2005 Common Summer Reading
Posted by Nicole Sharp on 11 August 2005 at 23:22I picked up a copy of Tracy Kidder's Mountains Beyond Mountains today and started in on it. As most people at Case know, this book was selected as the summer reading for this year's freshman class. I actually have a tradition going here: I've read the freshmen summer reading books every year. (For reference, that means I've read Hunger of Memory by Richard Rodriguez, Oliver Sacks's An Anthropologist on Mars, and Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi.) I'm about two-fifths of the way through Mountains Beyond Mountains so far, and the first thing I can say about it is that it reminds me of Tanzania. In fact, the title alone reminds me of the month I spent in East Africa. Kidder took his title from a Haitian saying: "Beyond mountains there are mountains."
When my classmates and I arrived in the village of Monduli in rural Tanzania, life there was foreign, to say the least. It took time for us to adjust to the attitude of the Tanzanian students with whom we lived. One morning early in my stay, I stumbled out of bed and out to the lavatory to relieve myself and put my contacts in. Though I'd only been gone a few minutes and everyone else had been in bed when I left, I returned to find one of the Tanzanian girls I roomed with making my bed. After biting back my initial (and thoroughly Western) response of What is she doing touching my stuff?!, my thoughts were invaded by another flag of Western cultural ideas, namely: What did she want in return for making my bed? My initial reaction was one shared by my classmates; we needed time to recognize the sincerity of the Tanzanians' actions. They didn't make our beds or offer to wash our clothes for us because they expected anything in return. They did these things because their culture was one that stressed the community over the individual. I'd gone to Tanzania to help teach those students, but, in the end, I think they did a lot more in terms of teaching me.
Three weeks later, as we said goodbye to the students, no one wanted to leave. We felt like we'd been in Tanzania for ages. If anyone wanted to see his/her family back in Germany, it was to show them all the wonderful people we'd met and tell them about the experiences we'd had. On the last day, I passed my journal around to the Tanzanian students so that they could write a few words there. Many left their thanks and best wishes for my future; some left addresses where they could be reached by mail; but the most popular response was a Tanzanian proverb: Mountains never meet but people do.
Mountains Beyond Mountains whispers that to me each time I turn a page.
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Nicole Sharp said
On 12 August 2005 at 08:40I'm fully aware that many of the freshmen don't actually read the book, and I'm sure that's true of virtually every university that has a program like this. I, however, believe in bettering myself at every opportunity, and if the university sees fit to spend thousands of dollars outfitting me and my peers with a book to read, then I'll certainly take the time to read it and see what I can get out of it.
They say you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. If you can't appreciate a good thing given to you, go ahead and ignore it. Case doesn't come after you about it, no, but that doesn't mean that they aren't sorry to see their efforts to engage you and your classmates in thoughtful debate over important issues go to waste.
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Mano Singham said
On 12 August 2005 at 10:38That was a nice story about your Tanzanian experience (a country I have admired from afar and hoped to visit).
I was on the committee this year that selected the Kidder book and had to read some of the other nominations. The Kidder book was (to me) by far the best mainly because I could see in the young Paul Farmer many of the students that I have taught at Case. I hope that they too are inspired to do great things in their own way.
In my discussions with some of the students who passed through during the summer orientation, they seemed to have found the book as inspiring as I did.
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Nicole Sharp said
On 12 August 2005 at 15:29Tanzania is well worth visiting, in my opinion. I've been thinking recently that I really need to get my photos and journal entries from that trip back online. Yet another weekend project to set aside until I get time (which is to say, until I-don't-know-when).
It's good to hear that some of the freshmen are finding the book inspiring. It would be wonderful to see some of them go on to similar greatness.
Gregory Szorc said
On 12 August 2005 at 00:31I started reading my freshmen summer reading assignment in the car on the way up to Cleveland for freshmen orientation. My parents were quite persistent about me reading it, being concerned for my academic well-being and all. I kept telling them that nothing bad would happen from me not reading it. What would Case do? Turn me down when I got there? Finally, about halfway into the trip, I finally caved into their nagging and started reading. A bookmark still rests in the middle of the book, leaving the final half unread. Nothing bad came of it and I am still here. If any incoming freshmen are reading, I just confirmed your inner hopes.