Pixie’s Comments (group member since Sep 10, 2019)

Pixie’s comments from the MIT Reads group.

Week four of #MITReadsPoetry is all about renewal and reunion. As we transition into spring, we should take comfort in the message of the season. The world seems dead for so long sometimes it feels like winter will never end, but the Spring always comes, and the earth always grows anew. As long as we're all together in spirit, the society that we long for will be waiting for us when it's safe again.

As we settle into the reality that we may be home longer than we bargained for, we want to look forward to the time when we'll all be together again. It's both easy to imagine and difficult to fathom all the gatherings we're missing, all the connections we won't be making this year, and yet it's at the forefront of our thoughts as we see opening dates extended further and further.

How are you thinking about it? (links will take you to the discussion boards)

A. Ready for reunion: “Boston Ode” by Porsha Olaywiola
B. Configuring the future: "A Ritual to Read to Each Other" by William E. Stafford

Configuring the future

This will be a discussion about "A Ritual to Read to Each Other" by William E. Stafford from The Way It Is: New and Selected Poems.

In this new largely digital society we find ourselves in, connecting with each other and navigating a way through society as a whole is something we find ourselves struggling to relearn. "A Ritual to Read to Each Other" talks about how we maintain society, but how does that look in a remote environment? How might what we learn from it translate into a post-lockdown society?

How does this poem make you think about the ways in which you see society connecting right now? How we diverge? What do you think the central message is and do you agree with it? In a time of misinformation and widespread panic, how important is it that we be clear and unified?

For the first week of #MITReadsPoetry, we're going to use some awesome poems to discuss frustration and isolation. For many of us, this situation changed so rapidly that it almost felt like whiplash trying to adjust from our former lives to the new daily flow. Temporary or not, we've found ourselves cut off from the outside world, and stuffed into our living situations which may or may not be well suited to spending entire days and nights. As the Covid-19 crisis continues, many of us find ourselves reaching out to others to find a way to cope with our isolation and frustrations. The importance of art in dark times cannot be overlooked.

We're asking that you use some of your time to engage with us and these poems, but really, we just want to know...

How are you feeling?: (links will take you to the discussion board)
A. Introspective: Playing Fetch with the Grim by Cam Kelley
B. Wary and/or Angry: Injury Music & Insurance by Ryan Eckes
C. Ready to take stock: Inventory for Spring by Wendy Xu

Introspective

This will be a discussion about "Playing Fetch with the Grim" (link out to poem) by Cam Kelley published by the literary journal Strange Horizons on March 2, 2020.

With so much time alone, or at least inside and doing significantly less work, some of us might have the time to be more contemplative, many of us are using this opportunity to learn more, cultivate new hobbies, and grow. In dark times, isolation and frustration will show us who we are, and we get to choose how we react. At least that's what I thought of when I read this poem.

How does this poem make you think about the way you're spending your time in isolation? How do you relate to the poem? What other self would you like to cultivate in this time? How does it feel to have so much time inside? How ready do you feel to "take the new skin" offered to you by this situation?

What questions or thoughts do you have?

Wary and/or Angry

This will be a discussion about "Injury Music" and "Insurance" (link) by Ryan Eckes from his book of poems called Wet Money.

We're all dealing with a constant barrage of information. The situation changes so quickly, the new information doesn't feel like it can ever be fully absorbed before something comes along that invalidates it. Government officials the world over are handling the crisis in ways that defy science, and we're all concerned about what we'll have available to us tomorrow.

In his poems, Eckes touches on how it feels to be isolated and frustrated through an approximately fiscal lens. How do you connect to this pair of poems in regards to the current climate? How well do you think these poems work together to cover these feelings? Is this frustration something that you're seeing in the wider world?

What questions or thoughts do you have?

Ready to take stock

This will be a discussion about "Inventory for Spring" (link out to poem) by Wendy Xu from the February 2017 issue of Poetry.

Spring has sprung, and we're all seeing it from the relative comfort of our own homes while everything still feels more like winter than ever. Frustrated and over-extended, it's nearly impossible to engage with all that is happening as it happens. Though this poem was written in 2017, it feels apropros for this moment in time.

The speaker of this poem shares their feelings of frustration and detachment during a season that usually represents new beginnings. Why do you think they feel this way? How do you relate to the speaker? How does spring feel different now that many of us are experiencing it alone and/or indoors? What are your expectations of spring and how do those expectations compare to your reality right now?

What questions or thoughts do you have?

Got the stay-at-home blues? Less and less to do the longer you practice social distancing? Nothing to read while the library is closed? In this trying and disconnected time, we invite you to join MIT Reads for a virtual National Poetry Month celebration!

Weekly, beginning April 1st, we will share poems selected by Libraries staff and lead a themed discussion for each. We encourage you to choose your own poetic adventure. Read as many or as few poems as you like and join the conversation as it feels right for you. Selected readings will be accessible electronically.

