WESTFIELD – Westfield State University will welcome author Anne Fadiman on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Scanlon Banquet Hall. Fadiman’s novel, “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down,” was chosen as the First-Year READ for incoming first-year students. Her lecture will focus on the novel and student reaction.
The First-Year READ is a component of the First-Year Forward program launched in 2012 as part of a comprehensive retention initiative to enhance the success of first-year students and retain them to graduation. Specifically, the First-year READ creates an intellectual foundation for incoming students as they jump into college-level coursework. The students are encouraged to read the common text during the summer. The text is then used in many English Composition and other core courses. A multidisciplinary film and lecture series, held throughout the fall, compliments the book.
Each year, a committee of English composition faculty gathers to review more than 35 books for the First-Year READ. Past selections include “Gang Leader for a Day” by Sudir Venkatesh and “Half the Sky” by Nicolas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. Both Venkatesh and WuDunn addressed the campus community in 2012 and 2013.
Maureen McCartney, associate dean of Academic Achievement at Westfield State, provided a list of criteria that the books must meet in order to be chosen.
To be considered, the book must be a piece of nonfiction and accessible to first-year students who are reading it over the summer without any guidance. It must be interdisciplinary and connect with different areas of study. The book should also address issues of social justice, equity and use academic research. Lastly, it should have an insight that can be applied to current issues in the nation and world.
“The Spirit Catches You…” was first published in 1998 and centers around a young Hmong family who migrates from Laos to California. Shortly after her birth, daughter Lia Lee develops epilepsy. Due to a misunderstanding of the girl’s condition and of her family’s culture by American doctors, Lia Lee’s future is changed forever. Fadiman’s look into this non-fiction piece of clashing cultures and medicine won her the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Current Interest.
Jennifer DiGrazia, associate professor of English, is one of the committee members who voted for Fadiman’s novel. She said that “The Spirit Catches You…” gives first-year students a way to connect with current events and writing.
“Composition students have discussed a number of issues this year including immigration, infectious disease, cross-cultural communication and how Western medicine works as a system and or the concept of a discourse community,” said DiGrazia. “We used the book to launch and to inform our writing assignments, representing a range of genres, including personal essays, papers based on observation and interview, as well as forms of textual analysis and blog posts.”
Anne Fadiman’s visit is sponsored the Westfield State Guest Lecture series. The Guest Lecture Series is supported by funding from the Academic Affairs budget to enhance student learning and service to the larger community. An advisory committee with representation by the faculty and librarians, staff, and students review proposals and recommend selection of proposals for the year. For more information on upcoming speakers in the Guest Lecture Series, please visit http://www.westfield.ma.edu/speakerseries.
There will be a question and answer session after the lecture. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, call Maureen McCartney at 413-572-8801.
