world brings them to art—the news bringing them to a gallery or a stage (or a book or a poem). And for others, art brings them to the world, raising their awareness and shaping their ideas and politics.” - Maya Phillips (NY Times, Arts section, March 30, 2021)
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