All:

First, apologies for the delay in reaching out. The book club had a reportedly lovely meeting on May 18th to discuss Digging to America by Anne Tyler. 

On May 13th my husband and I welcomed our first child, a baby boy named Jack, who has completely monopolized our time since, but we've enjoyed every minute!

Chip Jerry communicated to me that it was decided at the May meeting to have one final meeting this spring and then take a hiatus in July and August. Additionally, he suggested that for the sake of time, we forgo the usual vote and instead have the group read Ta-Nehisi Coates' Between the World and Me. 

• In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of “race,” a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men—bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion. What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden?Between the World and Me is Ta-Nehisi Coates’s attempt to answer these questions in a letter to his adolescent son. Coates shares with his son—and readers—the story of his awakening to the truth about his place in the world through a series of revelatory experiences, from Howard University to Civil War battlefields, from the South Side of Chicago to Paris, from his childhood home to the living rooms of mothers whose children’s lives were taken as American plunder. Beautifully woven from personal narrative, reimagined history, and fresh, emotionally charged reportage, Between the World and Me clearly illuminates the past, bracingly confronts our present, and offers a transcendent vision for a way forward.

Unless there is significant conflict with the date, I will reserve a room on Wednesday, June 29th at 7pm for the next meeting. 

All the best,

Linsay

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To RSVP, please fill out the registration form here:
http://goo.gl/forms/oNSmZSRCOz5DJmKz2

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The Asian American Alumni Association of Princeton (A4P) invites you to join us for a visit to the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art on Saturday May 7, 2016 at 2:45pm on a group visit to the Asian Art at 100 campaign and tour of the Celebrating the Year of the Monkey exhibition.  Current exhibitions in Asian Art include Masterpieces of Chinese Painting from Song (960-1279) and Yuan (1271-1368) dynasties; Asian Art at 100: A History in Photographs; Encountering Vishnu: The Lion Avatar in Indian Temple Drama; expressionism exhibitions in Korean Nature; armor from Islamic World; and distinctive Japanese art in bird-and-flower painting and literature; and our trip will have a special guided tour of “Monkey Business: Celebrating the Year of the Monkey” which includes depictions of monkeys in painting, ceramics and jade.  I am certain we can find some tigers, too.

The MET (www.metmuseum.org) is located at 1000 Fifth Avenue, NY, NY 10028.  RSVP required by Thursday April 28 to Peter W. Park *99 (pwparkphd@gmail.com).  We will meet at the MET, further details will be provided to alumni and their guests who RSVP.  First RSVP, first served – tours have a max of 50 guests.  Cost: $31/adult, $24/senior, $16/student. Open to all Princetonians and their guests.

Any questions, please reach out to Peter W. Park *99 (pwparkphd@gmail.com, 201-838-8426)