The Friday Photo
May 30, 2014
I read ” I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” during my first semester at Guilford. All freshmen were required to take an interdisciplinary studies course, and the topic that year was Freedom. We worked our way through some challenging material that semester, which also included Dostoyevsky’s “The Grand Inquisitor” from The Brothers Karamazov and work by theologian Paul Tillich.
Most of the books I saved from college and grad school were donated to a library book sale a few weeks ago. I don’t know what happened to my copy of “The Grand Inquisitor” but I put “Caged Bird” and the Paul Tillich book in the box taken to the library. While I was in Augusta yesterday I bought a copy of “Caged Bird” to read again.
My classmate Dan Carpenter and I still talk about how high the bar was set for us that first semester by our professor, Jonathan Malino. Dan is still one of my dearest friends, Jonathan’s teaching still informs my work and ideas, and “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” is still worth reading.