This is a space for more than just academic discussions, so feel free to invite your friends, your parents, your housemates, your cat, and your dog to read along and connect with others.
As John Keats said (in the Bright Star movie dialogue and not real life, but he totally would have), "Poetry soothes and emboldens the soul to accept mystery." Now seems as good a time as any for the soul to accept mystery, right?

We'll cap the celebration with a larger e-event for the community to connect, share their own works, and create something together. Event details TBD. Check back here later or subscribe to our mailing list for updates.

Looking for something else to keep you sharp? Try the MIT Reads 20 in 2020 reading challenge and expand your reading potential while you're stuck at home between binging episodes of Gilmore Girls.

This event is for you, our community. Please reach out to us if you have any thoughts, obscure poetry recommendations, theme suggestions, or other ideas! We're here for you.

Be well, go forth, and read!

-MIT Reads

This folder is for people who want to continue the discussion on our current MIT Read, There There by Tommy Orange OR start a completely new conversation!

When starting discussions, please keep in mind all our rules. While we welcome the discussion of controversial topics, please remember that hate speech of any kind will never be tolerated in this discussion group.

This book was chosen in partnership with MIT's Indigenous Peoples Advocacy Committee.

About the book
This “astonishing literary debut” of “pure soaring beauty” is “masterful…white hot…devastating” in its voicing of “twelve characters from Native communities: all traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow, all connected to one another in ways they may not yet realize.” “This chorus of voices tells of the plight of the urban Native American—grappling with a complex and painful history, with an inheritance of beauty and spirituality, with communion and sacrifice and heroism.”

This folder is for general open discussion of what you're reading. Feel free to respond in this thread or start one of your own!

Want to keep track of what you've read/want to read for your challenge? post it in this thread or start one of your own!

1. The MIT Reads Spring 2020 read

The Spring 2020 MIT Reads pick will be announced shortly! Keep your eyes peeled!


Happy Reading!

2. The MIT Reads Fall 2020 read

This book will be revealed in the Fall Semester so keep your eyes open!

Comment below with what you're reading, some additional suggestions, or questions about the challenge!

Happy Reading!

3. Any past MIT reads pick

For this challenge, pick one of our past reads!

Suggested Reads

Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More by Janet Mock
Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly
The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling
Dawn by Octavia E. Butler
"Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?": A Psychologist Explains the Development of Racial Identity by Beverly Daniel Tatum
A Cup of Water Under My Bed: A Memoir by Daisy Hernández

Comment below with what you're reading, some additional suggestions, or questions about the challenge!

Happy Reading!

4. Calm Under the Dome – A book about meditation, self-improvement, or eastern traditions

To help you stay grounded and balanced, the MIT Libraries host 30-minute silent meditations in the Barker Reading Room. Sessions are held every Monday at noon (excluding Institute holidays). Check out the events calendar for more information.

Sit for a minute, or stay for the full half-hour. Beginners welcome! We hope to see you there.

Suggested Reads

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
The Art of Happiness by Dalai Lama XIV
Finding Hope in the Darkness of Grief: Spiritual Insights Expressed Through Art, Poetry and Prose by Diamante Lavendar
The Myth of Freedom and the Way of Meditation by Chögyam Trungpa
The Miracle of Mindfulness: A Manual on Meditation by Thich Nhat Hanh
The Path To Awakening: How Buddhism's Seven Points of Mind Training Can Lead You to a Life of Enlightenment and Happiness by Shamar Rinpoché
Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings by Paul Reps
The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff
Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living by Pema Chödrön
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Comment below with what you're reading, some additional suggestions, or questions about the challenge!

Happy Reading!

5. Furry First Friday – A book featuring an animal

For years, the Furry First Friday program has taken place just outside of Hayden Library. The visiting dogs (from Dog BONES: Therapy Dogs of Massachusetts) come to campus for the first Friday of every month to encourage everyone in the MIT community to take a break and de-stress. With the closure of Hayden, Furry First Fridays will be moving to the Dewey Library.

Suggested Reads

Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron
Watership Down by Richard Adams
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
Animal Liberation by Peter Singer
Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows: An Introduction to Carnism: The Belief System That Enables Us to Eat Some Animals and Not Others by Melanie Joy
Pet Sematary by Stephen King
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Why Did the Chicken Cross the World?: The Epic Saga of the Bird that Powers Civilization by Andrew Lawler
Tense Bees and Shell-Shocked Crabs: Are Animals Conscious? by Michael Tye

Comment below with what you're reading, some additional suggestions, or questions about the challenge!

Happy Reading!

6. Rotch – A book about art and/or architecture

Originally built in 1938 as part of the William Barton Rogers Building designed by William Welles Bosworth with Harry J. Carlson. MIT’s Rotch Library of Architecture and Planning is one of the premier architecture libraries in the United States, supporting the first architecture program in the country. Rotch Library is also home to the Aga Khan Documentation Center, the GIS Lab, the Visual Collection and the Rotch Limited Access collections.

