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Art, Rock, & Talk
With Kate Myers and Wiitala Brothers
Saturday Feb. 26th
Chicago Art Department
Kate Myers’ music is passionate and introspective. Drawing influence from singer/songwriters of the past (Jim Croce, Bob Dylan) and of the present (Conor Oberst, Fiona Apple), she has been able to create a style that is completely and recognizably her own and that transcends the standard coffee shop singer/songwriter genre. Her songs are stories of pain, love, hope and the experience that she has collected through her travels, her family and her years.
Kate’s debut, self-titled album was released in 2004, her second album, “Blanket Sky” in 2006 and her most recent work, “Instant Clarification,” in 2008. She has performed on stages all over the USA and in Europe and is currently writing for her anticipated 4th release.
Wiitala Brothers
“The Wiitalas’ new Bad Blood could be qualified as minimalist indie pop-rock but it’s something much more effective than that might suggest. The duo’s stark guitars and lingering vocals tend to waft around, electrifying the air with their simplicity.”
Living in Transit: The Thinkers of a World in Turmoil
War looms over Europe, uncertainty seeps into everyday life, and the weight of history presses upon the present. The world is burning, and yet—there are those who seek understanding, those who bury themselves in the quiet refuge of books, the dim glow of libraries, the solitude of knowledge.
This series captures the introspective minds of young academic women—readers, thinkers, seekers. They wander through old university halls, their fingers tracing the spines of forgotten books, pulling out volumes of poetry, philosophy, and psychology. They drink coffee, they drink tea, they stay up late with ink-stained fingers, trying to decipher the world through words.
They turn to Simone Weil for moral clarity, Hannah Arendt for political insight, Rilke for existential wisdom. They read Baudrillard to untangle the illusions of modernity, Byung-Chul Han to understand society’s exhaustion, Camus to grasp the absurdity of it all. They devour Celan’s poetry, searching for beauty in catastrophe.
But they do not just read—they reflect, they question, they write. Their world is one of quiet resistance, an intellectual sanctuary amidst the chaos. In their solitude, they are not alone. Across time, across history, across the pages they turn, they are in conversation with those who, too, have sought meaning in troubled times.
This is a series about thought in transit—about seeking, reading, questioning, about the relentless pursuit of knowledge when the world feels on the brink.
Where the Thinkers Go
They gather where the dust has settled,
where books whisper in the hush of halls.
Pages thin as breath, torn at the edges,
cradling centuries of questions.
They drink coffee like it’s ink,
trace words like constellations,
follow Rilke into the dusk,
where solitude hums softly in the dark.
Outside, the world is fraying—
war threading through the seams of cities,
the weight of history pressing forward.
Inside, they turn pages, searching
for answers, for solace, for fire.
And somewhere between the lines,
between time-stained margins and fading ink,
they find the ghosts of others who
once sought, once wondered, once read—
and they do not feel alone.
Three Haikus
Night falls on paper,
books stacked like silent towers,
thoughts burn in the dark.
Tea cools in the cup,
a poem lingers on lips,
war rumbles beyond.
Footsteps in silence,
the scent of old ink and dust,
pages turn like ghosts.
ooOOOoo
The Intellectual Pursuit: What They Read in 2025
In a world teetering between war and uncertainty, young academic women turn to books—not as mere escape, but as a way to confront reality, to seek wisdom in the echoes of history, and to understand the weight of the present. They read in dimly lit libraries, at café tables littered with half-drunk cups of tea, in quiet university archives where dust clings to forgotten volumes. They are drawn to words that unravel complexity, books that demand contemplation, and authors who have wrestled with the same existential questions that haunt their minds today.
Here is what they read.
1. Existential and Philosophical Works
In times of crisis, philosophy becomes a mirror—reflecting both the weight of the world and the possibilities of thought. These books challenge, unsettle, and offer a way to navigate uncertainty.
Simone Weil – Gravity and Grace (moral clarity and reflections on human suffering)
Hannah Arendt – The Origins of Totalitarianism (a timeless study of power, ideology, and authoritarianism)
Byung-Chul Han – The Burnout Society (a philosophical take on modern exhaustion and performance-driven culture)
Jean Baudrillard – Simulacra and Simulation (a critique of reality and illusion in an age of digital manipulation)
Albert Camus – The Plague (a novel that mirrors today’s existential and ethical dilemmas)
Søren Kierkegaard – The Concept of Anxiety (an exploration of freedom, dread, and the human condition)
These thinkers guide them through uncertainty, offering both discomfort and clarity—challenging them to see beyond the immediate chaos.
2. Poetry and Literature of Longing, Loss, and Human Experience
Sometimes, only poetry and fiction can capture what analysis cannot—the deep, wordless truths of grief, love, exile, and the quiet resilience of the human spirit.
Anne Carson – Nox (a fragmented, deeply personal meditation on loss and memory)
Paul Celan – Todesfuge (haunting post-Holocaust poetry that lingers between beauty and horror)
Rainer Maria Rilke – Letters to a Young Poet (a lyrical guide to solitude, art, and self-discovery)
Ocean Vuong – On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous (poetry-infused storytelling on identity and survival)
Virginia Woolf – The Waves (a novel that reads like a long poem, exploring time, consciousness, and human connection)
Clarice Lispector – The Hour of the Star (a sparse, existential novel that lingers long after the last page)
These books are read slowly, lines underlined in pencil, phrases whispered to oneself in quiet moments.
3. Political Thought and Social Critique
Understanding the present requires looking at the past and tracing the patterns of history, power, and resistance.
Naomi Klein – Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World (on misinformation, conspiracy culture, and the fracturing of reality)
Timothy Snyder – On Tyranny (20 lessons from history on how democracy is lost—and how it can be protected)
Achille Mbembe – Necropolitics (on the politics of death, control, and who gets to exist in modern power structures)
Olga Tokarczuk – Flights (a novel that blurs fiction and philosophy, exploring movement, exile, and identity)
Rebecca Solnit – Hope in the Dark (on why history is shaped by those who refuse to give up)
These books are read with urgency—annotated, discussed, debated. They provide frameworks for understanding the unfolding crises of today.
4. Science, Psychology, and the Search for Meaning
In times of uncertainty, some turn to the mind and the universe—to trauma studies, quantum physics, and new ways of seeing.
