Posted in CT State.
- Temp Last Modified:
2024-10-18
CT State Norwalk’s Common Read Program’s mission is to provide first-year students with a shared, enjoyable, academic experience that introduces them to an educational community where intellectual discourse is fostered and valued.
This year's Common Read is Ocean Vuong's Time is a Mother. See past year Common Reads.
Common Read 2024-2025
Time is a Mother
Ocean Vuong
The 2024-2025 CT State Norwalk Common Read text is a collection of poems that speak to themes of family history, grief, loss, memory, and American identity. These poems are at once deeply personal as Vuong reckons with the death of his mother, and communal as he writes of New England, love, and survival. The experimental form and language these poems take can be playful, pointed, and unexpected. Be open to considering why each poem takes its particular shape, just as we consider as a community how both healing and haunting can live on the page.
Reading these poems as a community invite us into discussion of shared and divergent identities and beliefs, each of which creates ways of knowing ourselves and others that is more accepting, more inclusive, and more cognizant of the need for community building today.
Vuong immigrated to Connecticut from Vietnam as a child and attended Manchester Community College at the beginning of his academic career. He received the T.S. Eliot Prize in 2017, was a 2019 MacArthur fellow, and received an honorary degree from Manchester Community College in 2023.
Learn More
Writer, professor, and photographer, Ocean Vuong is the author of On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, winner of the American Book Award, The Mark Twain Award, and The New England Book Award. The novel debuted for six weeks on The New York Times bestseller list and has since sold more than a million copies in 40 languages. A nominee for the National Book Award and a recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” Grant, he is also the author of the poetry collections Time is a Mother, a finalist for the Griffin prize, and Night Sky with Exit Wounds, a New York Times Top 10 Book, winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Whiting Award, the Thom Gunn Award. A Ruth Lilly fellow from the Poetry Foundation, his honors include fellowships from the Lannan Foundation, the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, The Elizabeth George Foundation, The Academy of American Poets, and the Pushcart Prize.
Selected by Foreign Policy magazine as one of its 100 Leading Global Thinkers, Vuong’s writings have been featured in The Atlantic, Granta, Harpers, The Nation, New Republic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Paris Review, The Village Voice, and American Poetry Review, which awarded him the Stanley Kunitz Prize for Younger Poets.
Born in Saigon, Vietnam and raised in Hartford, Connecticut in a working class family of nail salon and factory laborers, he was educated at nearby Manchester Community College before transferring to Pace University to study International Marketing. Without completing his first term, he dropped out and enrolled at Brooklyn College, where he graduated with a BA in Nineteenth Century American Literature. He subsequently received his MFA in Poetry from NYU.
He currently splits his time between Northampton, Massachusetts and New York City, where he serves as a Professor in Modern Poetry and Poetics in the MFA Program at NYU.
Additional Resources (Libguide)
Fall 2024 Common Read Week Schedule
Join us for several shared learning experiences as we explore the themes highlighted in Ocean Vuong’s Time is a Mother. Events are open to all students and the community. We hope to see you there!
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Time: 8 a.m.
Event Title: Flavors of Vietnam
Description: Join us for a culinary journey through Vietnam’s vibrant and diverse flavors! Learn about the cultural significance of some traditional Vietnamese foods while enjoying the rich, aromatic tastes that make Vietnamese cuisine so unique.
Location: W121
Time: 9:30 a.m.
Event Title: Exploring LGBTQ+ Identities & Allyship
Description: This interactive session will engage students in a thorough overview of the LGBTQ+ community, from terms and definitions to exploring how social norms and expectations about gender and sexuality affect each of us, including how other intersecting identities such as race and ethnicity, culture, language, and more come into play. Students will have the opportunity to reflect on how their own backgrounds and experiences impact how they show up in the world, particularly in how inclusion and affirmation help all of us as individuals and communities – whether we are allies or members of the LGBTQ+ community ourselves.
Location: E230 and Virtual (password: CommonRead2)
Time: 12:30 p.m.
Event Title: Time for Trivia!
Description: It’s time for trivia! Team up with two or more friends and put your Ocean Vuong and Time is a Mother knowledge to the test. Join us for an exciting competition against fellow students, answer engaging book-related questions, and compete for a chance to win a gift card!
Location: GENRE Forum
Time: 2 p.m.
