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Guest Blogger: Keys to Community

Orange Is the New Black is a shining example of how a bad, some would even say terrible, situation is turned into something that is a part of you. Something that teaches you life lessons and builds friendships that you would never have made unless the situation was thrust upon you. Piper Kerman’s past caught up with her. Even if she had a minor role in the entire operation, it was ultimately her decision that put her in that situation. This is important as you are heading into college to remember that every decision you make has an impact upon your time here. This does not have to be seen as a negative thing! Let’s say that you join that club or you apply for that position you didn’t think you would get. Getting involved can drastically change your experience here at UMass for the better. But on the flip-side, if you make a poor decision; such as sleeping through that exam, or missing that deadline then it can have a negative impact upon your career. So make your choices wisely!

Again though, no matter what situation we are placed in it is going to shape us. For Piper, she ended up in a less than favorable situation but she still made the best of it. She made a lot of friends and met people she wouldn’t have otherwise in the time that she spent at the prison. She also built a sense of community there. A support structure of people that helped make the time that she spent there more bearable, and experience new things that made it worthwhile. As a first year student, it is imperative that you find a support structure while you are here at UMass. While this is a large campus, there is a niche for everyone here and there is no reason that you should be facing anything alone. Whether it be a community with your floor, with your class, or even a relationship that you make with a student leader or a professor, finding a sense of community is essential for human needs as well as it will make your time at college that much better!

Elements of a good community are as follows:

1. An open and inclusive environment.

2. A common interest or purpose.

3. Trust!

Inclusiveness and an open mind work in tandem, and they create a sense of community that is inviting as well as judgement free. People should not have to ever feel like they are going to be treated differently for anything about themselves. Keeping an open mind will help to prevent biases and prejudices from affecting what you think about other people.

Common interests create common goals and make a sense of unity within people. This can be anything from trying to create a community to taking part in a RAP or floor events!

Trust is of the utmost importance. You cannot build a community without it. People within a community need to trust each other in order to feel safe, as well as know that everything being done is for their best interests.

While I hope that none of you ever end up in the same situation as Piper, I hope that all everyone can take away the life lessons that she learned while she was in prison. Making wise decisions, making the best out of a bad situation, and the importance of community. All of these can be applied to your time here at UMass, as well as your every day life.

Andrew Cho is a senior Accounting Major and serves as a Peer Mentor in the Orchard Hill Residential Area. 
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Common Read Heads to China!

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As our over 5000 new undergraduates make their preparations to head to Amherst in just a few short weeks, we are excited to announce that Common Read will also be doing some traveling! As you can see from the image above, Common Read is heading to Beijing and Shanghai along with the UMass Alumni Association. In an effort to welcome our more than 75 new UMass students coming to us from China, UMass alumni in China will be hosting two separate Summer Send-Off events to assist our students as they make their transition abroad. Aside from the opportunity to begin to engage with our UMass family, these students will be provided with their copies of the 2014 Common Read, Orange is the New Black. We are excited to begin the discussion and continue building community abroad!

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Even though we’re different . . .

Orange is the New Black is filled with characters from a plethora of backgrounds and vastly different personalities. Yet, at the heart of the story, Piper begins to understand the connections that bind the women together and allow them to create a complex community incorporating each of those differences.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRSdWTFdnZ8[/youtube]

As Shawnee notes in the video “We’re all the same, even though we’re different”. What are the differences that you carry with you and how do they help strengthen your relationships with others? How does your identity help you to build those relationships – especially when entering a new community like UMass?

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Guest Blogger: Archipelago Rather Than Island

We often take for granted most of the connections we have in our lives. Today, it is common to find people of the mentality that life is meant for living and enduring alone. I’ve heard on numerous occasions people saying that their problems and situations are their own personal matters and that nobody else ought nor can assist them in any way, shape, or form. To some degree, this idea is rational: why should anyone try to bail me out when I myself have gotten myself into a mess due to my own incompetence? This situation is commonplace in nature, throughout the five kingdoms and three domains: one fends for oneself. In her memoir Orange Is The New Black, Piper Kerman reflects that her mentality prior to incarceration was “…the not-novel concept that we are each alone in the world…some parts self-reliance, some parts self-protection, this belief offers a binary perspective—powerhouse or victim, complete responsibility or total divorcement, all in or out the door” (292).