Carlo Rovelli – The Order of Time (a poetic examination of time and its illusions)
James Bridle – New Dark Age: Technology and the End of the Future (on the unpredictability of AI, climate change, and human systems)
Bessel van der Kolk – The Body Keeps the Score (on trauma, memory, and how the body stores experiences)
Donna Haraway – Staying with the Trouble (rethinking human and non-human relationships in a time of ecological crisis)
These books stretch their understanding beyond politics and poetry—into the unseen forces that shape the self and the cosmos.
I spotted him during an introspective walk down my block. I called the local P.D. and told them but they said they couldn't do anything about it except email some company. Later that evening I got bored and so did the cops. I went down to see if it was still there to snag this pic. The cops pulled up right behind my car with the owner of the dog. I'm sure it looked strange but they didn't mind I was taking pictures. You can't tell from the pic but the dogs left eye had popped out.
This will probably be a tougher assignment than The Shoreline. My objective with the new series is to capture hard, physical labor in somewhat of a poetic fashion. There seems to be a timeline that a person's body can withstand the drudgery of manual labor before it succumbs to our human frailties. I want to depict the dignity in earning an honest living, void of suffering in embellished natural environs.
Years ago, I remember reading Stud Tercel's WORKING and was fascinated by the honest and introspective interviews he conducted on what seemed in many cases mundane and banal livelihoods. Everyone has a story to tell and most are worth listening to if you choose to take the time. Einstein when at Princeton would watch the landscapers for hours on end and was said to be fascinated by the intricacies of what seemed like simple task until observed over a period of time.
Hopefully the viewer of my series will imagine dialogue between the subjects, smell the earth and diesel fuel, feel some of the energy expended by the individuals to earn their wages and make our lives easier.
Sue looking introspective. Portrait taken in the upstairs seated area of Peacock's tea shop, Chesterfield.
There's no money, there's no possessions, only obsession
I don't need that shit, take my money, take my obsession
I just wanna be heard, loud and clear are my words, comin’ from within man
Tell ‘em what you heard, it's about a revolution
In your heart and in your mind, you can find the conclusion
Lifestyle and obsession, diamond rings get you nothin’ but a lifelong lesson
And your pocketbook stressin’, you're a slave to the system
Workin jobs that you hate, for that shit you don't need
It's too bad the world is based on greed, step back and see
Stop thinkin’ bout yourself, start thinkin’ bout
There's no money, there's no possession, only obsession, I don't need that shit
Take my money, take my possession, take my obsession, I don't need that shit
Cuz everything is nothing, and emptiness is in everything
This reality is really just a fucked up dream
With the flesh and the blood that you call your soul, flip it inside out
It's a big black hole, take your money burn it up like an asteroid
Possessions, they are never gonna fill the void, take it away
And learn the best lesson, the heart, the soul, the life, the passion
There's no money, there's no possession, only obsession, I don't need that shit
Take my money, take my possession, take my obsession, I don't need that shit
Money, possession, obsession, present yourself, press your clothes
Comb your hair, clock in, you just can't win, just can't win
And the things you own, own you nooooooow!
Take my money, take my possession, take my obsession, I don't need that shit
Fuck your money, fuck your possession, fuck your obsession, I don't need that shit
Money, possession, obsession, I don't need that shit
Living in Transit: The Thinkers of a World in Turmoil
War looms over Europe, uncertainty seeps into everyday life, and the weight of history presses upon the present. The world is burning, and yet—there are those who seek understanding, those who bury themselves in the quiet refuge of books, the dim glow of libraries, the solitude of knowledge.
This series captures the introspective minds of young academic women—readers, thinkers, seekers. They wander through old university halls, their fingers tracing the spines of forgotten books, pulling out volumes of poetry, philosophy, and psychology. They drink coffee, they drink tea, they stay up late with ink-stained fingers, trying to decipher the world through words.
They turn to Simone Weil for moral clarity, Hannah Arendt for political insight, Rilke for existential wisdom. They read Baudrillard to untangle the illusions of modernity, Byung-Chul Han to understand society’s exhaustion, Camus to grasp the absurdity of it all. They devour Celan’s poetry, searching for beauty in catastrophe.
But they do not just read—they reflect, they question, they write. Their world is one of quiet resistance, an intellectual sanctuary amidst the chaos. In their solitude, they are not alone. Across time, across history, across the pages they turn, they are in conversation with those who, too, have sought meaning in troubled times.
This is a series about thought in transit—about seeking, reading, questioning, about the relentless pursuit of knowledge when the world feels on the brink.
Where the Thinkers Go
They gather where the dust has settled,
where books whisper in the hush of halls.
Pages thin as breath, torn at the edges,
cradling centuries of questions.
They drink coffee like it’s ink,
trace words like constellations,
follow Rilke into the dusk,
where solitude hums softly in the dark.
Outside, the world is fraying—
war threading through the seams of cities,
the weight of history pressing forward.
Inside, they turn pages, searching
for answers, for solace, for fire.
And somewhere between the lines,
between time-stained margins and fading ink,
they find the ghosts of others who
once sought, once wondered, once read—
and they do not feel alone.
Three Haikus
Night falls on paper,
books stacked like silent towers,
thoughts burn in the dark.
Tea cools in the cup,
a poem lingers on lips,
war rumbles beyond.
Footsteps in silence,
the scent of old ink and dust,
pages turn like ghosts.
ooOOOoo
The Intellectual Pursuit: What They Read in 2025
In a world teetering between war and uncertainty, young academic women turn to books—not as mere escape, but as a way to confront reality, to seek wisdom in the echoes of history, and to understand the weight of the present. They read in dimly lit libraries, at café tables littered with half-drunk cups of tea, in quiet university archives where dust clings to forgotten volumes. They are drawn to words that unravel complexity, books that demand contemplation, and authors who have wrestled with the same existential questions that haunt their minds today.
Here is what they read.
1. Existential and Philosophical Works
In times of crisis, philosophy becomes a mirror—reflecting both the weight of the world and the possibilities of thought. These books challenge, unsettle, and offer a way to navigate uncertainty.
