Chaparral 2022-2023: 31.5 What Are You Reading?

"All my knotted-up life I’ve longed for the sanity and simplicity of knowing who’s good and who’s bad. I’ve wanted to know this about myself as much as anyone. This was not theological. It was strictly relational. God could do what he wanted with eternity. I was just trying to make it here in the meantime."  –Beth Moore 

New York Times bestselling author and preacher Beth Moore explores the toxicity in her family and the church in her vulnerable-yet-witty memoir All My Knotted-Up Life. With equal parts candor and sensitivity, she explores the years of childhood sexual abuse she endured from her church-going father and the sexism she faced in the Southern Baptist Convention throughout her 40 years in public ministry. Her memoir discusses everything from mental health and marriage to politics and parenting, focusing on her specific lived experiences while discussing the broader historical contexts they happened in. Moore's life embodies what it means to be resilient and endure traumatic events while reminding us that the ties that bind us to God and each other are found in our messy humanity. 

Michelle Stonis
History

What are you reading? The Backyard Fairies by ME! Arianne MacBean, Adjunct Faculty, VPA

Great book for kids, families, grandparents, and gifts! This magical children's story is based on the author's true life encounter with backyard fairies as a young girl. Hand painted illustrations highlight a sense of wonder and mystery. A great book for children and their families who love nature, imaginative play, and creativity.

Arianne MacBean
Dance

I’m thinking of investing in an electric car, and before doing so, decided I should read a book called Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives by Siddharth Kara. It is a sobering look at the source of the crucial element that powers our electronic devices and cars, and the devastating impact on the lives of the “artisanal miners” who do most of the hard labor to enable this clean energy revolution, while reaping none of the benefits. I believe the book to be carefully researched and well written (although certainly with an agenda, to effect meaningful change in the industry).  

Maria Kretzmann
Biology

I'm currently reading The Liars' Club, a memoir by one of my favorite poets, Mary Karr. (It'll be available for checkout at  our library just as soon as I return it!) While not a new book, this exquisitely crafted text is worth a read. Karr writes about her tumultuous childhood being reared by an alcoholic mother and sometimes absent father. If you enjoyed Jennette McCurdy's I'm Glad My Mom Died (as much as one can enjoy reading about toxicity and abuse), then you'll enjoy Karr's book. 

Margaret Lopez
Library

I'm reading (and produced!) our latest GCC Insider, a magazine project of the Journalism Department aimed at covering exciting people, events and programs on campus. I hope our esteemed GCC community will check it out, too.

This Spring/Summer 2023 issue of The Insider features articles on GCC's new Parker Award recipient, alumnus Andy Reid's Super Bowl victory, fare-less transportation for college students, GCC's women's basketball successes, a soon-to-be alumna's retrospective piece on utilizing campus DSPS and other resources, information about our upcoming Student Research Symposium, our new Pulitzer Center Consortium Fellow, a piece on a successful author alumna who fondly recalls her GCC days, and more.

A digital version can be read here: https://bit.ly/GCCInsider2023 

Physical copies are available around select campus newsstands. More copies are available outside of Sierra Vista 130. Please note copies are first-come, first-serve.

Reut Cohen Schorr
Journalism