A number of books have been selected that align with the theme of Community: How Do We Define It? These readings are open to all students, staff, and faculty to incorporate into their teaching, learning, or personal enrichment in any way that makes sense for them.
Details on how to access copies will be shared before the end of the quarter so everyone can prepare over the summer. In the meantime, all SFCC employees are encouraged to vote on the book they’d most like to focus on for a staff/employee book club in the 2025–2026 year.
Stay tuned for updates—and thank you for helping us continue to build a connected campus community!
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"It seems counterintuitive that living the "good life"--the well-paying job, the nuclear family, the upward mobility--can make us feel isolated and unhappy. But in a divided America, where only a quarter of us know our neighbors and everyone is either a winner or a loser, we've forgotten the key element that helped us make progress in the first community. In this provocative, groundbreaking work, Mia Birdsong shows that what separates us isn't only the ever-present injustices built around race, class, gender, values, and beliefs, but also our denial of our interdependence and need for belonging. In response to the fear and discomfort we feel, we've built walls, and instead of leaning on each other, we find ourselves leaning on concrete. Through research, interviews, and stories of lived experience, How We Show Up returns us to our inherent connectedness where we find strength, safety, and support in vulnerability and generosity, in asking for help, and in being accountable. Showing up--literally and figuratively--points us toward the promise of our collective vitality and leads us to the liberated well-being we all want." -Back Cover Summary Published: 2020 Pages: 272
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"When 38 jetliners bound for the United States were forced to land at Gander International Airport in Canada by the closing of U.S. airspace on September 11, the population of this small town on Newfoundland Island swelled from 10,300 to nearly 17,000. The citizens of Gander met the stranded passengers with an overwhelming display of friendship and goodwill. As the passengers stepped from the airplanes, exhausted, hungry and distraught after being held on board for nearly 24 hours while security checked all of the baggage, they were greeted with a feast prepared by the townspeople. Local bus drivers who had been on strike came off the picket lines to transport the passengers to the various shelters set up in local schools and churches. Linens and toiletries were bought and donated. A middle school provided showers, as well as access to computers, email, and televisions, allowing the passengers to stay in touch with family and follow the news. -Back Cover Summary Published: 2002 Pages: 256
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"Here is the inspiring story of how Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, alongside a team of researchers, parents, friends, and community leaders, discovered that the children of Flint, Michigan, were being exposed to lead in their tap water--and then battled her own government and a brutal backlash to expose that truth to the world. At the center of the story is Dr. Mona herself--an immigrant, doctor, scientist, and mother whose family's activist roots inspired her pursuit of justice. -Back Cover Summary Published: 2018 Pages: 384
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"There are ancient tribal human behaviors-loyalty, inter-reliance, cooperation-that flare up in communities during times of turmoil and suffering. These are the very same behaviors that typify good soldiering and foster a sense of belonging among troops, whether they’re fighting on the front lines or engaged in non-combat activities away from the action. Drawing from history, psychology, and anthropology, bestselling author Sebastian Junger shows us just how at odds the structure of modern society is with our tribal instincts, arguing that the difficulties many veterans face upon returning home from war do not stem entirely from the trauma they’ve suffered, but also from the individualist societies they must reintegrate into. -Back Cover Summary Published: 2016 Pages: 182
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"True biz? The students at the River Valley School for the Deaf just want to hook up, pass their history finals, and have politicians, doctors, and their parents stop telling them what to do with their bodies. This revelatory novel plunges readers into the halls of a residential school for the deaf, where they'll meet Charlie, a rebellious transfer student who's never met another deaf person before; Austin, the school's golden boy, whose world is rocked when his baby sister is born hearing; and February, the headmistress, who is fighting to keep her school open and her marriage intact, but might not be able to do both. As a series of crises both personal and political threaten to unravel each of them, Charlie, Austin, and February find their lives inextricable from one another's—and changed forever. -Back Cover Summary Published: 2022 Pages: 386
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This book is a practical guide for educators and trainers to guide students in the understanding of trauma and working towards wellness through justice and examples of social change. In doing so, the author reveals the depths and complexity of oppression and inequity, and illustrates how communities make meaning from trauma. The book explores key concepts within trauma theory, such as grief, acknowledgment, forgiveness, giving, transformation, and cultures of resistance through the living histories of individuals and communities. As Cher Hill writes in the Foreword, “Theresa hooks readers with the stories of Sinixt Elder Virgil Seymour, environmental activist Briony Penn, immigrant student Gaganjeet Singh, the counterculturists of the Slocan Valley, and Lee Reid of Granny Gardening Tours. We learn about their resiliency and resistance in the face of trauma.” Southam also writes about the oppression and the persecution of the Doukhobors, the internment of Japanese Canadians, the hostility towards asylum seekers and new immigrants, and the isolation of older adults.
-Back Cover Summary Published: 2024 Pages: 361
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"As indigenous scientist and author of Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer harvests serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy. How, she asks, can we learn from indigenous wisdom and the plant world to reimagine what we value most? Our economy is rooted in scarcity, competition, and the hoarding of resources, and we have surrendered our values to a system that actively harms what we love. -Back Cover Summary Published: 2024 Pages: 112
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