Wesleyan FYM - Common Read 2021

Each year Wesleyan’s First Year Matters (FYM) program provides new students with a common reading experience and introduction to intellectual life at Wesleyan. This year’s Common Read for the class of 2021 is Citizen: An American Lyric, by MacArthur Foundation Genius grant–winning poet Claudia Rankine. Dr. Rankine delivered Wesleyan’s commencement address this past May and will return to campus during New Student Orientation in September. Citizen challenges readers to question their own assumptions about race, identity and civic belonging. Vice President for Student Affairs Mike Whaley describes the book of prose and poetry as a “powerful collection of observations about very subtle ways in which people with marginalized or minoritized identities experience the world, particularly through microaggressions.” We are enthusiastic about introducing Rankine’s work to the members of the Class of 2021, and we hope the larger Wesleyan community (and beyond!) will join us in reading, reflecting on and discussing Citizen. Learn more: http://bit.ly/WesFYM