Read. Watch. Listen. introduces you to the personal side of our faculty, staff and alumni. Participants are asked to answer three simple questions about their reading, viewing and listening habits – what one book or newspaper/magazine article is grabbing your attention; what one movie or television show has caught your eye; and what album/song, podcast or radio show you’re lending an ear to.
Lauren Barr is a lecturer in the sociology department. Today, she takes a turn on Read. Watch. Listen.
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READ:
I never stop reading and then sharing what I find. COVID has thrown so many social issues into our social consciousness that as a sociologist, my mind has rarely rested over the past five months. Three themes that stick out:
About COVID itself: Countering Corona with Open Social Innovation; about anti-racism: Democracy is not a State, It’s an Act: Representative John Lewis’ Final Words; and education: Innovate Inside the Box by George Couros.
For personal reading, I am enjoying slowly moving through The Bookshop of Yesterdays. The dream of inheriting a bookstore/coffee shop is likely enough of an incentive for me to like this book. When you add in a scavenger hunt through a variety of books and a mystery … it is light, but interesting enough to keep me engaged when I need a break.
WATCH:
In my family, we have spent this COVID time catching up on TV series that we did not have time to enjoy together before. Two that stand out are Stranger Things, a personal favorite of my oldest son, and Schitt’s Creek, which I somehow missed when it first came out. I managed to personally avoid the Tiger King drama, so I am pretty proud of myself for that!
LISTEN: I recently began listening to the podcast, No Stupid Questions with Stephen Dubner (co-author of Freakonomics) and Angela Duckworth (author of Grit). Entertaining, and they get me thinking while I go on long walks with my dog
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If you have a suggestion for someone you would like to see in Read. Watch. Listen., or would like to participate yourself, drop a line to inside.western@uwo.ca.
