The week's buzz

Aug 22, 2006

Chapel Hill is buzzing with activity this week as the university gets set to start a new academic year.

Yesterday, I played my part by serving as a discussion leader for the Carolina Summer Reading Program. The book, as I mentioned here, was Jhumpa Lahiri’s most excellent tale of immigration, identity, family traditions and naming conventions. Ten incoming first-year students joined me for a conversation about the book and our own lives and upbringings.

Today, I went to the retirement community Carol Woods to pitch my StoryBlogging idea to a group of seniors. David Lorenc from Playmakers Repertory Theater was there with me to talk about our collaboration. At Carol Woods, the five residents we met with had a healthy dose of skepticism—“Who’s going to be interested in our oral histories?”—but warmed up to the idea of spending a few hours in conversation with my fellow bloggers.

I’ll be posting more about this opportunity over at BlogTogether and StoryBlogging, but if you’re interested in participating, let me know. We’ll pair up with the seniors at Carol Woods, independently meet three times over the next couple of months, and listen to their stories. And then blog or podcast those stories. Should be fun. The few stories I heard today—one woman attended the Nuremberg Trials, another man rode an elephant during a tiger hunt—were enlightening and entertaining.

Tomorrow, the science writers book club convenes to discuss Omnivore’s Dilemma.

Friday, there’s a party at my home.

Anton Zuiker ☄