Common book finalized

A committee of students, faculty, and staff made the final book selection for the Common Book Project, selecting1 Dead in Attic: After Katrina, the New York Times bestseller by Chris Rose.  This is a memoir exploring Hurricane Katrina’s devastating aftermath in New Orleans.

The active goal of the Common Book Project (CBP) is to create a mass integration of all mediums, departments, and individuals in the DCCCD education system.  A single chosen “common” book, fiction or nonfiction, would be implemented across a wide array of curriculums, and faculty could use excerpts from the common book and apply them as specific concepts that directly relate to the subject.

“The Common Book Project is a college-wide, co-curricular project that aims to enrich the college experience of our students, faculty, and staff in a common intellectual experience,” Brown said in an email sent January 14, 2010.

“The college will be reading and discussing a common book.”

Brown said that as a compilation of newspaper articles, 1 Dead in Attic’s short chapter format makes it easy to implement in specific classes.

“It really cover many of the disciplines we teach here: science, history, sociology, psychology, education, transportation in general,” English professor Haryette Brown said. “It has elements that can be used in a variety of academic settings.  New Orleans itself is also rich; it has art, music, and a very special history and culture.”

 Interim vice president Michael Gutierrez gave the example of how to implement the book in the Auto Body discipline.  He said the flood waters’ effect on the local automobiles could be relevant for study.

Another criterion for selection was the author’s availability to come to the campus. 

“We have not yet negotiated an appearance by Chris Rose, but he appears to be willing to come to the campus to speak,” Brown said.

According to eastfieldcollege.edu, “The criteria [for the book selection] were set by faculty on the committee in a meeting in May 2009.  These criteria were selected based on disciplinary needs and experiences at Eastfield and other community colleges.”

The informational page went on to specify the criteria, which included requirement for the chosen book to be an adult-level piece, to be as of yet unavailable in a movie version, and to be either a memoir or a novel.