PREFACE plants seeds for thought

The topic of genetically modified organisms is in no way foreign to San Luis Obispo County. In the November 2004 election, almost 59 percent of county voters turned down a measure that would prohibit the use of genetically engineered organisms. Now, three years later, the county will have another chance to analyze the same subject after reading the newest PREFACE book.

“There are so many unknowns about advancement and crop technology. We want to plant the seed that this is something in our future,” said Patricia Ponce, the program coordinator for PREFACE: The Shared Cal Poly Reading Program.

Following in the steps of 2005’s “The Kite Runner” and 2006’s “The Lovely Bones,” a committee comprised of faculty, students and staff selected “All Over Creation” by Ruth Ozeki to be read by the incoming freshman class, transfer students and the county at-large.

“All Over Creation” tells the story of Yumi, who was brought up on a traditional Idahoan potato farm and ran away at the age of 14. When she returns 25 years later with her three illegitimate children, she is forced to confront not only the past she left behind but also what is best for her family’s farm in a culture debating the use of genetically engineered crops.

“It’s a controversial and personal issue for our community,” Ponce said, adding that the book will speak to new students who have just left home as well.

Though the PREFACE book is typically discovered through nearly 2,300 student recommendations, this year’s book was found on a list of recommended first-year reading titles for sustainability.

“It covers a lot of current issues: Sustainability, aged parents, corporate life in big-time agriculture – a lot of issues that a lot of readers can relate to,” said Theresa Kaiser, the marketing manager for El Corral Bookstore and a PREFACE committee member.

Other books that were strongly considered this year included “The Highest Tide” by Jim Lynch and “The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls. Though students frequently recommend books like “Harry Potter” or “The Da Vinci Code,” Ponce said the committee looks for something with more literary value.

The program’s main criteria are that it is readable and accessible, between 200 and 400 pages, and that the author is alive and able to speak at Cal Poly. Following three weeks of countywide discussion of the reading, Ozeki will visit Cal Poly on Oct. 10 at 7 p.m. to discuss her novel, answer questions and sign books in the Performing Art Center’s Harman Hall.

To this day, the most popular PREFACE book thus far remains Khaled Hosseini’s bestseller, “The Kite Runner.” Ponce said 70 percent of PREFACE readers finished the entire book, while 80 percent read about 75 percent of the book or more.

“You could walk downtown and be in coffee shops and everyone was reading it,” Ponce said, adding that the author event drew out thousands of people. “We had 1,600 people in the PAC and there are 1,200 seats. We had people in the lower lobby watching TV monitors . and we had to turn people away.”

However, some books did not go over so well with PREFACE’s readers. 2004’s “Granny D: You’re Never Too Old to Raise a Little Hell” proved difficult for students to relate to a 90-year-old woman.

“The (discussion) facilitators loved this book, but there was a clear generational difference between the facilitators and the students,” Ponce said.

Though PREFACE originally started out in 2002 as a pilot reading program for Cal Poly’s honors students, it is now in its second year of serving the entire county. And for now, Ponce has no intentions of ever taking it to a statewide level.

An Aug. 8 article published in the New York Times stated that of 100 surveyed summer reading programs, most began within the last four years, though a few have been in existence for decades.

The program started at Cal Poly in order to create an intellectual environment for students, Ponce said, pointing at Cal Poly’s curriculum which provides a variety of General Education courses, but no shared text between them.

“There was no common intellectual experience and the idea of one book is trying to bridge that gap,” she said.

Kevin Elliott, a leader for the Week of Welcome, also noted that it has benefits for incoming students who aren’t used to college-level expectations.

“It’s a great little segway into what they should expect from the college lecture – it’s a little different than high school,” he said.

The El Corral Bookstore ordered approximately 4,200 copies of the book to sell in the store and online to new students, and for distribution among PREFACE volunteers who will lead discussion groups during WOW and the following weeks throughout the county.