ABOUT JESSICA
Jessica Hoppe is a Honduran Ecuadorian writer and the author of First in the Family (Flatiron Books, 2024), which was selected by Esquire, People, San Francisco Chronicle, Marie Claire, Latina Media, and HipLatina as one of the best memoirs of 2024.
Named a writer to watch by Publishers Weekly (Fall 2024), Hoppe's work has appeared in the Latino Book Review, The New York Times, Vogue, and elsewhere. Hoppe is a board member of Time of Butterflies, a nonprofit supporting families through domestic abuse recovery, and is an organizer with the CentAm & Isthmian Writers group. She lives in New York City.
Co-Sponsored by
M.E.Ch.A
CEID Committee for equity, Inclusion, and Diversity
William C. Bonaudi Library is the Winner of Latinx Kid Bookfest And Penguin Random House Campus Visit Fund Spring 2025
Contact: RhondaK@bigbend.edu
This will be virtual in the Masto Conference rooms C/D and online. Email for Zoom link.
ENJOY
In person we will have a yogurt parfait buffet.
THE BOOK
We will have more books closer to the event. Let me know if you would like to be on the waitlist. We are making copies of the book introduction available as Hoppe said that should be useful for those who have not read the book.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING...
"An unflinching and intimate memoir of recovery by Jessica Hoppe, Latinx writer, advocate, and creator of NuevaYorka.
“A powerful thunderclap of a memoir.” ―Lilliam Rivera, author of Dealing in Dreams
A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2024: Today.com, LupitaReads, Electric Literature, Esquire, Publishers Weekly
In this deeply moving and lyrical memoir, Hoppe shares an intimate, courageous account of what it means to truly interrupt cycles of harm. For readers of The Recovering by Leslie Jamison, Somebody’s Daughter by Ashley C. Ford, and Heavy by Kiese Laymon.
During the first year of quarantine, drug overdoses spiked, the highest ever recorded. And Hoppe’s cousin was one of them. “I never learned the true history of substance use disorder in my family,” Hoppe writes. “People just disappeared.” At the time of her cousin’s death, she’d been in recovery for nearly four years, but she hadn’t told anyone.
In First in the Family, Hoppe shares her journey, the first in her family to do so, and takes the reader on a remarkable investigation of her family’s history, the American Dream, and the erasure of BIPOC from recovery institutions and narratives, leaving the reader with an urgent message of hope." - Amazon
OTHER
7 words that saved my life ( short )
7 words that saved my life (long)
POSTER
Poetry in the Quad (Between Buildings 1800 and 1400) is a diverse, encouraging, inspiring, supportive, joyful outside event where we all come together to
CREATE as a vibrant community.
Students, Staff, Faculty, & Community Invited!!
Haikus - Blackout Poetry - LGBTQIA2S+ poetry - Poetry Art - Collage Poems -
Snack Picnic - And MORE! #PoetryInTheQuad #PoetryMonth
Celebrate and Create at Big Bend Community College!
Questions? Contact Rhonda
Book Talk: Sara Bauer, Chemistry Instructor
Title: I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn't): Making the Journey from "What Will People Think?" to "I Am Enough".
Author: Brené Brown
SB:
I should probably be embarrassed at how many Brené Brown books I own, but thanks largely to her work, I am not… or at least I am learning not to be. If you repeatedly asked me which of the five of her works on my bookshelf was my favorite, I would tell you a different one every time I am sure; I can never decide and I think my answer changes by the day of the week. But if you instead asked me which ONE you should read if you were only willing to read one, I think it would be this one. Though perhaps you should ask me tomorrow too just to be sure.
Dr. Brown is a research professor who has spent two decades studying courage, vulnerability, shame and empathy. If you are human, which I suspect you are, you relate to these concepts whether you want to our not. According to her research: we all experience shame, we all hate feeling vulnerable but actually think it’s very courageous to be so, and we all appreciate and long for empathy.
This book sheds light not only on these universal truths of human existence in a way that leaves you feeling your own surprised “me too” moments, but it outlines why you may feel the way you do, how normal that is, and what you can do about it. As someone who has been accused of lacking empathy on occasion (because I do sometimes struggle to empathize) but who is committed to growing in that critical area of human connection, I especially appreciated the researcher’s perspective on what empathy is, what can get in the way of it, and how to cultivate it. The following quote was one of the many that I highlighted during my reading for further reflection: “We can only respond compassionately to someone telling her story if we have embraced our own story—shame and all. Compassion is not a virtue – it is a commitment.”
Due to my own personal beliefs, I think that recognizing and responding well others’ shame and gently holding space for others’ stories is one of the most important things we can ever do, which means, I am realizing thanks to such authors, that I must do the work of learning to embrace my own, shame and all. I would wish everyone read this book.
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