Issue link: http://maconmagazine.uberflip.com/i/1498135
Truist.com Truist Bank, Member FDIC. © 2022 Truist Financial Corporation. Truist, the Truist logo and Truist Purple are ser vice marks of Truist Financial Corporation. Care isn't just what we do at Truist—it's who we are. We make sure people around us feel supported and more in control. We find out what's important to our clients, and make it important to us. We get involved in meaningful ways with our communities. Why? Because real connections and real care create better outcomes. Now that's powerful. When you start with care, you get a different kind of bank. Boarding School Seasons by Brenda J. Child illuminates the horrific experience of many Native children and parents during the first half of the 20th century, but also the kids' and parents' ingenuity, persistence, and strength. Childs's use of letters is powerful and has a lingering effect on students. A college classroom is a rare, almost sacred, space, in part because within it, people from different backgrounds can share readings, life experiences, and feelings." Books can do so much more than entertain us. They can do even more than bond us. Books can elevate us, personally and collectively. One local entity that is strategically maximizing books as an agent of change is Georgia Women (And Those Who Stand With Us). A grassroots social welfare organization whose purpose is to raise a common voice about issues important to women and to the country, Georgia Women recently launched a reading community known as the Book Circle. "We began the Book Circle to build community within our membership, to help us reach a new audience, and to equip ourselves with the tools we need to better advocate for ourselves and our community," said Georgia Women member and Book Circle leader Andrea Cooke. "To this purpose, we specifically focus on books that pertain to social justice." Meeting quarterly, Georgia Women's Book Circle is open to anyone. Members select each book through a voting process and have three months to read and reflect before joining together for a discussion. For Georgia Women, the shared reading experience pulls the best out of the book and out of each other. Reading culture has not waned since the pivotal year of 2007. Local bookstores are thriving, reading groups of all kinds await new members with open arms, Middle Georgia Regional Library remains a go-to for resources of all kinds, and literacy efforts are front and center for Macon's leadership. Whether your to-read list is taller than your bedside lamp or the dust is collecting on your empty shelves, if your next book is shared within a reading community, those pages will take flight. And if that book is sourced from a library or local bookshop, you will be a part of the force keeping them alive. In the words of Shane Gottwals, "There will never be a shortage of good writing, but we have a responsibility to foster it." PICTURED: REPRESENTATIVES FROM VARIOUS BOOK CLUBS. 114 maconmagazine.com | APRIL/MAY 2023