Event Title: Loss, Grief and Bereavement
Description: This workshop will focus on many types of separation and loss, including but not limited to death, divorce, retirement and identity. The cognitive and emotional response to these experiences will also be a focus of the presentation.
Location: E230
Time: 2 p.m.
Event Title: Collaborative Poetry Slam
Description: Join us for a dynamic, interactive event where student poets will work together in teams to create original poetry. This event emphasizes teamwork, creativity, and synergy. Participants collaborate to blend their voices, styles, and perspectives into a unified piece of art.
Location: Virtual (password: CommonRead24)
Time: 4 p.m.
Event Title: Poetry in Practice
Description: This workshop will offer a chance to explore basic tools for reading and engaging with poems. Participants will have an opportunity to discuss one or two of Ocean Vuong’s poems and begin to write a poem of their own!
Location: Library
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Time: 8 a.m.
Event Title: One “Neo/Nail” at a Time: How Vietnamese Refugees and Immigrants Rebuild Lives in the Aftermath of War and Displacement
Description: In the wake of war, post-war displacement, and international migration, many Vietnamese refugees and immigrants have managed to rebuild their lives through a surprising path—the nail salon. This presentation traces the genesis and impacts of the Vietnamese nail salon industry across the US and beyond. It centers the stories of Vietnamese women and men, whose labor, innovations, dignity, and sacrifices have built and sustained families and communities across borders, making many dreams possible. In conversation with Ocean Vuong’s “Amazon History of a Former Nail Salon Worker,” this presentation is an ode to the nail salon workers in the Vietnamese diaspora.
Location: GENRE Forum
Time: 9:30 a.m.
Event Title: Time for Trivia!
Description: It’s time for trivia! Team up with two or more friends and put your Ocean Vuong and Time is a Mother knowledge to the test. Join us for an exciting competition against fellow students, answer engaging book-related questions, and compete for a chance to win a gift card!
Location: GENRE Forum
Time: 11 a.m.
Event Title: Understanding Grief
Description: This workshop will help you understand what grief is, how you work through it and what makes it more difficult to navigate…A practical response to a complicated issue that everyone will encounter at some point in their lives.
Location: W121
Time: 12:30 p.m.
Event Title: Understanding Grief
Description: This workshop will help you understand what grief is, how you work through it and what makes it more difficult to navigate…A practical response to a complicated issue that everyone will encounter at some point in their lives.
Location: W121
Time: 5:30 p.m.
Event Title: Exploring LGBTQ+ Identities & Allyship
Description: This interactive session will engage students in a thorough overview of the LGBTQ+ community, from terms and definitions to exploring how social norms and expectations about gender and sexuality affect each of us, including how other intersecting identities such as race and ethnicity, culture, language, and more come into play. Students will have the opportunity to reflect on how their own backgrounds and experiences impact how they show up in the world, particularly in how inclusion and affirmation help all of us as individuals and communities – whether we are allies or members of the LGBTQ+ community ourselves.
Location: W105
Past Common Reads
2023
Callings by Dave Isay
Mark your calendars and prepare to dive into a world of inspiration at our Common Read Events!
Join us as we explore the captivating stories and insights of individuals who’ve discovered their true passion and purpose in fields as diverse as accounting, education, hospitality, media, non-profits, psychology, social work, marketing, and beyond!
Save the date, and get ready to be inspired like never before. See you on March 18th and 19th!
Keynote: Stories of Purpose and Passion with StoryCorps
Monday March 18 at 9:30 a.m., Room E-230
Keynote Speaker: Emily Janssen, StoryCorps Director of Learning & Engagement
Emily Janssen has been a part of StoryCorps’ “corps” for almost a decade. She has facilitated, recorded, and archived over 500 conversations with StoryCorps, and trained thousands of others to do the same. As the Director of Learning & Engagement, Emily designs programs and builds partnerships to bring StoryCorps’ stories and interview model into classrooms and communities across the country. During her tenure at StoryCorps, she traveled with StoryCorps’ mobile recording booth for 18 months, recording and archiving conversations between everyday people from coast to coast.
About StoryCorps:
StoryCorps is committed to the idea that everyone has an important story to tell and that everyone’s story matters. Our mission: to help us believe in each other by illuminating the humanity and possibility in us all — one story at a time. Since our founding in 2003, we’ve helped nearly 700,000 people across the country have meaningful conversations about their lives. These recordings are collected in the U.S. Library of Congress and in our online archive which is now the largest single collection of human voices ever gathered.
