2008 Common Reading Initiative Guide
Introduction & Guide
About the Common Reading Initiative
Welcome to the JSC community! Your decision to attend the Johnson State College is the first step in exploring a world of new ideas and experiences. That exploration begins today when you open 1 dead in attic by Chris Rose.
As a first-year student, you will be participating in the college’s Common Reading Initiative, a program of lectures, discussions, exhibits, films and concerts that complement the book.
History of the Initiative
We’ve designed the program to introduce you to the academic and intellectual culture of the college through a common reading experience. A committee of faculty, staff and current JSC students met this spring to choose a book for the entire incoming class to read during the summer. This fall, you will have many opportunities to share and compare ideas about the common book. Your Peer Orientation Leaders, as well as many faculty and staff, will also have read 1 Dead in Attic , providing a broad base for discussion and integration into the JSC community.
About the Book
Chris Rose's chronicle of post-Katrina New Orleans, 1 dead in attic. The collection freeze-frames New Orleans — a city caught during its most desperate time — as it struggles out of the floodwaters and wills itself back to life. In commenting on the book, one reviewer wrote: "Celebrated as a local treasure and heaped with national praise, Rose provides a rollercoaster ride of observation, commentary, emotion, tragedy and even humor —in a way that only he could find in a devastated wasteland. They are stories of the dead and the living, stories of survivors and believers, stories of hope and despair. And stories about refrigerators."
The Guide
Letter from President Murphy
About the Author & Book
Fall 2008 Common Reading-Related Events
New Orleans
Hurricane Katrina
Questions to Guide Your Reading
Online Resources