Simone Weil – Gravity and Grace (moral clarity and reflections on human suffering)
Hannah Arendt – The Origins of Totalitarianism (a timeless study of power, ideology, and authoritarianism)
Byung-Chul Han – The Burnout Society (a philosophical take on modern exhaustion and performance-driven culture)
Jean Baudrillard – Simulacra and Simulation (a critique of reality and illusion in an age of digital manipulation)
Albert Camus – The Plague (a novel that mirrors today’s existential and ethical dilemmas)
Søren Kierkegaard – The Concept of Anxiety (an exploration of freedom, dread, and the human condition)
These thinkers guide them through uncertainty, offering both discomfort and clarity—challenging them to see beyond the immediate chaos.
2. Poetry and Literature of Longing, Loss, and Human Experience
Sometimes, only poetry and fiction can capture what analysis cannot—the deep, wordless truths of grief, love, exile, and the quiet resilience of the human spirit.
Anne Carson – Nox (a fragmented, deeply personal meditation on loss and memory)
Paul Celan – Todesfuge (haunting post-Holocaust poetry that lingers between beauty and horror)
Rainer Maria Rilke – Letters to a Young Poet (a lyrical guide to solitude, art, and self-discovery)
Ocean Vuong – On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous (poetry-infused storytelling on identity and survival)
Virginia Woolf – The Waves (a novel that reads like a long poem, exploring time, consciousness, and human connection)
Clarice Lispector – The Hour of the Star (a sparse, existential novel that lingers long after the last page)
These books are read slowly, lines underlined in pencil, phrases whispered to oneself in quiet moments.
3. Political Thought and Social Critique
Understanding the present requires looking at the past and tracing the patterns of history, power, and resistance.
Naomi Klein – Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World (on misinformation, conspiracy culture, and the fracturing of reality)
Timothy Snyder – On Tyranny (20 lessons from history on how democracy is lost—and how it can be protected)
Achille Mbembe – Necropolitics (on the politics of death, control, and who gets to exist in modern power structures)
Olga Tokarczuk – Flights (a novel that blurs fiction and philosophy, exploring movement, exile, and identity)
Rebecca Solnit – Hope in the Dark (on why history is shaped by those who refuse to give up)
These books are read with urgency—annotated, discussed, debated. They provide frameworks for understanding the unfolding crises of today.
4. Science, Psychology, and the Search for Meaning
In times of uncertainty, some turn to the mind and the universe—to trauma studies, quantum physics, and new ways of seeing.
Carlo Rovelli – The Order of Time (a poetic examination of time and its illusions)
James Bridle – New Dark Age: Technology and the End of the Future (on the unpredictability of AI, climate change, and human systems)
Bessel van der Kolk – The Body Keeps the Score (on trauma, memory, and how the body stores experiences)
Donna Haraway – Staying with the Trouble (rethinking human and non-human relationships in a time of ecological crisis)
These books stretch their understanding beyond politics and poetry—into the unseen forces that shape the self and the cosmos.
Arte Introspettiva, acrilico su tela. cm. 80 x 120. (Introspective Art, acrylic on canvas, 31' x 47') arteintrospettiva.com/per-esempio/, www.mazzoldi-best-acrylic-paintings.com/esotericism-seduc...
Shot using the E3-iRGF (introspective reclusive genius filter thanks to my bud Ernest H. The H is for Hernandez...) and the HiCon Lite App and uploaded from HMK Archive iPhone with AirMe.Interview/Bio profile test shot.
Santa Cruz Writes invited visitors to engage in an introspective participatory project called Letters to the Self, where people answered questions about themselves before meeting a writer who crafted a letter or poem using a typewriter or handwritten with calligraphy on stationery.
Just introspective this morning. Part of my new series of self portraits, a journey of discovery. Click for Lightbox
Canon 5D M2 Holga lens
Living in Transit: The Thinkers of a World in Turmoil
War looms over Europe, uncertainty seeps into everyday life, and the weight of history presses upon the present. The world is burning, and yet—there are those who seek understanding, those who bury themselves in the quiet refuge of books, the dim glow of libraries, the solitude of knowledge.
This series captures the introspective minds of young academic women—readers, thinkers, seekers. They wander through old university halls, their fingers tracing the spines of forgotten books, pulling out volumes of poetry, philosophy, and psychology. They drink coffee, they drink tea, they stay up late with ink-stained fingers, trying to decipher the world through words.
They turn to Simone Weil for moral clarity, Hannah Arendt for political insight, Rilke for existential wisdom. They read Baudrillard to untangle the illusions of modernity, Byung-Chul Han to understand society’s exhaustion, Camus to grasp the absurdity of it all. They devour Celan’s poetry, searching for beauty in catastrophe.
But they do not just read—they reflect, they question, they write. Their world is one of quiet resistance, an intellectual sanctuary amidst the chaos. In their solitude, they are not alone. Across time, across history, across the pages they turn, they are in conversation with those who, too, have sought meaning in troubled times.
This is a series about thought in transit—about seeking, reading, questioning, about the relentless pursuit of knowledge when the world feels on the brink.
Where the Thinkers Go
They gather where the dust has settled,
where books whisper in the hush of halls.
Pages thin as breath, torn at the edges,
cradling centuries of questions.
They drink coffee like it’s ink,
trace words like constellations,
follow Rilke into the dusk,
where solitude hums softly in the dark.
Outside, the world is fraying—
war threading through the seams of cities,
the weight of history pressing forward.
Inside, they turn pages, searching
for answers, for solace, for fire.
And somewhere between the lines,
between time-stained margins and fading ink,
they find the ghosts of others who
once sought, once wondered, once read—
and they do not feel alone.
Three Haikus
Night falls on paper,
books stacked like silent towers,
thoughts burn in the dark.
Tea cools in the cup,
a poem lingers on lips,
war rumbles beyond.
Footsteps in silence,
the scent of old ink and dust,
pages turn like ghosts.
ooOOOoo
Reading as Resistance
These young women do not read passively. They underline, they take notes, they write in the margins. They challenge the texts and themselves. They read because the world demands it of them—because, in a time of conflict and uncertainty, thought itself is an act of resistance.
Their books are worn, their pages stained with coffee, their minds alive with the urgency of understanding.
1. Political Thought, Society & Liberation
Essays, theory and critique on democracy, power and resistance.
