Message to Campus from President Zingg

To:  Campus Community:

From:  Paul J. Zingg, President

The Book in Common for the next academic year (2009-2010) will be The Soloist: A Lost Dream, an Unlikely Friendship and the Redemptive Power of Music by Steve Lopez. The Soloist takes us to the streets of LA where newspaper columnist, Steve Lopez, encounters a homeless musician playing a two-stringed violin in a park by a statue of Beethoven.  Through a growing friendship with the musician, Nathaniel Ayres, Lopez begins a tentative and somewhat reluctant entry into the world of the homeless in LA and the difficult life of the mentally ill. 

The Soloist was selected by a committee of faculty, staff, and students who found this book to be a great read because it focuses on issues with which many of us come into contact with on a fairly frequent basis, but that few understand. In the process of reading The Soloist we explore issues of homelessness and mental illness and the difficulties that result when these two conditions coincide. Homelessness has been a persistent issue in our own community, though nowhere on the scale of Los Angeles, where an estimated 60,000 people live on the streets. The current economic downturn is sure to increase those numbers and strain the resources – public and private – available to help the homeless cope. The Soloist uses a powerful narrative to increase our understanding of the scope of this problem, as well as provide insight into conditions like schizophrenia and other mental illnesses that are poorly understood and often stigmatized.

The Book in Common has its foundation in the University’s First-Year Experience program. However, with last year’s book, Three Cups of Tea, the Book in Common expanded well-beyond a focus on first-year students to the entire community.  For Three Cups, our University partnered with Butte College, Butte County Public Libraries, and many others to make Three Cups not just a freshman read, but a community read.  We hope to accomplish the same with The Soloist.  Butte College was represented on the Book in Common committee, and has also adopted The Soloist as their Book in Common.  We will also reach out to other community partners: Chico Unified School District, the public libraries, Enloe Hospital, local media outlets, and booksellers – to promote the reading and discussion of The Soloist.  In short, all who want to work on promoting literacy, civic engagement, and a deeper understanding of homelessness and mental health in our community will be brought into this effort. 

Members of the Book in Common committee will be contacting deans, faculty, staff, students, and community members, in the coming weeks to share the book and search for interesting and creative ways to incorporate The Soloist into the fabric of campus and community life. Our goal is to inspire conversations, promote understanding, and move people to action in ways that improve the quality of life on our campus and in our community.

I encourage all members of the campus community to read The Soloist and to become an active part of the intellectual community that the Book in Common program aims to foster. Like me, I am sure you will enjoy taking part in the conversations and activities that emerge from the Book in Common program. Stay up to date with campus preparations for promoting debate, discussion, and reflection by checking the Book in Common Web page.  If you would like to work with the committee in helping to organize reading circles or other activities, or for ideas on how to incorporate The Soloist into the curriculum, contact Book in Common committee chair Bill Loker.

Thank you for helping to make the Book in Common an important part of our campus and our community.