Literature Link for Aug14, 2022 — Radical Hospitality
• The Power of Strangers: The Benefits of Connecting in a Suspicious World by Joe Keohane
“Digging into a growing body of cutting-edge research on the surprising social and psychological benefits that come from talking to strangers, Keohane finds that even passing interactions can enhance empathy, happiness, and cognitive development, ease loneliness and isolation, and root us in the world, deepening our sense of belonging. And all the while, Keohane gathers practical tips from experts on how to talk to strangers, and tries them out himself in the wild, to awkward, entertaining, and frequently poignant effect. Warm, witty, erudite, and profound.” [this is the psychology and science about the importance of connecting]. The “Look inside” and “Listen” features are worthwhile. The Look Inside offers a prologue I couldn’t stop reading. https://www.amazon.com/Power-Strangers-Benefits-Connecting-Suspicious/dp/1984855778/ref=asc_df_1984855778/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=509032833991&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3606144663697961313&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocph
• Hospitality To Strangers by Laura Grace Weldon. [non-fiction blog] [10 min read] The importance of welcoming people, most especially the stranger, is emphasized by religious and cultural traditions around the world. It includes a link to an interview of a man who offered shelter to protestors in D.C. reacting to the murder of George Floyd. “Every square inch of this place had a person in it,” Mr. Dubey said in a BBC interview. “They were all strangers. That was amazing. They didn’t know each other… From age to race to ethnicity to sexual orientation, it was amazing. It was America. It just gave me a lot of hope.” https://lauragraceweldon.com/2020/06/05/hospitality-to-strangers/
• The Poetry of Strangers: What I Learned Traveling America with a Typewriter by Brian Sonia-Wallace. [book] “Before he became an award-winning writer and poet, Brian Sonia-Wallace set up a typewriter on the street with a sign that said “Poetry Store” and discovered something surprising: all over America, people want poems. An amateur busker at first, Brian asked countless strangers, “What do you need a poem about?” To his surprise, passersby opened up to share their deepest yearnings, loves, and heartbreaks. Hundreds of them. Then thousands. In a time of unprecedented loneliness and isolation, Brian’s journey shows how art can be a vital bridge to community in surprising places.” The “Look Inside” was an emotional example of what happened. https://www.amazon.com/Poetry-Strangers-Learned-Traveling-Typewriter/dp/006287022X/ref=asc_df_006287022X/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=507909480224&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=12378068912594816355&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocph
To hear a short reading of one of his poems, go to https://www.lapl.org/books-emedia/podcasts/poems-air/episode-31
The interview videos just blew me away! https://rentpoet.com
• “The Kindness of Strangers” by Brian Bilston. [ short Poem] “ There is a beauty
that walks in the darkness, / makes its way / among the bombs / and broken lives,”
https://brianbilston.com/2017/05/27/the-kindness-of-strangers/