The Gap Year Update — May 2022
Hey all,
Thanks to everyone who participated in our reading of The Brothers Karamazov. It was a delight and a privilege to read and talk about that text with all of you.
As you’re probably aware, Jen and I are expecting baby Etta to arrive any day now (hopefully the same day that I’m writing this post). While we’re both very excited and preoccupied with that at the moment, we fully intend to continue hosting The Gap Year after her arrival.
That said, we also know that we’ll be getting used to our new responsibilities as parents in the months ahead, so we’re making plans for our next meeting with that in mind.
First, we’re going to stop cooking thematic meals. While Jen loves cooking, and creating menus for our symposia has arguably been her favorite part of The Gap Year, it does take considerable energy. What exactly this means, whether we turn this into a potluck, order takeout, provide some small snacks, or suggest you eat before, is yet to be determined.
Second, our next reading selection is going to be less demanding. After the Brothers K, this was inevitably going to be the case, but I don’t think either of us will have the bandwidth to give much attention to something like Augustine’s City of God in the next couple of months (though I do hope to tackle that book eventually!). We also realized that we haven’t read much poetry in The Gap Year yet either. Therefore, our next assignment will be selections of poetry from Sappho and Emily Dickinson. I think it could be really interesting to put them in conversation with one another.
I haven’t settled on an exact list of readings yet, so I don’t have a link to books you could purchase. I’ve also had some casual discussions with Lucy and Andy about putting together a packet of readings.
The date for our next meeting is still TBD, but the tentative plan is also for us to meet sometime in June or July.
Thanks again for being a part of this. Look for some more detailed updates in the coming weeks.
Robbie