Chantal Mouffe – For a Left Populism (rethinking democracy through radical left-wing populism)
Nancy Fraser – Cannibal Capitalism (an urgent critique of capitalism’s role in the destruction of democracy, the planet, and social justice)
Étienne Balibar – Citizenship (rethinking the idea of citizenship in an era of migration and inequality)
Silvia Federici – Caliban and the Witch (a feminist Marxist analysis of capitalism and gender oppression)
Didier Eribon – Returning to Reims (a deeply personal sociological reflection on class and identity in contemporary Europe)
Antonio Negri & Michael Hardt – Empire (rethinking global capitalism and resistance from a leftist perspective)
Thomas Piketty – Capital and Ideology (a profound analysis of wealth distribution, inequality, and the future of economic justice)
Mark Fisher – Capitalist Realism (on why it’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism)
2. Feminist & Queer Theory, Gender & Body Politics
Texts that redefine identity, gender, and liberation in the 21st century.
Paul B. Preciado – Testo Junkie (an autobiographical, philosophical essay on gender, hormones, and biopolitics)
Judith Butler – The Force of Nonviolence (rethinking ethics and resistance beyond violence)
Virginie Despentes – King Kong Theory (a raw and radical take on sex, power, and feminism)
Amia Srinivasan – The Right to Sex (rethinking sex, power, and feminism for a new generation)
Laurent de Sutter – Narcocapitalism (on how capitalism exploits our bodies, desires, and emotions)
Sara Ahmed – Living a Feminist Life (a deeply personal and political exploration of what it means to be feminist today)
3. Literature & Poetry of Resistance, Liberation & Exile
European novels, poetry and literature that embrace freedom, revolution, and identity.
Annie Ernaux – The Years (a groundbreaking memoir that blends personal and collective history, feminism, and social change)
Olga Tokarczuk – The Books of Jacob (an epic novel about alternative histories, belief systems, and European identity)
Édouard Louis – Who Killed My Father (a deeply political and personal exploration of class struggle and masculinity)
Bernardine Evaristo – Girl, Woman, Other (a polyphonic novel on race, gender, and identity in contemporary Europe)
Maggie Nelson (though American, widely read in European academia) – On Freedom: Four Songs of Care and Constraint (a poetic, intellectual meditation on freedom and constraint)
Benjamín Labatut – When We Cease to Understand the World (a deeply philosophical novel on science, war, and moral responsibility)
Michel Houellebecq – Submission (controversial but widely read as a dystopian critique of political passivity in Europe)
4. Ecology, Anti-Capitalism & Posthumanism
Texts that explore the intersections of nature, economics, and radical change.
Bruno Latour – Down to Earth: Politics in the New Climatic Regime (rethinking ecology and politics in a world of climate crisis)
Andreas Malm – How to Blow Up a Pipeline (on the ethics of radical environmental resistance)
Emanuele Coccia – The Life of Plants: A Metaphysics of Mixture (rethinking human and non-human coexistence)
Isabelle Stengers – Another Science is Possible (rethinking knowledge and resistance in an era of corporate science)
Kate Raworth – Doughnut Economics (rethinking economic models for social and ecological justice)
Donna Haraway – Staying with the Trouble (rethinking coexistence and posthumanist futures)
The Future of Thought
These are not just books; they are weapons, tools, compasses. These women read not for escapism, but for resistance. In a time of political upheaval, climate catastrophe, and rising authoritarianism, they seek alternative visions, radical possibilities, and new ways of imagining the world.
Their books are annotated, their margins filled with questions, their reading lists always expanding. Knowledge is not just power—it is revolution.
Living in Transit: The Thinkers of a World in Turmoil
War looms over Europe, uncertainty seeps into everyday life, and the weight of history presses upon the present. The world is burning, and yet—there are those who seek understanding, those who bury themselves in the quiet refuge of books, the dim glow of libraries, the solitude of knowledge.
This series captures the introspective minds of young academic women—readers, thinkers, seekers. They wander through old university halls, their fingers tracing the spines of forgotten books, pulling out volumes of poetry, philosophy, and psychology. They drink coffee, they drink tea, they stay up late with ink-stained fingers, trying to decipher the world through words.
They turn to Simone Weil for moral clarity, Hannah Arendt for political insight, Rilke for existential wisdom. They read Baudrillard to untangle the illusions of modernity, Byung-Chul Han to understand society’s exhaustion, Camus to grasp the absurdity of it all. They devour Celan’s poetry, searching for beauty in catastrophe.
But they do not just read—they reflect, they question, they write. Their world is one of quiet resistance, an intellectual sanctuary amidst the chaos. In their solitude, they are not alone. Across time, across history, across the pages they turn, they are in conversation with those who, too, have sought meaning in troubled times.
This is a series about thought in transit—about seeking, reading, questioning, about the relentless pursuit of knowledge when the world feels on the brink.
Where the Thinkers Go
They gather where the dust has settled,
where books whisper in the hush of halls.
Pages thin as breath, torn at the edges,
cradling centuries of questions.
They drink coffee like it’s ink,
trace words like constellations,
follow Rilke into the dusk,
where solitude hums softly in the dark.
Outside, the world is fraying—
war threading through the seams of cities,
the weight of history pressing forward.
Inside, they turn pages, searching
for answers, for solace, for fire.
And somewhere between the lines,
between time-stained margins and fading ink,
they find the ghosts of others who
once sought, once wondered, once read—
and they do not feel alone.
Three Haikus
Night falls on paper,
books stacked like silent towers,
thoughts burn in the dark.
Tea cools in the cup,
a poem lingers on lips,
war rumbles beyond.
Footsteps in silence,
the scent of old ink and dust,
pages turn like ghosts.
ooOOOoo
The Intellectual Pursuit: What They Read in 2025
In a world teetering between war and uncertainty, young academic women turn to books—not as mere escape, but as a way to confront reality, to seek wisdom in the echoes of history, and to understand the weight of the present. They read in dimly lit libraries, at café tables littered with half-drunk cups of tea, in quiet university archives where dust clings to forgotten volumes. They are drawn to words that unravel complexity, books that demand contemplation, and authors who have wrestled with the same existential questions that haunt their minds today.
Here is what they read.
1. Existential and Philosophical Works
In times of crisis, philosophy becomes a mirror—reflecting both the weight of the world and the possibilities of thought. These books challenge, unsettle, and offer a way to navigate uncertainty.
