The Tulane Reading Project - Danny Fitzpatrick

The Tulane Reading Project

Danny Fitzpatrick

What should I pack? What clubs should I join? Have I signed up for the right classes? Why do I have to read this required reading book?

While those are all valid questions during the summer before coming to Tulane, the only one that I am going to attempt to answer is the fourth one.

For fourteen years, the Tulane Reading Project has served as a preview for what to expect in college courses. In every TIDES class this fall professors will lead discussions about this book. Throughout the first weeks and even months of the semester, the Reading Project events provide a place for academic discussion across all disciplines. It is one of the very few experiences in college where the students in the School of Architecture will be discussing exactly the same text as the students in the School of Business.

On top of that, two things make this year’s Tulane Reading Project even more exciting than usual:

Firstly, this year the committee selected Men We Reaped, by Jesmyn Ward. Not only is Jesmyn Ward a National Book Award winner and has been called a, “substantial talent” by the New York Times, she is also an Associate Professor at Tulane!

Jesmyn Ward

In the memoir, Ward writes her story of growing up while simultaneously discussing the deaths of five young men who were close to her throughout her youth.

In the book, Professor Ward discusses everything from poverty, to race, to mental health,to addiction, to gender roles, to familial love, to homesickness and does so through her singular strong voice.

Regardless of what we learn and take away from Men We Reaped individually, it is full of messages and ideas that the class of 2019 and the entire Tulane community can discuss together.

The second major reason why this is an exciting year for the Tulane  Reading Project ties to a larger effort on campus. The Tulane Reading Project will serve as a major component for the Forum Tulane Initiative. Starting this year, Tulane will work to thread a theme throughout various discussions and activities during the school year.

For the 2015-2016 Forum Tulane the theme will be Resilience. This theme could not be any more appropriate for Tulane’s campus, the memoir Men We Reapedand the city of New Orleans.

This was my first year on the Reading Project committee and it made me realize how much effort goes into deciding which book to pick for the year. The committee reads books throughout the year, read some more during the fall, and then read more over winter break. All the reading in hopes of finding a book like Men We Reaped , that is both a well-crafted text and something that will connect with the incoming class of students.

With Men We Reaped and Forum Tulane now aspects of campus we are sure to all be in for a great school year!