Happy Sunday, Good People!
Here’s a new poem I wrote this morning to inspire hope in the midst of despair and life’s uncertainties. At first, I called the poem “I turn to You,” then I changed it to the current title below :

“The Gravity of You”

When the melody fades into silence,
You compose a new song within me.
When life’s embrace falters and releases its hold,
I turn to you, where dawn renews its promise.
If the sun hides its warmth at morning’s call,
Your steadfast star will guide my weary steps.

When the rivers and oceans run dry,
You will fulfill my need for water.
When my body becomes weak and my strength is gone,
In you I can be strong.
When the winds and storms of despair carry me away,
Your voice becomes the refuge that shields me.

When the land seems desolate and the leaves stop blooming,
You will plant the seeds of courage in me so my dreams might become the hope of tomorrow.
If despair consumes the path that I tread,
You are the light that engulfs me.
When my solitude weighs heavy and I drift without direction,
Your presence soothes my soul, and you remind me that I am never alone.

My Reading list for 2025: The Non-Fiction Works

Yesterday, I shared my 2025 reading list, featuring a selection of 15 novels that I’m excited to explore. In that same post, I mentioned my intention to also share a list of non-fiction works I plan to dive into during the year. These texts span a variety of disciplines—including history, theology, and sociology—and tackle compelling themes such as freedom, tyranny, nationalism, colonialism, authoritarianism, resistance, revolution, and democracy. Today, I’m thrilled to share with you 20 non-fiction books that I’ve carefully curated. Each one promises to challenge conventional thinking, provoke meaningful dialogue, and inspire actions that contribute to human flourishing. Through this reading journey, I hope to engage deeply with the authors’ ideas and the transformative messages they offer, sparking insights that resonate both personally and collectively.

1. The Intellectual Devotional by David S. Kidder & Noah Oppenheim

2. A History of Knowledge: Past, Present, and Future by Charles Van Doren

3. The Map of Knowledge: A Thousand-Year History of how Classical Ideas were Lost and Found by Violet Moller

4. The Death of Omnipotence and Birth of Amipotence by Thomas Jay Oord

5. Christian Imaginations of the Religious Other: A History of Religionization by Marianne Moyaert

6. The Hermeneutics of the Biblical Writers: Learning to Interpret Scripture from the Prophets and Apostles by Abner Chou

7. The First and Last King of Haiti: The Rise and Fall of Henry Christophe by Marlene L. Daut

8. Reclaiming Haiti’s Futures: Returned Intellectuals, Placemaking, and Radical Imagination by Darlene Elizabeth Dubuisson

9. I have Avenged America: Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Haiti’s Fight for Freedom by Julia Gaffield

10. Haiti and the Revolution Unseen: The Persistence of the Decolonial Imagination by Natalie Marie Leger

11. Aid State: Elite Panic, Disaster Capitalism, and the Battle to Control Haiti by Jake Johnston

12. The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates

13. How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt

14. On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder

15. On Freedom by Timothy Snyder

16. The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017 by Rashid Khalidi

17. Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness by Rashid Khalidi

18. Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism by Anne Applebaum

19. Ancient Africa: A Global History, to 300 CE Christopher Ehret

20. Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI by Yuval Noah Harari

My Reading List for 2025: The Fiction Genre

In 2025, I aim to embark on an exciting literary journey, starting with a carefully curated selection of novels. While this list focuses solely on fiction, I plan to create a separate compilation dedicated to non-fiction works, ensuring both genres receive their due attention to enrich the life of the mind and my literary curiosity. Currently, I have identified 15 novels that pique my interest, offering a diverse mix of themes, styles, and voices. This list is a starting point, and I look forward to discovering even more literary treasures as the year unfolds.

1. The Years by Annie Ernaux, Alison L. Strayer (Translator)

2. The Vegetarian by Han Kang, Deborah Smith (Translator)

3. Flights by Olga Tokarczuk, Jennifer Croft (Translator)

4. The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk, Jennifer Croft (Translator)

5. Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah

6. By the Sea by Abdulrazak Gurnah

7. Desertion by Abdulrazak Gurnah

8. Afterlives by Abdulrazak Gurnah

9. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

10. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

11. Red Sorghum: A Novel of China by Mo Yan, Howard Goldblatt (Translator)

12. American Street by Ibi Zoboi

13. Une somme humaine by Makenzy Orcel

14. Wizard of the Crow by Ngugi wa Thiong’o

15. Tinkers  by Paul Harding

I return to work this morning, January 2, 2025.
Guess the first person I saw on the College’s Front Page when I turned on my work computer!

It is the 2024-2025 Minnie Piper Nominee who held firm in his hands San Jac’s mace during the summer and fall 2024 commencement.
What an honor!
What’s a good way to start my first day at work today! 😊