2015年10月22日傍晚，全美顶尖文理学院波莫纳学院（Pomona College）的2200名学生、教授、校友及家长同时起立，用热烈的掌声迎接美国联邦最高法院 (Supreme Court of the United States) 大法官索尼娅·索托马约女士（Sonia Sotomayor）到访该校。

波莫纳学院每年会向被录取的新生推荐一本“大一读物”。新生入学前都会阅读此书，并在开学的第一周与教授和同学共同探讨和分享他们阅读此书的感悟。与此同时，“大一读物”也在校园里向其他学生及老师免费发送，鼓励全校师生阅读并广泛深入讨论。2015年入选的读物正是索尼娅·索托马约...

Scene Two: The 2,200-People Community

When you have 2,200 people sitting together in an auditorium, you bring a community together. Sure, out of the 2,200, the percentage of people who know their neighbours at the venue is relatively insignificant. As a liberal arts college that takes pride in our close-knit community and close interactions with faculty members, Pomona has a student population of 1,600. That evening, everyone — Pomona College students, faculty, alumni, family and sta...

Flashbacks

Reading Days just prior to Finals’ Week, May. Admittedly, I was in full nerd mode®, hectically studying for my exams at the Romance languages library. That was when an email that excited me for months arrived in my inbox. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor was to visit Pomona College on the 22nd of October this year. Thrilled, I got up immediately to pick up my free copy from the Dean’s office.

Each year, Pomona College selects a “first-year book” that the inc...

SETTING: Our Beloved World

CHARACTERS: All the people in it

Prologue

Thursday, 3:30 pm. I walked out of my international relations class, trying to put aside the heaviness sparked by the discussion on the Rwanda genocide and other ethnic conflicts. The first floor of Carnegie Hall — that classy building resembling the White House to some degree, and home to the politics and economics departments at Pomona College — was quiet. I slipped into the pair of dark blue heels re...