Looking for a good summer read? Each summer, incoming Gustavus students are asked to read a “Reading in Common” book that will be discussed during New Student Orientation and, for some students, during their First Term Seminar course. Many members of the Gustavus community including faculty, staff, and upperclass students also read the book over the summer. The Reading in Common selection for 2015 is The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.
Henrietta Lacks – known as HeLa to the scientific world – was a poor, southern, African American farmer diagnosed with cervical cancer in the 1950s. While in the hospital, samples of her cells were taken without her knowledge and became the first human cells to grow in a lab and remain alive outside the human body. Henrietta’s story continues today as her cells are still alive. The HeLa cells were a huge part of medical advancement, but they brought pain and suffering to the Lacks’ family. Behind the HeLa cells was a mother, a wife, a sister, and a friend, all who lost Henrietta in a tragic way. This book will challenge you to see all sides of the story.
More information about the books and the author is available at Reading in Common. Members of the Lacks family will be visiting Gustavus on Tuesday, September 15 , with a free lecture for campus and community that evening presented in Alumni Hall at 7:00 p.m..
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