The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is the title of the Southwest Common Book. By asking all students to share in reading a common book in the summer we hope to encourage discussions over a common experience. We do expect the book to be read at the end of summer and the start of the new school year.
Cultural differences and misunderstandings promotes discussions about who we are and what can we share from the strengthens of our own backgrounds and traditions. All of us are on a journey in one form or another. The idea of moving - whether forced or voluntary - is an emotional journey on which we can build understandings and relationships.
The book is dated having been written in the 90s about the 80s and which the author acknowledges. The difficulties of language, cultural and religious differences is real today as it was then. The book traces the family's plight through war, immigration, relocation, personal tragedy and the sickness of a child. Medicine, people's attitudes and blind prejudices are woven into a narrative of confusion, hope, trust and life. There are more questions than answers.
The book is worth the read and deserves dinner time conversation and self-reflection. This is a true story about real people and Minneapolis is mentioned frequently. This is not the tale of some distant situation. It is in our backyards and neighborhoods. It is a book for today.
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