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FYE 100 - College Engagement Seminar

Helpful information and links for students in the FYE 100 course.

2019 FYE 100 - COMMON READ

"I came of age in the 1980s, before diversity and multicultural awareness trickled into western Michigan. Before ethnic was cool. Before Thai restaurants became staples in every town. When I think of Grand Rapids I remember city signs covered in images of rippling flags, proclaiming “An All-American City.” Throughout the eighties a giant billboard looming over the downtown freeway boasted the slogan to all who drove the three-lane S-curve. As a kid, I couldn’t figure out what “All-American” was supposed to mean. Was it a promise, a threat, a warning?"                ~Bich Minh Nugyen

AUTHOR VISIT AND PRESENTATION

The author of the 2019 common read, Stealing Buddha's Dinner, Bich Minh Nguyen, will be on campus Tuesday, October 22. There will be a dinner reception at 5pm with Ms. Nguyen, FYE faculty, and select students then she will give a presentation with a Q&A for all FYE 100 students at 7pm in Schomburg Auditorium followed by a book signing at 8pm. 

In regular life, Bich Minh Nguyen goes by the name Beth. She is the author of three books, all with Viking Penguin. Stealing Buddha's Dinner, a memoir, received the PEN/Jerard Award from the PEN American Center and was a Chicago Tribune Best Book of the Year. It has been featured as a common read selection within numerous communities, schools, and universities. Short Girls, a novel, was an American Book Award winner in fiction and a Library Journal best book of the year. Her most recent novel, Pioneer Girl, is about the mysterious ties between a Vietnamese immigrant family and Laura Ingalls Wilder. Nguyen has been a Bread Loaf Fellow, among other honors, and her work has appeared in anthologies and publications including The New York Times. She is at work on a series of essays about high school, music, and the Midwest, called Owner of a Lonely Heart.