Annie Hoffman here, Student Journalist for the libraries. As summer slips by, I’m beginning to look towards the fall. Here’s what I’ve been up to.

I am a member of EAR, a group of writers whose name stands for Equity, Accountability, Redistribution. We are a group of white, Minnesota-based writers committed to using our collective privilege and capital — both financial and social — to resource and support writers of color and indigenous writers in our community. We met this week to discuss “calling in” other white people when we witness oppression. This article by Sian Ferguson offers an introduction to the concept of calling someone in instead of calling them out.

I am living at my parent’s house right now as a result of the pandemic, like so many of my peers across the country and world. It’s fun to be reunited with my shelf of favorite childhood books! This week I revisited some of the stories I used to read over and over again.

Here are a few of younger Annie’s favorites — I’ve always loved historical fiction:

• In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette Bao Lord, about a young girl who immigrates from China to the United States after World War II
• All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor, about a Jewish family with five daughters living in New York City in 1912
• The Birchbark House by Minnesota author Louise Erdrich, about an Ojibwe community near present-day Lake Superior in 1847

Finally, like every student, I am wondering what my fall semester will look like. As University administration takes on the complex task of designing a safe and rigorous semester, I’m waiting with impatience but understanding to find out where and how my classes will be taught.

I am savoring summer as a time to rest and work for the good of my community. And I am looking forward to classes in September — however they will look.

—Annie Hoffman