On September 25, first year students piled into McNeil Concert Hall to listen to the words of Claudia Rankine, a poet, essayist, professor at Yale, and author of Citizen, a book of prose and poetry. All first-years were required to read Citizen over the summer, and it is a point of discussion in the required class First Year Seminar. Rankine’s soft and eloquent disposition left people awestricken and vying for the nearest seat to the front. Watching as anxious students didn’t shy away from the front or an empty seat next to a stranger set the tone that this wouldn’t be a typical lecture, where clumps of people faltered in the back and only a few brave souls planted themselves in the front row.
Rankine’s main point of discussion was that of her book Citizen, which is a mixture of cryptic prose and visual art, primarily about the social injustices people of color experience in America. The book essentially details what it means to be a ‘Citizen’ of color in present day culture, through prose primarily written in the second person. Throughout the lecture, Rankine showed images that were used in her book and explained the significance of each one to her writing. One image that really stuck out to me was the one by photographer Michael David Murphy.
The image compliments a short poem written in the second person, detailing a first experience of racism in grade school. The image was chosen for a poem about first experiences with racism because both illustrate what’s at the root of our society, and the truth that Rankine is trying to reveal. Segregation has determined our culture today, and Rankine encourages readers to think about how they maintain that segregation in their lives. “Who do you share a meal with?” Rankine asks the audience, “How do you fill your own space?” The room was silent as people thought about their own social bubbles and what their answer was.
The visceral experience evoked when reading Citizen was engaged in a different way when Rankine shared excerpts aloud. Each poem came to life as her rhythm and emotion brought everything to a whole new light. Rankine said that because the images were such a crucial part of the book, the final product was a collaborative piece that required input from lots of different kinds of people.
One thing that stuck out to me about the evening was the fact that Rankine spoke so softly, but her words still made it to everyone in the room. There weren’t people looting in the back making obnoxious noise, and rarely did I see a fluorescent glow bounce back on people’s faces as they thumbed through the phones in their laps.
There are roughly six hundred students in the freshman class, and McNeil, where the lecture was held, could surely hold them with enough room to allow people to comfortably leave space between unfamiliar faces. However, that wasn’t the case, as people managed to fill in empty seats, even if they were next to strangers, just so that they could get a better spot. It really showed how responsive the freshman class was to the text. For me personally, it was a good reflecting opportunity on my own privilege and how I exist in different social circles, and was overall a good experience. I also fangirled from afar, which is always nice.
In conclusion, Rhodes’ summer reading was woke AF. If you’re a freshman (or not) and slacked off of your summer reading, you should really get on it. You won’t regret it.