The plan has changed somewhat since the post this morning.
With the announcement that Adam Schiff will stop by at least one of our book club meetings (!) our book club ranks swelled from 40 to 120! Remember, we may not know in advance which of our zooms Adam Schiff will choose to attend.
Gift books: I have paired each of the 12 BJ peeps who are receiving the gift books with another BJ peep who is gifting a book. It looks like most of the Amazon orders should be arriving on Saturday. If things are tight right now with the holidays and you want to participate but the book cost is a challenge, there are still other gift offers available. Just send me email.
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Let’s all plan to read the whole book before the book club starts. After the first one, each book club meeting will have a theme for the discussion, so a “just in time” approach where you read each chapter just in time for the meeting won’t be practical.
Start date: January 12.
Meeting day & time: Wednesday evenings at 8:00 Eastern. Zoom meetings will start on time and will last 90 minutes.
Schedule: meet every week on Wednesday evenings.
# of book club meetings: 5 meetings
# of people signed up for the book club: 120 people
Book club dates: mark your calendars!
Jan 12, Jan 19, Jan 26
Feb 2, Feb 9
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Themes for Discussion
Our first book club meeting will be a Balloon Juice discussion post only.
Meeting 1. Discussion of the book more generally, and suggestions for questions we might ask
Adam Schiff, if given the opportunity.
Meetings 2-5 will all be zooms with an accompanying Balloon Juice discussion post.
This way everyone can participate in their preferred fashion.
Meeting 2. January 6: The Insurrection – The Revolution Really Was Televised!
Meeting 3. What Didn’t You Know Before You Read the Book? What Surprised You?
Meeting 4. So Many Shocking Betrayals On So Many Fronts.
Meeting 5. We’re Not Helpless Passengers On a Bad Ride – Making Our Own Shade.
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Game Plan for when Adam Schiff drops by
Remember, we may not know in advance which of our zooms Adam Schiff will choose to attend.
We will have a specific plan and theme for meetings 2-5, as outlined above, but we can shift gears whenever Adam Schiff drops in.
We will have a list of curated questions for Adam Schiff in our pocket, in case we get to ask him some questions.
?One person on every zoom will have the task of immediately posting to the BJ thread if Adam Schiff has joined the zoom.
The pdf file with meeting information and dates.
(The pdf file has been added in the sidebar under Featuring.)
Joy in FL
Sounds good to me. I started reading the book today.
Alison Rose
Heck yeah, sounds good. If/when the man drops in, I’ll do my best to keep my cat quiet if I happen to be speaking. She thinks my voice is an invitation for her own. Makes working from home as a CSR lots of fun.
This is gonna be great, really looking forward to it!
Ruckus
Super, can’t wait!
cain
@Alison Rose: Love it! What an awesome kitty! :-) Give the critter a big ol hug from me!
cain
My (now) wife is out doing union teacher negotiations.. I think she’ the first indian I know who is in a union! Super proud of her. She’s gonna be famous one day, count on it.
Dan B
Just a random thought. Should the last discussion be: We have agency. What could we do? What would be effective strategic?
Dan B
@cain: Ours rarely talk, a little singing or a peep if we’re not fast enough.*
*1. FOODS NOW!!
*2. SCRITCHES!!
Had a big fluffy boy who burbled all the time. Black tuxedo, long hair, chest was a white chalice (holy grail?), milk spot on chin, huge white whiskers. Happy burbles.
CaseyL
This is a really good plan, WaterGirl! Thanks so much for coming up with it.
Really, really looking forward to reading the book.
WaterGirl
@Dan B: You’ll be happy to know that that’s exactly what the last one is about.
We’re Not Helpless Passengers On a Bad Ride – Making Our Own Shade.
“Make our own shade” is from the epilogue. It’s all about having agency, and the role the each of us has to play in saving our democracy. It’s a specific reference from the epilogue. Something like “if we have to stand in the sun for hours in order to vote, we have to make our own shade.”
WaterGirl
@CaseyL: Thank you so much for your kind words!
zhena gogolia
I’ll do my best, but I have a feeling I’ll miss a lot of these, as the semester will have begun in late Jan. Sorry.
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: I forget where you live but i’m pretty sure you don’t live on the west coast – do you work with students in the evening?
Dan B
@WaterGirl: Good to know! Sounds like Rep. Schiff has a good ear for the wisdom of black women.
I’m surprised. //s
He’s done a great job being visible and a leader, among many, in Congress. It takes a lot to get media when you’re policy focused.
satby
How about putting some of this under the fold for people reading on phones?
waynel140
I consumed the book via audio. On your idea of a chapter a week, the audio book lasted 25 hours. It’s a big book. It is also an awesome book, truly the first draft of history. He writes well, and goes deep. Congratulations on an excellent choice.
zhena gogolia
@WaterGirl: In case you check back — I’m on the East Coast. But during the semester I work all the time I’m awake.
WaterGirl
@satby: Thanks for the nice reminder. I usually try to do that, but sometimes I forget.
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: Stephen Covey talks about taking time to “sharpen the saw”.
Maybe taking the time to participate in this would make you an even better teacher! All work and no play, an all that…
Not judging, just throwing that out there for consideration.
Scout211
Thank you for adding the accompanying ballon-juice discussion threads. As much as I would love to hear Mr. Schiff live, I am not comfortable with a large zoom meeting. So adding the discussion for those who are zoom-shy is much appreciated.
I ended up purchasing the kindle version since the three library systems near me don’t have the book yet. Right now, Amazon gives back a $1.50 credit for the purchase of the book that applies to any other kindle book listed on their “great books” page. So the price for the kindle is (sort of) $1.50 off.
Beaner
looong time lurker here, recently retired. I would like to participate in the book club and figured l might want to say something. Thanks
WaterGirl
@Beaner: Welcome to commenting.
You are on the list for the book club!