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Time: 8 a.m.
Event Title: Find your Path, Live your Calling – Speed Networking Event
Description: Discover the secret to loving your job! Join us and learn from professionals who have found passion and fulfillment in their careers. Join us for this interactive networking event and hear from professionals, including alumni, who love their work in Hospitality, Human Resources, Education, Psychology, Accounting, Data Science, and more.
Locations: Culinary Arts Dining Room (W121)
Hosted by Tatianna Williams Ascott
Time: 9:30 a.m.
Event Title: Stories of Purpose and Passion with StoryCorps (KEYNOTE)
Description: Come together for an hour of listening as StoryCorps share stories of everyday people talking about the significance of their work, and their paths to finding purpose. Hear recordings of individuals featured in the book Callings, and additional stories from StoryCorps’ vast archive. StoryCorps staff will share lessons she’s learned about a life well lived from decades of listening to people talk about the things that matter most in their lives.
Location: E-230
Keynote: Emily Janssen
Time: 11 a.m
Event Title: Trivia is Calling
Description: Trivia is CALLING you and two or more of your friends to brush up on your CALLINGS knowledge! Come and answer some fun and book related questions for a chance to compete and win gift cards!
Location: E-230
Hosted by: Karla Smith
Time: 12:30 p.m.
Event Title: Tell YOUR Story
Description: In the spirit of StoryCorps, students will record interviews with one another about doing something they love. The discussions will be recorded on podcast equipment and shared on a podcast site.”
Location: E115
Hosted by Julie Casper Roth
Time: 5:30 p.m.
Event Title: Discover Your Calling
Description: An interactive card game developed to help participants focus on the skills, values, and interests that makes the unique. Students will have to think on their feet while being challenged to explore who they are.
Location: E-210
Hosted by Pracilya Titus
Time: 7 p.m.
Event Title: “You” Studio: Life Design and Starting Where You Are
Description: Life Design is a concept that helps us tackle the wicked problems of figuring out who we are and what we want to do with our lives by using design thinking. Through hands-on activities, planning with a bias to action, and collaborating with others, we will discover more about the ‘authentic you’ and find your own calling in life.
Location: W-105
Hosted by Stephen Kittredge
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Time: 8 a.m.
Event Title: Trivia is Calling
Description: Trivia is CALLING you and two or more of your friends to brush up on your CALLINGS knowledge! Come and answer some fun and book related questions for a chance to compete and win gift cards!
Location: E-230
Hosted by Karla Smith
Time: 9:30 a.m.
Event Title: “You” Studio: Life Design and Starting Where You Are
Description: Life Design is a concept that helps us tackle the wicked problems of figuring out who we are and what we want to do with our lives by using design thinking. Through hands-on activities, planning with a bias to action, and collaborating with others, we will discover more about the ‘authentic you’ and find your own calling in life.
Location: E-230
Hosted by Stephen Kittredge
Time: 11 a.m.
Event Title: Callings: An Improvisational Odyssey!
Description: Please join the Acting I & Acting II students in an immersive improv journey based on readings from the book Callings. Audience members will be asked for suggestions for scenes and be invited to participate in theatre games based around various professions.
Location: E-108
Hosted by Sabrina Stoker
Time: 12:30 p.m.
Event Title: Tell YOUR Story
Description: In the spirit of StoryCorps, students will record interviews with one another about doing something they love. The discussions will be recorded on podcast equipment and shared on a podcast site.”
Location: E115
Hosted by Julie Casper Roth
Time: 2 p.m.
Event Title: Discover Your Calling
Description: An interactive card game developed to help participants focus on the skills, values, and interests that makes the unique. Students will have to think on their feet while being challenged to explore who they are.
Location: W-105
Hosted by Pracilya Titus
Time: 4 p.m.
Event Title: “You” Studio: Life Design and Starting Where You Are
Description: Life Design is a concept that helps us tackle the wicked problems of figuring out who we are and what we want to do with our lives by using design thinking. Through hands-on activities, planning with a bias to action, and collaborating with others, we will discover more about the ‘authentic you’ and find your own calling in life.
Location: E-230
Hosted by Stephen Kittredge
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2022
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