Simone Weil – Gravity and Grace (moral clarity and reflections on human suffering)
Hannah Arendt – The Origins of Totalitarianism (a timeless study of power, ideology, and authoritarianism)
Byung-Chul Han – The Burnout Society (a philosophical take on modern exhaustion and performance-driven culture)
Jean Baudrillard – Simulacra and Simulation (a critique of reality and illusion in an age of digital manipulation)
Albert Camus – The Plague (a novel that mirrors today’s existential and ethical dilemmas)
Søren Kierkegaard – The Concept of Anxiety (an exploration of freedom, dread, and the human condition)
These thinkers guide them through uncertainty, offering both discomfort and clarity—challenging them to see beyond the immediate chaos.
2. Poetry and Literature of Longing, Loss, and Human Experience
Sometimes, only poetry and fiction can capture what analysis cannot—the deep, wordless truths of grief, love, exile, and the quiet resilience of the human spirit.
Anne Carson – Nox (a fragmented, deeply personal meditation on loss and memory)
Paul Celan – Todesfuge (haunting post-Holocaust poetry that lingers between beauty and horror)
Rainer Maria Rilke – Letters to a Young Poet (a lyrical guide to solitude, art, and self-discovery)
Ocean Vuong – On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous (poetry-infused storytelling on identity and survival)
Virginia Woolf – The Waves (a novel that reads like a long poem, exploring time, consciousness, and human connection)
Clarice Lispector – The Hour of the Star (a sparse, existential novel that lingers long after the last page)
These books are read slowly, lines underlined in pencil, phrases whispered to oneself in quiet moments.
3. Political Thought and Social Critique
Understanding the present requires looking at the past and tracing the patterns of history, power, and resistance.
Naomi Klein – Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World (on misinformation, conspiracy culture, and the fracturing of reality)
Timothy Snyder – On Tyranny (20 lessons from history on how democracy is lost—and how it can be protected)
Achille Mbembe – Necropolitics (on the politics of death, control, and who gets to exist in modern power structures)
Olga Tokarczuk – Flights (a novel that blurs fiction and philosophy, exploring movement, exile, and identity)
Rebecca Solnit – Hope in the Dark (on why history is shaped by those who refuse to give up)
These books are read with urgency—annotated, discussed, debated. They provide frameworks for understanding the unfolding crises of today.
4. Science, Psychology, and the Search for Meaning
In times of uncertainty, some turn to the mind and the universe—to trauma studies, quantum physics, and new ways of seeing.
Carlo Rovelli – The Order of Time (a poetic examination of time and its illusions)
James Bridle – New Dark Age: Technology and the End of the Future (on the unpredictability of AI, climate change, and human systems)
Bessel van der Kolk – The Body Keeps the Score (on trauma, memory, and how the body stores experiences)
Donna Haraway – Staying with the Trouble (rethinking human and non-human relationships in a time of ecological crisis)
These books stretch their understanding beyond politics and poetry—into the unseen forces that shape the self and the cosmos.
IIUM Alumni Bid Farewell To PJ Campus
By Awwabin Zainuddin
PETALING JAYA, 18 December 2017 – Last Saturday (16 December), under the initiative of the Alumni Office of IIUM, the Centre for Foundation Studies (CFS) IIUM had a farewell reunion in Petaling Jaya campus before its closure and handing over to Lembaga Kolej Islam Malaysia (LARKIM).
The event started from 9 a.m. with football tournament at the field, food stalls along the walkway, and international performances, and ended with a closing ceremony at 3 p.m.
The alumni who attended the reunion were those who studied foundation as well as bachelor and postgraduate degrees in that campus earlier. IIUM PJ used to be the main campus of IIUM before it moved to Gombak in stages starting from 1995 and later replaced by CFS IIUM.
The Deputy Rector (Academic and Planning), Prof. Dr. Isarji Hj Sarudin in his closing speech said, “The alumni are no longer here but their children are here and they continue to send their relatives and their children or their cousins because they love this university. They are here through assistance of our Malaysian government, or maybe through their own initiative.”
Dr. Isarji said that there will be more activities for the alumni next year. He expressed the hope for the Alumni Relations Division to continue to build relationship with the alumni wherever and whoever they are. He therefore expected the alumni to keep in touch with the Alumni office as well.
Meanwhile, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Che Amnah Bahari who is the director of Alumni Relation Division said, “The event is promising, you can see people coming in and out, and we don’t expect because the number of walk in is about 200 plus.”
Asked about her memory of CFS PJ campus, Dr. Amnah had this to say: “We’ve been studying here, this is where we fell down, this is where we woke up, and this is where we developed our spirituality and intellectually within ourselves, introspectively, developing our career, starting from us.”
(news.iium.edu.my/2017/12/18/cfs-alumni-bid-farewell-to-pj...)
Photo by Mohammad Faisal bin Abang
This image is protected by copyright, no use of this image shall be granted without written permission from Mohammad Faisal bin Abang.
A soulful master musician from Iran, Kayhan Kalhor gives a beautiful and introspective performance to celebrate the Persian New Year, Nowruz and shows us something about the art of improvisation.
Kayhan Kalhor: Tiny Desk Concert : NPR
A soulful master musician from Iran, Kayhan Kalhor gives a beautiful and introspective performance to celebrate the Persian New Year, Nowruz — and shows us something about the art of improvisation.
Living in Transit: The Thinkers of a World in Turmoil
War looms over Europe, uncertainty seeps into everyday life, and the weight of history presses upon the present. The world is burning, and yet—there are those who seek understanding, those who bury themselves in the quiet refuge of books, the dim glow of libraries, the solitude of knowledge.
This series captures the introspective minds of young academic women—readers, thinkers, seekers. They wander through old university halls, their fingers tracing the spines of forgotten books, pulling out volumes of poetry, philosophy, and psychology. They drink coffee, they drink tea, they stay up late with ink-stained fingers, trying to decipher the world through words.
They turn to Simone Weil for moral clarity, Hannah Arendt for political insight, Rilke for existential wisdom. They read Baudrillard to untangle the illusions of modernity, Byung-Chul Han to understand society’s exhaustion, Camus to grasp the absurdity of it all. They devour Celan’s poetry, searching for beauty in catastrophe.
