Are you ready to make something out of nothing, specifically Jenny O'Dell's How to Do Nothing? At the Office of Digital Learning and Inquiry, we are excited to explore O'Dells book with our communities near and far. If you're interested in joining a book club or starting one on your own, please continue reading to see how you can get involved!
"...I argue for a view of the self and identity that is the opposite of the personal brand: an unstable, shapeshifting thing determined by interactions with other and with different kinds of places." p.xxii (emphasis added)
It's undeniable, most of our modern life is increasingly isolated, increasingly polarized, and increasingly losing the common spaces where we might remedy those problems. O'Dell explores how technology and the modern attention economy have slowly whittled away our society, and we decided that exploring her argument in person, together, is a step toward reclaiming what we've lost. We believe gathering our unstable, shapeshifting selves into book clubs has the power to make all of us stronger.
Get involved with a book club near you! All book clubs meet according to the schedule on the How To Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny O'Dell front page, unless otherwise noted. If you're willing to host a book club and want others to participate, please email Steven with details and he will add you to the list below. Due to COVID-19, facilitators will conduct their book clubs using Zoom.
Facilitator: Sailee Rangole
Zoom Room link: https://middlebury.zoom.us/my/saileerangole
Facilitator: Steven James Mockler
Zoom Room link: https://middlebury.zoom.us/my/sjmockler
Not close to a book club or not able to meet at the times listed above? No worries! Feel free to participate through social media! Answer that week's questions on the social media channel of your choosing and use #dlinqbookclub #HtDN. We will do weekly searches for our hashtags, but also feel free to email links to [email protected].
For those who are interested in running a book club, but unsure how it might look, below are some tips and strategies that we will use for the MIIS book clubs. We hope others will be inspired to join in, and please email Steven if you have any questions!
O'Dell explores how our attention economy is laser-focused on productivity. Time is money, and we're often told to cut to the chase. In the spirit of fighting this corporatist mindset, we encourage meeting facilitators to open their sessions with dialogue circles. Rooted in Native American pedagogy, this common restorative justice tool is a great way to get know you're group members, build trust, and put people into a listening, reflective mood to discuss HtDN.
What's the most remote place you've ever visited? (can be literal distance or metaphorical)