Be that as it may, though, let us not forget what we learned in elementary school about the buddy system as well as what biologists have discovered in the wild about altruism. Communities exist for mutual benefit. People tend to help each other our through life; on the whole, this altruistic mentality brings about good not only for the individual being helped but also for the entire community, instilling a sense of hope in each member. Communities are support systems made up of a myriad of intertwining connections between people and organizations. These connections must never be taken for granted and are constant and consistent reminders of the fact that we are not, in fact, alone fending for ourselves in the world. They exist as part of a spectrum, ranging from the ever-so-fleeting glance and “Good morning” at fellow passersby on the sidewalk to the deep bonds one forms between close family and friends.

However, no matter how superficial a connection may seem, it has a special impact upon one’s life. Our connections teach us each situation in which we find ourselves throughout life are just temporary issues which will pass. They offer words of wisdom or cheerful encouragement when we find ourselves in tough times. In this sense, connections to family and friends are key, as it is these relationships which we are able to consider as being nonjudgmental and totally supportive; family and friends inherently are those who look out for us and our well-being and it is they who we consider top priority in our own daily lives.

As Ms. Kerman relates in her memoir, she discovers during her time in prison that it was not her long-held belief in self-reliance that helped her through her sentence, but rather it was the connections she made with her fellow prisoners. She says, “Small kindnesses and simple pleasures shared were so important, whether given or received, regardless of what quarter they came from, that they brought home to me powerfully that I was not alone in this world, in this life…I could connect—perhaps with anyone” (292-293). Ms. Kerman details the various special connections she has with her fellow prisoners; each one impacts her in a unique and important way. She also details that her friends and family from home were a major support source during her time as well, relating that their visits and correspondence were essential to her well-being.

In the college-context, familial and friendly connections from home are much more important than one would assume them to be so; upon starting college, you essentially enter your first phase of adulthood of being on your own in terms of responsibility and decision-making. Connections from home become especially important when you are surrounded by unfamiliarity. At the same time, it is key to forge new relationships with the many unfamiliar faces: an immediate support system soon develops. You never know when you may need to call upon a favor nor do you know when someone else could ask you for a hand. For this reason, all of these connections must be sustained. In college, one especially important connection is between students and professors; students must not be afraid to participate during lectures or lab sections, but should be interactive and attentive. In this manner, connections are being made for future advancement, like job offers or future studies. Throughout the four years one spends at the university, one gains knowledge and life skills, but most importantly a huge web of connections to all sorts of people, a rather large support system.

Ultimately, we return to the idea of self-reliance. Are we meant to sustain only our own lives and separate ourselves entirely from others? No, we are not. Rather, we must immerse ourselves in the community, understanding our part in the world, while also relating to others, creating connections which can last a lifetime. These connections allow us to gain perspective on our role in the world, and also provide us with necessary support when we are facing tough times. As the English poet John Donne said, “No man is an island”. Rather, we must be more of an archipelago: a chain of closely spaced islands, each having their own unique place, but also sharing the world with others.

Aishwarya Vishwanath is a junior Biochemistry and Molecular Biology major and serves as a Peer Mentor in the Southwest Residential Area. 
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UPDATE! Common Read Essay Contest

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Hello, hello!

It’s that time of year again and we are happy to announce that the Common Read Essay Contest is ready for submissions!

The Prompt:

Piper Kerman’s story is a window into a world most readers have never seen before. With each person she meets, Piper struggles with critical issues for understanding what it means to be a part of her new community: race, gender, socioeconomic class, sexual orientation, power, and privilege. This book is an invitation to reflect on how everyone’s stories intersect but are also shaped and informed by those larger social issues, too. How does Piper’s experience illuminate the opportunities and challenges ahead, as you begin to live and work with people from different cultures and experiences at UMass Amherst?

The Rules

  1. All fall 2014 new incoming undergraduate students are eligible to enter.
  2. Essays should be between 3-5 pages long, or approximately 750-1,250 words, typed, double-spaced, with one-inch margins and 12-point type.
  3. Direct quotations from Orange is the New Black should be appropriately marked and cited, with page numbers in parentheses.
  4. The first page of the essay should include your name, campus address, phone number, and UMass email address.  Please give your essay a title.
  5. Essays should be submitted electronically as an email attachment (either PDF or Word) to commonread@sacl.umass.edu .
  6. Essays must be received no later than Monday, September 1st, 2014, at 5:00 pm EST.

The Prizes!

  • Gift card from the University Store
  • Write-up in The Daily Collegian
  • Recognition and essay publication on the Common Read blog
  • Announcement at the Piper Kerman dinner event
  • Certificate of recognition

So, now that you have the details it’s time to get writing or, if you haven’t started reading, you can get on that too!

