They're back....

The students, that is. I have always said that I love to see them go in the spring, but I also love to see them return in the fall. We have made it through orientation, a dessert for the returning WCFers, advising and registration, and the first class of First Year Seminar. My topic this year is "Behind Bars: Freedom through the Lens of Prison." We will look at the work of a variety of political/social prisoners from Socrates through Oscar Wilde to the 20th century representatives of Solzhenitsyn, Bonhoeffer, MLK Jr, Sayyid Qutb, el Sa'adawi, and Mandela. After doing some service learning at a juvenile attention center nearby with another seminar, we will read some "real criminals," including Mumia abu Jamal, some women from the York Correctional Prison in Conn, and Ken Lamberton (Razor Wire and Wilderness). We'll examine some metaphoric prisons (well, some people consider them prisons) of Islamic veiling, race/class/gender, physical disabilities and mental illness. And of course we'll write, write and write some more. I'm looking forward to it. My students seem engaged and I have wonderful student teaching apprentices to work with. I'll probably blog about some of our texts.

Now I just need to prepare for the annual backyard/deck picnic for the Wooster Christian Fellowship first years and returning students. Could be as many as 60....that will be Saturday evening.