But they do not just read—they reflect, they question, they write. Their world is one of quiet resistance, an intellectual sanctuary amidst the chaos. In their solitude, they are not alone. Across time, across history, across the pages they turn, they are in conversation with those who, too, have sought meaning in troubled times.
This is a series about thought in transit—about seeking, reading, questioning, about the relentless pursuit of knowledge when the world feels on the brink.
Where the Thinkers Go
They gather where the dust has settled,
where books whisper in the hush of halls.
Pages thin as breath, torn at the edges,
cradling centuries of questions.
They drink coffee like it’s ink,
trace words like constellations,
follow Rilke into the dusk,
where solitude hums softly in the dark.
Outside, the world is fraying—
war threading through the seams of cities,
the weight of history pressing forward.
Inside, they turn pages, searching
for answers, for solace, for fire.
And somewhere between the lines,
between time-stained margins and fading ink,
they find the ghosts of others who
once sought, once wondered, once read—
and they do not feel alone.
Three Haikus
Night falls on paper,
books stacked like silent towers,
thoughts burn in the dark.
Tea cools in the cup,
a poem lingers on lips,
war rumbles beyond.
Footsteps in silence,
the scent of old ink and dust,
pages turn like ghosts.
ooOOOoo
The Intellectual Pursuit: What They Read in 2025
In a world teetering between war and uncertainty, young academic women turn to books—not as mere escape, but as a way to confront reality, to seek wisdom in the echoes of history, and to understand the weight of the present. They read in dimly lit libraries, at café tables littered with half-drunk cups of tea, in quiet university archives where dust clings to forgotten volumes. They are drawn to words that unravel complexity, books that demand contemplation, and authors who have wrestled with the same existential questions that haunt their minds today.
Here is what they read.
1. Existential and Philosophical Works
In times of crisis, philosophy becomes a mirror—reflecting both the weight of the world and the possibilities of thought. These books challenge, unsettle, and offer a way to navigate uncertainty.
Simone Weil – Gravity and Grace (moral clarity and reflections on human suffering)
Hannah Arendt – The Origins of Totalitarianism (a timeless study of power, ideology, and authoritarianism)
Byung-Chul Han – The Burnout Society (a philosophical take on modern exhaustion and performance-driven culture)
Jean Baudrillard – Simulacra and Simulation (a critique of reality and illusion in an age of digital manipulation)
Albert Camus – The Plague (a novel that mirrors today’s existential and ethical dilemmas)
Søren Kierkegaard – The Concept of Anxiety (an exploration of freedom, dread, and the human condition)
These thinkers guide them through uncertainty, offering both discomfort and clarity—challenging them to see beyond the immediate chaos.
2. Poetry and Literature of Longing, Loss, and Human Experience
Sometimes, only poetry and fiction can capture what analysis cannot—the deep, wordless truths of grief, love, exile, and the quiet resilience of the human spirit.
Anne Carson – Nox (a fragmented, deeply personal meditation on loss and memory)
Paul Celan – Todesfuge (haunting post-Holocaust poetry that lingers between beauty and horror)
Rainer Maria Rilke – Letters to a Young Poet (a lyrical guide to solitude, art, and self-discovery)
Ocean Vuong – On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous (poetry-infused storytelling on identity and survival)
Virginia Woolf – The Waves (a novel that reads like a long poem, exploring time, consciousness, and human connection)
Clarice Lispector – The Hour of the Star (a sparse, existential novel that lingers long after the last page)
These books are read slowly, lines underlined in pencil, phrases whispered to oneself in quiet moments.
3. Political Thought and Social Critique
Understanding the present requires looking at the past and tracing the patterns of history, power, and resistance.
Naomi Klein – Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World (on misinformation, conspiracy culture, and the fracturing of reality)
Timothy Snyder – On Tyranny (20 lessons from history on how democracy is lost—and how it can be protected)
Achille Mbembe – Necropolitics (on the politics of death, control, and who gets to exist in modern power structures)
Olga Tokarczuk – Flights (a novel that blurs fiction and philosophy, exploring movement, exile, and identity)
Rebecca Solnit – Hope in the Dark (on why history is shaped by those who refuse to give up)
These books are read with urgency—annotated, discussed, debated. They provide frameworks for understanding the unfolding crises of today.
4. Science, Psychology, and the Search for Meaning
In times of uncertainty, some turn to the mind and the universe—to trauma studies, quantum physics, and new ways of seeing.
Carlo Rovelli – The Order of Time (a poetic examination of time and its illusions)
James Bridle – New Dark Age: Technology and the End of the Future (on the unpredictability of AI, climate change, and human systems)
Bessel van der Kolk – The Body Keeps the Score (on trauma, memory, and how the body stores experiences)
Donna Haraway – Staying with the Trouble (rethinking human and non-human relationships in a time of ecological crisis)
These books stretch their understanding beyond politics and poetry—into the unseen forces that shape the self and the cosmos.
Living in Transit: The Thinkers of a World in Turmoil
War looms over Europe, uncertainty seeps into everyday life, and the weight of history presses upon the present. The world is burning, and yet—there are those who seek understanding, those who bury themselves in the quiet refuge of books, the dim glow of libraries, the solitude of knowledge.
This series captures the introspective minds of young academic women—readers, thinkers, seekers. They wander through old university halls, their fingers tracing the spines of forgotten books, pulling out volumes of poetry, philosophy, and psychology. They drink coffee, they drink tea, they stay up late with ink-stained fingers, trying to decipher the world through words.
They turn to Simone Weil for moral clarity, Hannah Arendt for political insight, Rilke for existential wisdom. They read Baudrillard to untangle the illusions of modernity, Byung-Chul Han to understand society’s exhaustion, Camus to grasp the absurdity of it all. They devour Celan’s poetry, searching for beauty in catastrophe.
But they do not just read—they reflect, they question, they write. Their world is one of quiet resistance, an intellectual sanctuary amidst the chaos. In their solitude, they are not alone. Across time, across history, across the pages they turn, they are in conversation with those who, too, have sought meaning in troubled times.
This is a series about thought in transit—about seeking, reading, questioning, about the relentless pursuit of knowledge when the world feels on the brink.
Where the Thinkers Go
They gather where the dust has settled,
where books whisper in the hush of halls.
