Open Books – Opens Minds 2024 Student Conference

Rhode Island College’s Open Books – Open Minds (OBOM) Student Conference will be held on Wednesday, April 10, based on this year’s common book, “Seek You: A Journey through American Loneliness,” by Kristen Radtke.

Presentations will run from 8:30 a.m. through 4:30 p.m. in Alger 110. Dance and dramatic performances will take place from 12-1 p.m. in the Forman Center.

The common book is a book chosen each year by RIC students, staff and faculty to be read by the entire campus community. Roundtable discussions and other events are held throughout the academic year to bring the RIC community together to discuss the book. RIC’s annual OBOM Student Conference is a culminating event, where students from all academic disciplines as well as interdisciplinary studies present their research and creative projects inspired by the book.

Called “One of the Best Books of the Year” by TIME, NPR and the Boston Globe, “Seek You” explores loneliness in America through a number of different lenses – psychology, art, anthropology, cultural studies and gender politics.

Told in graphic format, topics discussed in “Seek You” include the rise of social media, Internet culture, loneliness and violence, gender and loneliness, mental illness and existentialism.

From the invention of the laugh-track to the rise of Instagram, Radtke investigates why we engage with each other, what we risk when we turn away from each other and how we might keep the spaces between us from splitting entirely.

The Rhode Island College campus community is invited to come out and support RIC students as they present their interpretive essays, poetry, dance and dramatic performances on the theme of loneliness. Professor Roz Sibielski’s film class will also screen their original Web series inspired by the book.

A box lunch will be provided from 1-2 p.m. for those who register.