Start the New Year Reading

By Joanne Kendall, Katie Weiblen, Victoria Tirrel
Originally published in the January 2016 issue of 1666 Coffman Newsletter

In December, nearly fifty of you took the time to complete a survey about what Book Night has meant to you since it began more than twenty years ago. Overwhelmingly, you said that Book Night conveners and presenters have gotten it right in two big ways. Through them your reading world has been enlarged and elucidated. And, just as important, you’ve gotten to know them and your neighbors better.

Many of you wrote about the value to our Coffman community of intellectual pursuits like Book Night. If we were creating a balance sheet, the events that contribute to “the life of the mind” surely would be listed as a long-term asset. And from the promotion angle, such an amenity can be a powerful draw for potential new residents. As we move forward into the next era of Book Night, a great opportunity lies before us to recommit to and possibly give a new look to this asset.

So what’s in store for our first Book Night of 2017? Our evening will open with Joanne Kendall’s brief review of the history of Book Night, followed by an idea that emerged from the survey—several minireviews in an evening. We’ll briefly hear from three residents about books they’ve recently enjoyed.

Other terrific ideas emerged as part of the survey, and we didn’t want to end the input there. Next, we’ll turn things over to Katie Weiblen, who’ll guide a discussion among all attendees about more ideas for how Coffman residents can work together to continue and build on the terrific heritage of Book Night.

For wrap-up of the evening, Victoria Tirrel will bring together the ideas that emerged in both the discussion and survey, then talk about next steps.

By the way, an overwhelming number of survey respondents (82%) asked that the frequency of Book Night not change. So, at least through spring, we’ll continue to gather on the third Wednesday evening of each month at 7:30 pm.

We invite you to invest your time on January 18 for a conversation about Book Night.  And bring your neighbor! Working together, we can be sure this shared asset is there for each of us—and our future neighbors—well into the coming years.