{"id":9062,"date":"2011-11-07T17:31:43","date_gmt":"2011-11-07T21:31:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=9062"},"modified":"2011-11-07T17:31:44","modified_gmt":"2011-11-07T21:31:44","slug":"wright-state-to-hold-%e2%80%9cbig-read%e2%80%9d-of-common-text","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2011\/11\/07\/wright-state-to-hold-%e2%80%9cbig-read%e2%80%9d-of-common-text\/","title":{"rendered":"Wright State to hold \u201cBig Read\u201d of common text"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>

"Zeitoun" is the eighth book to be featured as part of Wright State\u2019s Common Reading Program. <\/p><\/div>\n

Wright State will hold a \u201cBig Read\u201d of this year\u2019s common text, Zeitoun<\/em>, the 2010 non-fiction winner of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize.<\/p>\n

The entire book will be read in the Millett Hall Atrium on Wednesday, Nov. 9, beginning at 9 a.m. with students, faculty and staff taking turns reading aloud throughout the day.<\/p>\n

Natasha Williams of WHIO-TV (Channel 7) will read a portion of the book at approximately 12:40 p.m.<\/p>\n

Zeitoun<\/em> follows the experiences of Syrian-born, Muslim-American building and painting contractor Abdulrahman Zeitoun, who remains in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina in order to care for his clients\u2019 properties.<\/p>\n

During the days following the storm, Zeitoun saves the lives of trapped people and animals before being profiled (as an al-Qaida terrorist) and arrested by armed Homeland Security contract forces.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents reading this book will encounter, in Zeitoun and his wife, a native Louisianan convert to Islam, ordinary people like themselves,\u201d said Carol Loranger, Ph.D., chair of the Wright State English department. \u201cThey are good citizens of deep and abiding religious feeling and devotion to home and family, wrestling with the perplexities of their lives and their little local worlds and capable\u2014when called upon\u2014of acts of quiet heroism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zeitoun<\/em> is the eighth book to be featured as part of Wright State\u2019s Common Reading Program. Each year, faculty, staff and students nominate books that may be relevant to the president’s theme for the year.<\/p>\n

Once a common text is selected, a series of interconnected academic and beyond-the-classroom activities are planned that challenge students\u2019 critical thinking and evaluation of the text\u00a0within Learning Communities and in General Education classes.<\/p>\n

The Common Reading Program was developed<\/p>\n