Pages thin as breath, torn at the edges,
cradling centuries of questions.
They drink coffee like it’s ink,
trace words like constellations,
follow Rilke into the dusk,
where solitude hums softly in the dark.
Outside, the world is fraying—
war threading through the seams of cities,
the weight of history pressing forward.
Inside, they turn pages, searching
for answers, for solace, for fire.
And somewhere between the lines,
between time-stained margins and fading ink,
they find the ghosts of others who
once sought, once wondered, once read—
and they do not feel alone.
Three Haikus
Night falls on paper,
books stacked like silent towers,
thoughts burn in the dark.
Tea cools in the cup,
a poem lingers on lips,
war rumbles beyond.
Footsteps in silence,
the scent of old ink and dust,
pages turn like ghosts.
ooOOOoo
The Intellectual Pursuit: What They Read in 2025
In a world teetering between war and uncertainty, young academic women turn to books—not as mere escape, but as a way to confront reality, to seek wisdom in the echoes of history, and to understand the weight of the present. They read in dimly lit libraries, at café tables littered with half-drunk cups of tea, in quiet university archives where dust clings to forgotten volumes. They are drawn to words that unravel complexity, books that demand contemplation, and authors who have wrestled with the same existential questions that haunt their minds today.
Here is what they read.
1. Existential and Philosophical Works
In times of crisis, philosophy becomes a mirror—reflecting both the weight of the world and the possibilities of thought. These books challenge, unsettle, and offer a way to navigate uncertainty.
Simone Weil – Gravity and Grace (moral clarity and reflections on human suffering)
Hannah Arendt – The Origins of Totalitarianism (a timeless study of power, ideology, and authoritarianism)
Byung-Chul Han – The Burnout Society (a philosophical take on modern exhaustion and performance-driven culture)
Jean Baudrillard – Simulacra and Simulation (a critique of reality and illusion in an age of digital manipulation)
Albert Camus – The Plague (a novel that mirrors today’s existential and ethical dilemmas)
Søren Kierkegaard – The Concept of Anxiety (an exploration of freedom, dread, and the human condition)
These thinkers guide them through uncertainty, offering both discomfort and clarity—challenging them to see beyond the immediate chaos.
2. Poetry and Literature of Longing, Loss, and Human Experience
Sometimes, only poetry and fiction can capture what analysis cannot—the deep, wordless truths of grief, love, exile, and the quiet resilience of the human spirit.
Anne Carson – Nox (a fragmented, deeply personal meditation on loss and memory)
Paul Celan – Todesfuge (haunting post-Holocaust poetry that lingers between beauty and horror)
Rainer Maria Rilke – Letters to a Young Poet (a lyrical guide to solitude, art, and self-discovery)
Ocean Vuong – On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous (poetry-infused storytelling on identity and survival)
Virginia Woolf – The Waves (a novel that reads like a long poem, exploring time, consciousness, and human connection)
Clarice Lispector – The Hour of the Star (a sparse, existential novel that lingers long after the last page)
These books are read slowly, lines underlined in pencil, phrases whispered to oneself in quiet moments.
3. Political Thought and Social Critique
Understanding the present requires looking at the past and tracing the patterns of history, power, and resistance.
Naomi Klein – Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World (on misinformation, conspiracy culture, and the fracturing of reality)
Timothy Snyder – On Tyranny (20 lessons from history on how democracy is lost—and how it can be protected)
Achille Mbembe – Necropolitics (on the politics of death, control, and who gets to exist in modern power structures)
Olga Tokarczuk – Flights (a novel that blurs fiction and philosophy, exploring movement, exile, and identity)
Rebecca Solnit – Hope in the Dark (on why history is shaped by those who refuse to give up)
These books are read with urgency—annotated, discussed, debated. They provide frameworks for understanding the unfolding crises of today.
4. Science, Psychology, and the Search for Meaning
In times of uncertainty, some turn to the mind and the universe—to trauma studies, quantum physics, and new ways of seeing.
Carlo Rovelli – The Order of Time (a poetic examination of time and its illusions)
James Bridle – New Dark Age: Technology and the End of the Future (on the unpredictability of AI, climate change, and human systems)
Bessel van der Kolk – The Body Keeps the Score (on trauma, memory, and how the body stores experiences)
Donna Haraway – Staying with the Trouble (rethinking human and non-human relationships in a time of ecological crisis)
These books stretch their understanding beyond politics and poetry—into the unseen forces that shape the self and the cosmos.
Living in Transit: The Thinkers of a World in Turmoil
War looms over Europe, uncertainty seeps into everyday life, and the weight of history presses upon the present. The world is burning, and yet—there are those who seek understanding, those who bury themselves in the quiet refuge of books, the dim glow of libraries, the solitude of knowledge.
This series captures the introspective minds of young academic women—readers, thinkers, seekers. They wander through old university halls, their fingers tracing the spines of forgotten books, pulling out volumes of poetry, philosophy, and psychology. They drink coffee, they drink tea, they stay up late with ink-stained fingers, trying to decipher the world through words.
They turn to Simone Weil for moral clarity, Hannah Arendt for political insight, Rilke for existential wisdom. They read Baudrillard to untangle the illusions of modernity, Byung-Chul Han to understand society’s exhaustion, Camus to grasp the absurdity of it all. They devour Celan’s poetry, searching for beauty in catastrophe.
But they do not just read—they reflect, they question, they write. Their world is one of quiet resistance, an intellectual sanctuary amidst the chaos. In their solitude, they are not alone. Across time, across history, across the pages they turn, they are in conversation with those who, too, have sought meaning in troubled times.
This is a series about thought in transit—about seeking, reading, questioning, about the relentless pursuit of knowledge when the world feels on the brink.
Where the Thinkers Go
They gather where the dust has settled,
where books whisper in the hush of halls.
Pages thin as breath, torn at the edges,
cradling centuries of questions.
They drink coffee like it’s ink,
trace words like constellations,
follow Rilke into the dusk,
where solitude hums softly in the dark.
Outside, the world is fraying—
war threading through the seams of cities,
the weight of history pressing forward.
Inside, they turn pages, searching
for answers, for solace, for fire.
