All First Year Students participate in the First Year Reading Program. Adelphi's 2007 First Year Reading Book is The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen's Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear, by Paul Loeb. It is an anthology including essays, fiction and poetry.
All First Year Students enroll in a First Year Seminar during their first semester. The First Year Seminar courses cover a wide range of subjects connected by the theme they all address: self and society. This book was chosen for summer reading because it addresses the theme of self and society in a style that is engaging, informative, and scholarly.
The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen’s Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear is divided into 9 separate sections. You are encouraged to read the whole book this summer. You are required to read at least one entry in each section as listed below:
The Introduction (pages 1-14)
Section One: "Ordinary Resurrections" by Jonathan Kozol (pages 30-36)
Section Two: "The Dark Years" by Nelson Mandela (pages 73-81)
Section Three: "The Peace of Wild Things" by Wendell Berry (page 92)
Section Four: "Childhood and Poetry" by Pablo Neruda (pages 132-133)
Section Five: "Not Deterred" by Paxus Calta-Star (pages 196-197)
Section Six: "Curitiba" by Bill McKibben (pages 264-271)
Section Seven: "Behemoth in a Bathrobe" by Carla Seaquist (pages 298-301)
Section Eight: "Hope against Hope" by Nedezhda Mandelstam (pages 341-343)
Section Nine: "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou (pages 354-355)
All freshmen will complete a writing assignment (see page 4 of these directions) and will participate in a book discussion concerning the book on August 23rd.
Writing Assignment
To help provoke your thoughts, you must complete the following writing assignment and hand it in at the book discussion on August 23rd. There will also be an Essay Contest with a grand prize of a $250 gift card to the Barnes and Noble campus bookstore (further information about how to submit your essay to the contest will be mailed to you this summer).
Paul Loeb writes that his goal in creating this book is to
...model a process by which citizens can at times agree to disagree, even regarding highly consequential concerns, while joining in trying to heal our communities, our nation, and our planet. If you, as a reader, disagree with the views or actions of particular writers, that’s fine. You can still draw inspiration for the larger task of taking on the important issues of our time and continuing to do so despite the obstacles. Because in pursuit of that aim, we are all called to participate.
For Loeb, Hope is more than a personal or spiritual emotion; it is a means of social change and civil action. Perhaps surprisingly, Loeb implies that Hope allows for, and even demands, disagreement and conflict. Write a letter to Paul Loeb (300-1000 words) in which you discuss Loeb’s complex idea about the nature of Hope in light of the selections you have read from the text. How does Loeb challenge or alter your ideas about Hope?
Strive to elicit a response from Loeb by thoughtfully considering in detail at least one selection from the anthology and engaging him in the kind of open and constructive exchange of ideas that defines the academic spirit of intellectual curiosity. You may use the study questions (above) to inform your letter. The best letters will do more than simply agree or disagree with Loeb; they will offer new ideas or evaluations for his consideration. You are not expected to solve the problems raised in the book, but rather to continue the conversation in a productive way. No research is necessary or even encouraged; write from your own experience and convictions. However, any sources you do use should be duly if informally acknowledged in the letter. Plagiarism is not permitted at Adelphi.
If you wish, you may mail your letter to Mr. Loeb. Remember to bring it to the book discussion on August 23rd!
This page last modified on February 13, 2008.
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