Dear Class of 2028 Students,
Each year the First Year Matters (FYM) Committee selects a common reading for the incoming class as an intellectual introduction to Wesleyan by soliciting from the community, texts and other media addressing important global issues. The FYM Committee has unanimously selected Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer as the First Year Matters Common Reading for the class of 2028.
The FYM 2028 program which is tentatively scheduled for Friday, August 30, 2024–keynote/Q&A from 1:30-2:30 and small groups discussions from 2:45-4:00 PM.
“As a botanist and professor of plant ecology, Robin Wall Kimmerer has spent a career learning how to ask questions of nature using the tools of science. As a Potawatomi woman, she learned from elders, family, and history that the Potawatomi, as well as a majority of other cultures indigenous to this land, consider plants and animals to be our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowing together to reveal what it means to see humans as “the younger brothers of creation”. As she explores these themes, she circles toward a central argument: The awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgement and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the world.” –Milkweed Editions
The Common Reading response is designed as a tool for you to begin articulating your synthesis of the book and will be made available to the faculty and staff that will be leading the group discussions during orientation. The submission deadline for the Common Reading responses is 5:00 pm on Friday, August 16. You will need to read the book and submit your response by this date in order to be fully prepared to engage with the material and get the most out of orientation.
If you have any questions, please be in touch with Dr. William Bisese, Dean for the Class of 2028, via classdean2028@wesleyan.edu or the Orientation Interns via orientation@wesleyan.edu. We hope that you enjoy this summer “reading” and we very much look forward to discussing the book with you. We are thrilled that you will be joining this wonderful community.
Here are the prompt questions:
1. What were your thoughts on the structure of the book and the metaphor of sweetgrass’ life cycle?
2. What creates a strong relationship between people and Earth?
3. How has your view of plants changed from reading this book? Do you consider them inanimate objects?
4. Do you feel we have created an imbalance with our symbiotic relationship with Earth?
NOTE: Response has a limit of 4,000 characters.
Sincerely,
Nicole Stanton
Vice President for Academic Affairs
Kevin M. Butler
Assistant Dean & Common Reading Chair