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what do you like?
what do you like?
Leisure is important to identity formation in young adults, and part of that formation is discovering “what you like." At present, all-digital learning environments have shifted the content and shape of most students’ leisure time. Colleges can open informal spaces for students to get to know one another and interact in positive ways.
Such spaces encourage students to consider the role of pleasure that is a key component of intellectual life. Close up, they see and interact with faculty members who are excited by questions in their field. Students in turn notice what quickens their own interest and draws appreciation. Their tastes may be challenged by others’ different reactions to the material, and in the activity of self-reflection, they see their intellectual pleasures grow and change over the course of the semester.
Moreover, such groups can also provide a framework for timely, collective response to current events, such as the rise in social justice movements or the pandemic disturbance. These low-key opportunities to meet outside of coursework have positive effects on mental health and can help offset students’—and faculty members’—sense of isolation and powerlessness.
meet-ups can be organized by faculty or students
meet-ups can be organized by faculty or students
Participants are invited to select and share a text or passage that particularly speaks to them. Each student reads the work with as much or as little introduction as they wish, to group “snaps” or clapping. Whatever is chosen, the group activity (ideally around 45 minutes) should allow for as many students to participate as possible and be based on student passion. These can be structured along the lines of the Favorite Poem readings established by Robert Pinsky when he was U.S. poet laureate.
As an example, in spring, a poetry appreciation meet-up held at Hendrix helped expand and diversity student exposure to different kinds of poetry in a beginning-level, low-stakes way. Instructors have considered expanding poetry appreciation meet-ups to go over multiple weeks, perhaps organized to share poetry by affinity groups. Similarly, “mini concerts” or art shows could take place online.
Another kind of appreciation meet-up is the marathon or collective reading, where a work is read aloud, straight through, not for discussion but for enjoyment of the text's orality. The purpose could be to celebrate the literary anniversary of a certain literary work, or in response to community interest or events of the times. Participants can sign up for a 10- or 15-minute time slot or, for a dramatic reading, for particular parts. Multiple people can rotate through a single part. Community readings can be effectively "staged" online using the gallery view of a video meeting. The audience can follow along in their own copies of the work—print or online—or can simply listen.
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