The third year of First-Year Reads (FYR) will culminate on campus this semester on Oct. 23 with an on-campus talk featuring Ishmael Beah to discuss his memoir \u201cA Long Way Gone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before coming to campus, all first-year students downloaded \u201cA Long Way Gone\u201d on their iPads to read over the summer.\u00a0 This fall, all students can participate in numerous programs sponsored by FYR.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are proud to be able to bring famous authors such as Ishmael Beah to Hood College and want to make his visit to our campus as rich and rewarding as possible. The FYR program is all about community and making connections with issues and events that affect our lives,\u201d Dr. Martha Bari, the head of FYR said.<\/p>\n
During orientation, first-year students discussed Beah\u2019s memoir within their orientation groups with both staff and upperclassmen student facilitators.<\/p>\n
On Sept. 6, FYR will sponsor the film \u201cBling: A Planet Rock that ties in several issues presented by Beah\u2019s memoir.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Bling: A Planet Rock\u2019 starring Ishmael Beah and Kanye West, on September 6 as part of Student Affairs\u2019 double feature movie night. This short film connects the \u201cblood diamonds\u201d mined by slave labor during Sierra Leone\u2019s civil war to the funding of this conflict, making a direct connection between hip-hop\u2019s cult of diamond jewelry and the violence and suffering in that country,\u201d Bari said.<\/p>\n
Beah\u2019s visit in October will allow students to talk about the issues presented in both the memoir and the film, and even the opportunity to speak one-on-one with Beah.<\/p>\n
After the discussion, there will be a book-signing.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Beah\u2019s visit] will be an exciting and rewarding experience. There will be opportunities to meet the author one-on-one in an intimate reception and to hear him speak publicly in conversation with Dr. Conway-Turner. Students can ask questions, challenge the author, find out why Beah did things the way he did, and witness the inspiring kind of man he has become as a result of his terrible trauma. This is the type of event that makes a student\u2019s time at Hood especially unique and enriching. It would be a shame to miss Beah\u2019s visit,\u201d Bari said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"