Economic Inequality Reading Group
You are invited to a monthly reading group focused on economic inequality and its intersection with multiple aspects of lived experience in the current United States. The group offers an opportunity for thoughtful conversation and engagement centered on nine books by diverse authors. The authors approach education, health and health care, housing, gender and racial inequalities, sexuality, location, incarceration, and immigration status with a common theme of economic inequality. Selected from a variety of genres, each book will guide a discussion of understanding with compassion and responding boldly to the suffering and injustices of structures of economic inequality.
All are welcome to join monthly or to drop in and out as time and interest allow. Although long-term commitment is not required, it is encouraged. Please share the invitation with anyone interested in the conversation, whether a St. Mark’s-affiliated person, a colleague, or a friend.
Dates: We will meet from September to May on the fourth Tuesday of the month (except December and May, when we’ll meet on the third Tuesday to avoid holidays).
Time: 7–8:30 pm
Location: The Elders Room
Facilitator: Angie Cecil
A list of the selected texts and meeting dates is posted below:
September 26: Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond
October 24: House of Sticks by Ly Tran
November 28: Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
December 19: Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
January 23: Abundance by Jakob Guanzon
February 27: The Kissing Bug: A True Story of a Family, an Insect, and a Nation’s Neglect of a Deadly Disease by Daisy Hernández
March 26: The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide by Steven W. Thrasher (paperback to be released January 2, 2024)
April 23: Mercurochrome by Wanda Coleman (a short poetry collection)
May 21: There There by Tommy Orange
All books are or will be available in paperback except the first text. All are available used or at the public library. East City Bookshop has stocked copies of each text if you wish to support a local women-owned bookshop.
Questions? Please reach out to angie.e.cecil@gmail.com.