The CBC! What is it? And what does it have to do with you?
The CBC or the Community Book Connection is a program created by faculty members to encourage students, teachers and faculty to each year, read the same book. This allows “classroom learning [to be] linked to real-life social issues and concerns.”
Did you know that you as a student or faculty member can vote for whichever book you are most interested in. For the 2020-2021 academic year, there are three books on the list of contenders. The first, “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous” by Ocean Vuong. The second, “The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History” by Elizabeth Kolbert. Finally, the third, “The Truth About Stories” by Thomas King.
“On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous” is a letter written by a son to his mother who cannot read. It is rooted in Vietnam while targeting American ideals. This book has undertones on: race, masculinity, and class, violence, addiction, and trauma. I think this book is really interesting because of its format. A personal letter from a child to a parent where the parent cannot understand its contents. If I had to write a deeply personal letter to my parents, it is not something that I would feel comfortable doing, sharing or even writing. So I think that this is an excellent candidate for the book of the year.
“The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History” focuses on the sixth extinction that the world is facing and its main cause is us, the human beings. Kolbert uses humor as a way to keep this book entertaining while also stating the facts by using experts in their fields as sources – marine biologists, scientists. I think that this book addresses something that people need to hear and continue to hear until they are convinced of it and want to put a stop to any more harmful practices that harm the earth and its inhabitants. I believe that this is an important issue and a very good choice for book of the year.
“The Truth About Stories” touches on how stories are interpreted different ways and how that affects how we interact with others. It focus on Native Indians and the stories they tell and the stories that are told about them. King focuses on the importance of storytelling as a whole and the responsibility that it carries. I think this is an interesting pick for book of the year because it brings a new perspective from a culture that we don’t get to hear from a lot.
I hope you are excited about what the book for the 2020-2021 academic year is going to be. Also, even if you are not in a class that will be require you to read one of these book, I still encourage you to read one or all of them. I think they all bring something interesting to the table with their diverse topics.
Below is a link taking you directly to the voting page where brief descriptions of the books are given and scrolling all the way down is where you can vote by plugging in your student/faculty ID number and simply voting.
http://faculty.ccbcmd.edu/cbc/2019-2020_threads/vote.php
