Common Reading 2009

New Students Orientation › Common Reading

Sonia Nazario

The Florida Southern College Common Reading Program provides a shared intellectual experience for all members of the community, promoting campus-wide dialogue. We are pleased to announce Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario has been selected as the Common Reading assignment for fall 2009.

This book will serve as your text in the First Year Seminar (FYS 101) course, which all first-year students take. Themes raised by Enrique's Journey will be discussed during orientation and explored throughout the academic year in lectures, films, exhibits, and other courses. You’ll also have the opportunity to hear Sonia Nazario speak when she visits campus in September.

Enrique’s Journey, Sonia Nazario

Although Enrique’s Journey ends in the United States, it begins in his native Central American country of Honduras. Honduras, with a little more than 7,640,000 people, is the second largest of the states that lie between Mexico and South America’s Colombia. It is also one of the poorest, with an annual Gross Domestic Product of little more than $1800, per capita per year. Although the country’s income levels have improved somewhat in recent years, it is high unemployment and low wages that cause Hondurans such as Enrique’s mother, Lourdes, to leave. The mother of his girlfriend, María Isabel, claims that “jobs that pay OK” could change that. Unfortunately, despite some gains in recent years, the economy is still so fragile that money sent home by immigrants, legal and illegal, is an important source of income for Hondurans.

Florida Southern College does have a helping presence in Honduras! During the 2009 spring break, students led by Spanish Professor Dr. Patricia Suppes went to Honduras to help support projects of the Hope for Honduran Children Foundation. They had the opportunity to teach and forge friendships with children in several rural communities, including Flor Azul and Nuevo Paraiso. They demonstrated successfully that we are able do more than just read or hear about poverty. We can help eliminate it. Another group will be going during our fall 2009 break. Future groups will be going after that. Perhaps you may want to consider membership in one of these. There is no pay, but the rewards are priceless.

In this amazing true story, award-winning journalist Sonia Nazario recounts the unforgettable odyssey of a Honduran boy who braves unimaginable hardship and danger to get to his mother in the United States. It is the timeless story of families torn apart, yearning to be together again, and a boy who will risk his life to find the mother he loves.

Getting Started:

Please read “An Introduction to ENRIQUE’S HONDURAS”, an excerpt of an overview of Enrique’s Journey written by Dr. John Santosuosso, Professor of Political Science at Florida Southern College.

Later this summer, Florida Southern College will mail you a copy of Enrique’s Journey. Please read this Common Reading before you arrive on campus for New Student Orientation.

For further reading:

• The full text of Dr. Santosuosso’s “An Introduction to ENRIQUE’S HONDURAS”

• For more about the book and author, visit Enrique's Journey.com.

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