Although the library acquired an additional half floor of space in the mid-1950s, the collection had outgrown its 9,200 square-foot facility by the 1970s. However, its challenging site made plans for expansion difficult. A solution was proposed by Schwartz/Silver Architects – to suspend the floor from roof girders. These support the weight of the books from above, allowing the elimination of floor beams to maximize the narrow site. Six floors fit into the same space as the four of the original building, while still allowing for a 17-foot clearance for a truck turnaround below. A narrow, sky-lit atrium between the old building and the addition allows sunlight to reach offices and studios in the upper floors, mitigating entire elimination of views and natural light. The result is an addition that has been referred to as a ‘glass cage,’ which contains the stacks, limited-access collection, and exhibition gallery, while the renovated Bosworth building holds the main reading room and administrative offices.

Suggested Reads

The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro
The Little Blue Kite by Mark Z. Danielewski
Ways of Curating by Hans Ulrich Obrist
The Secret Lives of Color by Kassia St. Clair
Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers by Deborah Heiligman
The Poetics of Space by Gaston Bachelard
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
In Praise of Shadows by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki
The Power of Place: Urban Landscapes as Public History by Dolores Hayden
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

Comment below with what you're reading, some additional suggestions, or questions about the challenge!

Happy Reading!

7. Dewey – A book about money, business, and/or economics

The Dewey Library is located on the east end of campus, inside the Hermann Building. It is the primary library for MIT’s Sloan School of Management, the Department of Economics, and the Department of Political Science. Renovated in 2009, the first floor has large windows with ample natural light and a variety of seating. The upper and lower floors house collections, group study rooms and quiet study areas.

Suggested Reads

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries
Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg
You Are a Badass at Making Money: Master the Mindset of Wealth by Jen Sincero
Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping by and Get Your Financial Life Together by Erin Lowry
Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science by Charles Wheelan
Good Economics for Hard Times by Abhijit V. Banerjee
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

Comment below with what you're reading, some additional suggestions, or questions about the challenge!

Happy Reading!

8. Barker – A book featuring a powerful work of engineering

Located in the heart of campus, the Barker Engineering Library is home to one of MIT’s signature spaces. The main reading room of the Library is located on the fifth floor of Building 10, inside MIT’s Great Dome, and has served as a library reading room since 1916, when the Institute moved to Cambridge from Boston. Recent renovation work restored the Dome’s oculus, improved lighting and restored the colors of the original space.

Suggested Reads

The Design of Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman
The Great Wallby John Man
Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture by Ross King
Why Buildings Fall Down: Why Structures Fail by Matthys Levy
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age by W. Bernard Carlson
Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture by David Kushner
The Challenger Launch Decision: Risky Technology, Culture, and Deviance at NASA by Diane Vaughan
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson

Comment below with what you're reading, some additional suggestions, or questions about the challenge!

Happy Reading!

9. Lewis Music – A book about music or by a musician

The Music Library originally functioned as a music lounge when it opened in the Hayden Building (Building 14) in 1951. Over the years, this space evolved into a music library. The library was totally renovated in October 1996 when it was renamed the Rosalind Denny Lewis Music Library. The library acquires materials that support the music curriculum and serve the reference, research, and recreational needs of the MIT community.

Suggested Reads

This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession by Daniel J. Levitin
How Music Works by David Byrne
The Rose That Grew from Concrete by Tupac Shakur
Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein
Beautiful Losers by Leonard Cohen
Universal Harvester by John Darnielle
Girl in a Band by Kim Gordon
Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans by Louis Armstrong
Jazz by Toni Morrison
The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos

Comment below with what you're reading, some additional suggestions, or questions about the challenge!

Happy Reading!

10. Distinctive Collections – A book published prior to 1900 or a book about MIT

Distinctive Collections collects, preserves, and fosters the use of unique and rare materials such as tangible and digital archives, manuscripts, ephemera, artists’ books, and more. With these collections the Libraries seeks to cultivate an interest in the past, present, and future; the humanistic and the scientific; and the physical and the digital in order to inspire and enable research, learning, experimentation, and play for a diverse community of users.

Suggested Reads

Nightwork: A History of Hacks and Pranks at MIT by T.F. Peterson
Becoming Mit: Moments of Decision by David Kaiser
Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
Countless Connecting Threads: MIT's History Revealed Through Its Most Evocative Objects by Deborah G. Douglas
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
Beowulf
The History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth
Oedipus Rex by Sophocles
The Epic of Gilgamesh

Comment below with what you're reading, some additional suggestions, or questions about the challenge!

Happy Reading!

11. Library Storage Annex – A book you’ve been meaning to read for a long time

Because not every book MIT owns can fit on campus, the Library Storage Annex is a place just off campus that houses some of less-used volumes. In honor of our older volumes, we encourage you to get one of those older books off of your TBR (to be read) pile!

Suggested Reads

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell
Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Dune by Frank Herbert
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

Comment below with what you're reading, some additional suggestions, or questions about the challenge!

Happy Reading!