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Guest Blogger: Adapting to New Cultures and Customs

While reading Orange is the New Black, I thought a lot about the ways in which Piper’s prison sentence challenged her to adapt to an entirely new way of living. This made me also think about the ways in which I myself have at times entered a new environment and had to learn the nuances of how to thrive in those circumstances. The immediate example I think of is college. As a first-generation student (meaning: neither of my parents went to college), I moved into my dorm room and started classes feeling overwhelmed and thinking that I would never “fit in” with my new surroundings. I was confused by the language that professors were using, I felt inundated with administrative tasks, and I became frustrated by the amount of unspoken college customs that my peers seemed to pick up on naturally (apparently, it was massively “uncool” to use a tray in our dining hall). Ten days in and I was convinced that I had made the wrong decision in going to school and decided I should probably go home.

By the end of the first month, however, things got progressively easier. I started making friends and becoming more familiar with the way things worked on campus. I challenged myself to meet with professors during office hours and attend student events. I got to know the people who worked in the dining hall and library. I even got a fun job on campus, working in the video editing lab. The rest of the semester went by quickly and I found myself legitimately sad to go home for winter break. Since then, I have been lucky enough to make a career out of helping students find their way in college.

Going to prison is obviously very different than going to college, but the process of entering a new environment and learning how adapt is often similar regardless of the specific circumstance. We, like Piper, are forced to re-think our perspectives, rely on the help of others, and grow in our resilience. We learn a lot about ourselves while doing so. I find Piper’s story particularly inspirational because of how many human connections she made and how her experience in prison helped her understand the depth of the lives of a population of people that is often stereotyped and misunderstood. In this way, Piper shows readers that she not only learned how to survive the physical structure of prison, but also grew in her understanding of the incarcerated population while learning a lot about herself as well.

As we look at every new experience as an opportunity to learn and grow, we soon realize that our capacity for both is huge. Sometimes it is bigger than we ever thought.

 Guest post by Adam Ortiz, Learning Communities Specialist
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Seeing the good

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKYYb0bGn28[/youtube]

Orange is the New Black is full of individuals from diverse backgrounds with a wide array of personalities. Piper’s journey through her 15-month sentence allows her to engage with people she likely would never have known. While your journey at UMass will definitely be different from Piper’s there is at least one commonality your journeys share and that will be the opportunity meet people you may never have had the opportunity to meet. So what are you looking for as you build your relationships? How do you get passed initial appearances to learn about the person inside and really understand where they’re coming from and who they are?

Can you see the good in people?

 

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Guest Blogger: The Cheesecake Connection

As someone who has an affinity for baked goods in general and has been coined the ‘Cheesecake Queen’ of my family, I found the concept of prison cheesecake to be an ironic metaphor throughout the book. Food brought women of all cultures and backgrounds together during their stay in prison. For Piper, these women became her family while inside. One of the most important connections Piper made while in prison was Pop, who happened to be the prison cook. This may be relatable for many of you since the focal point of many family gatherings is the meal. We as a culture regularly share our hopes, dreams, aspirations, and life struggles over food. We as humans work to create connections with others and when we are in a vulnerable place in our lives is when we rely the most on those connections developed. Why would this be any different inside prison?

For the prison cheesecake recipe, check out page 150. I have not tried this recipe yet, but hope to for my next large family gathering. Bon appetite!

Guest post by Karen Magness-Pokornowski, Learning Communities Specialist

 

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The Community Connection

We’re now part way through the summer. Some of you may have started reading (and even finished). Some of you may be trying to work your way through the Netflix series (I hear season 2 is pretty darn good). Some of you may still be patiently waiting to come to Summer NSO!

Regardless of where you are right now, one of the things that we want to make sure you connect with is, well, each other. While Common Read might seem a little bit like a simple summer reading project it is so much more than that. Right now, staff and faculty from across campus are working together to make sure that this experience is one that will engage you academically and socially. It’s not just about reading a book but sharing that experience with other first-year students, staff living and working with you in your residence hall and faculty members throughout campus. It’s about sharing that experience to build a community that you will be a vital part of!

Check out this short clip and hear what some of your fellow students have to say. As you read Orange is the New Black, I encourage you to think about how community plays out in the book and what you want your community here at UMass to be like. Be sure to leave your thoughts below or tweet us at @UMassCommonRead. Promise we’ll get back to you!

[youtube]http://youtu.be/yop1YVioriE[/youtube]