Gratitude: “Baking Bread in Lyon,” by Bill Buford
Thank you for making our April discussion a great one!
Our 15th Article Club discussion is in the books! We read and annotated Bill Buford’s “Baking Bread in Lyon” and participated in three deep, thoughtful conversations. Thank you!
Thank you to Peter, Summer, Jennifer, Barbara, Elise, Molly, Renée, Shreya, Lauri, Angie, Gayle, Beth, Per, Lorie, Angelina, Laura, Daniel, Rebecca, Vanessa, Lisa, and Meaghan for joining the discussion. I’m very grateful.
Also, I deeply appreciate Elise C. and Summer for co-facilitating, Lisa for being on the podcast, and Mr. Buford for answering all our questions.
Congratulations to Angelina for winning a hardcopy of Dirt. Bonus: Mr. Buford is going to be sending you a bookplate!
Reflections, affirmations, and celebrations are open:
What did you appreciate about this month’s Article Club? How can we make things better?
Go ahead, shout out your fellow Article Clubbers, and if you have a message for Mr. Buford, I’ll be sure to send it his way.
Here are a few of my reflections:
We’re growing! But I like how the discussions remain small and intimate.
Having the author at the discussion is amazing. But I need to figure out a smoother way for the author and you all to interact.
I’m hopeful that more people will give Article Club a try. If you love to read and want to connect with other kind people, we welcome you.
See you next weekend! That’s when I’ll reveal May’s article. If you want to plan ahead, our discussion will be on Sunday, May 23, 2:00 - 3:15 pm PT.
And if you like Article Club, please get the word out!
Article Club is an experiment in community reading. We read, annotate, and discuss one outstanding article every month. We invite the author to join our conversation, too. If you’re interested, sign up and check us out! Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.
I liked that Per was baking bread during the discussion and when Renée shared her loaf with us! (Mr. Buford was impressed, too.)
I loved having the writer attend and hop from group to group. I felt like that provided the best of both worlds--we could ask him questions but then also have our own discussion where I didn't have to be worried about potentially offending the writer.
Also, as I attend more Article Clubs and start to see familiar faces, I'm increasingly interested to learn more about the other attendees. I'd love opportunities for some more rapport building and socializing. I think that might also help us have even more in depth conversations about the articles. I know time is a precious commodity, but I would be open for Article Club to be 1.5 hours so we could build in a little more getting-to-know-you time. And/Or we could try an asynchronous chat channel, such as a Facebook group, Slack channel, WhatsApp, etc.