Maureen Devlin: Book Talk

 I had the chance to meet and talk with Randall Kennedy one fall Saturday as we watched our sons play football at a small Northeastern liberal arts college. Of course, I was honored to meet a Harvard Law School professor and curious about his perspectives. It was the fall of 2016. Kennedy predicted a Trump win. I was shocked to hear that, but later, as we all know, Trump was proclaimed the winner of the election.  After that meeting, I took note of Kennedy's work when it appeared in the newspaper or via conversation with others. I saw one of his books on display at a Minneapolis art installation and used his personal story of success to inspire my young elementary school students.  Recently when Kennedy's book, Say it Loud,  was published, I made a commitment to read it. The book sat on my bedstand for a few months, then I finally picked it up and started reading. While some of the book is difficult to grasp given the fact that I was not a law student, don't work in higher

 I'm starting my first book of 2022. It's Say it Loud  by Randall Kennedy .  Why am I reading this book? First, I've met Randall and his children. I am impressed and intrigued by their collective story and accomplishments. I respect Kennedy's investment in reading, writing, learning, advocating, lawyering, teaching and parenting. I want to learn from him in ways that open my eyes, broaden my perspective and prompt good effort going forward.  What do I expect? I'm not sure what to expect. Because of this, I listened to a recent NPR interview with Kennedy. The interview made me want to read the book more. How will I read the book? I'll take it chapter by chapter. I'm not sure if I'll power through many chapters at once or if I'll take it one chapter at a time. I'm not sure how much background research I'll have to do as I read the book, so I'll have my computer handy to look up words, facts, stories that he may refer to in his book that I d

 I have a very long book list and when the holidays pass, I'll begin reading all those books piled up next to my bed. In the meantime, I'm learning about many more books which I'll simply post here and perhaps read in the days ahead.

 During 2022, one of my main goals is to read more. Over time, good books have dramatically and positively affected my life. Now, a year-plus past my 34-year teaching career, it's time to learn a lot before I commit to new life paths, and the best way for me to learn right now is via reading good books.  It's more natural for me to be a tangental learner who multi-tasks by reading short articles, tweets and blog posts, listening to news shows and talking with all kinds of people to learn more and formulate my ideas and resulting action, but to truly learn in deep and meaningful ways, I have to commit good time to rich texts that respond to the questions I have about good living.  So, I've started this new blog to follow my 2022 reading goal, a goal that will make time to read books related to these questions: How can we rid our lives personally and collectively of the racism that causes so much heartache, pain and destruction? How can we live healthy lives? How can we rid s