And somewhere between the lines,
between time-stained margins and fading ink,
they find the ghosts of others who
once sought, once wondered, once read—
and they do not feel alone.
Three Haikus
Night falls on paper,
books stacked like silent towers,
thoughts burn in the dark.
Tea cools in the cup,
a poem lingers on lips,
war rumbles beyond.
Footsteps in silence,
the scent of old ink and dust,
pages turn like ghosts.
ooOOOoo
The Intellectual Pursuit: What They Read in 2025
In a world teetering between war and uncertainty, young academic women turn to books—not as mere escape, but as a way to confront reality, to seek wisdom in the echoes of history, and to understand the weight of the present. They read in dimly lit libraries, at café tables littered with half-drunk cups of tea, in quiet university archives where dust clings to forgotten volumes. They are drawn to words that unravel complexity, books that demand contemplation, and authors who have wrestled with the same existential questions that haunt their minds today.
Here is what they read.
1. Existential and Philosophical Works
In times of crisis, philosophy becomes a mirror—reflecting both the weight of the world and the possibilities of thought. These books challenge, unsettle, and offer a way to navigate uncertainty.
Simone Weil – Gravity and Grace (moral clarity and reflections on human suffering)
Hannah Arendt – The Origins of Totalitarianism (a timeless study of power, ideology, and authoritarianism)
Byung-Chul Han – The Burnout Society (a philosophical take on modern exhaustion and performance-driven culture)
Jean Baudrillard – Simulacra and Simulation (a critique of reality and illusion in an age of digital manipulation)
Albert Camus – The Plague (a novel that mirrors today’s existential and ethical dilemmas)
Søren Kierkegaard – The Concept of Anxiety (an exploration of freedom, dread, and the human condition)
These thinkers guide them through uncertainty, offering both discomfort and clarity—challenging them to see beyond the immediate chaos.
2. Poetry and Literature of Longing, Loss, and Human Experience
Sometimes, only poetry and fiction can capture what analysis cannot—the deep, wordless truths of grief, love, exile, and the quiet resilience of the human spirit.
Anne Carson – Nox (a fragmented, deeply personal meditation on loss and memory)
Paul Celan – Todesfuge (haunting post-Holocaust poetry that lingers between beauty and horror)
Rainer Maria Rilke – Letters to a Young Poet (a lyrical guide to solitude, art, and self-discovery)
Ocean Vuong – On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous (poetry-infused storytelling on identity and survival)
Virginia Woolf – The Waves (a novel that reads like a long poem, exploring time, consciousness, and human connection)
Clarice Lispector – The Hour of the Star (a sparse, existential novel that lingers long after the last page)
These books are read slowly, lines underlined in pencil, phrases whispered to oneself in quiet moments.
3. Political Thought and Social Critique
Understanding the present requires looking at the past and tracing the patterns of history, power, and resistance.
Naomi Klein – Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World (on misinformation, conspiracy culture, and the fracturing of reality)
Timothy Snyder – On Tyranny (20 lessons from history on how democracy is lost—and how it can be protected)
Achille Mbembe – Necropolitics (on the politics of death, control, and who gets to exist in modern power structures)
Olga Tokarczuk – Flights (a novel that blurs fiction and philosophy, exploring movement, exile, and identity)
Rebecca Solnit – Hope in the Dark (on why history is shaped by those who refuse to give up)
These books are read with urgency—annotated, discussed, debated. They provide frameworks for understanding the unfolding crises of today.
4. Science, Psychology, and the Search for Meaning
In times of uncertainty, some turn to the mind and the universe—to trauma studies, quantum physics, and new ways of seeing.
Carlo Rovelli – The Order of Time (a poetic examination of time and its illusions)
James Bridle – New Dark Age: Technology and the End of the Future (on the unpredictability of AI, climate change, and human systems)
Bessel van der Kolk – The Body Keeps the Score (on trauma, memory, and how the body stores experiences)
Donna Haraway – Staying with the Trouble (rethinking human and non-human relationships in a time of ecological crisis)
These books stretch their understanding beyond politics and poetry—into the unseen forces that shape the self and the cosmos.
In an introspective mood. This pic taken about a month before Spalding invaded the house in early June 2004
.
Living in Transit: The Thinkers of a World in Turmoil
War looms over Europe, uncertainty seeps into everyday life, and the weight of history presses upon the present. The world is burning, and yet—there are those who seek understanding, those who bury themselves in the quiet refuge of books, the dim glow of libraries, the solitude of knowledge.
This series captures the introspective minds of young academic women—readers, thinkers, seekers. They wander through old university halls, their fingers tracing the spines of forgotten books, pulling out volumes of poetry, philosophy, and psychology. They drink coffee, they drink tea, they stay up late with ink-stained fingers, trying to decipher the world through words.
They turn to Simone Weil for moral clarity, Hannah Arendt for political insight, Rilke for existential wisdom. They read Baudrillard to untangle the illusions of modernity, Byung-Chul Han to understand society’s exhaustion, Camus to grasp the absurdity of it all. They devour Celan’s poetry, searching for beauty in catastrophe.
But they do not just read—they reflect, they question, they write. Their world is one of quiet resistance, an intellectual sanctuary amidst the chaos. In their solitude, they are not alone. Across time, across history, across the pages they turn, they are in conversation with those who, too, have sought meaning in troubled times.
This is a series about thought in transit—about seeking, reading, questioning, about the relentless pursuit of knowledge when the world feels on the brink.
Where the Thinkers Go
They gather where the dust has settled,
where books whisper in the hush of halls.
Pages thin as breath, torn at the edges,
cradling centuries of questions.
They drink coffee like it’s ink,
trace words like constellations,
follow Rilke into the dusk,
where solitude hums softly in the dark.
Outside, the world is fraying—
war threading through the seams of cities,
the weight of history pressing forward.
Inside, they turn pages, searching
for answers, for solace, for fire.
And somewhere between the lines,
between time-stained margins and fading ink,
they find the ghosts of others who
once sought, once wondered, once read—
and they do not feel alone.
Three Haikus
Night falls on paper,
books stacked like silent towers,
thoughts burn in the dark.
Tea cools in the cup,
a poem lingers on lips,
war rumbles beyond.
Footsteps in silence,
the scent of old ink and dust,
pages turn like ghosts.
ooOOOoo
The Intellectual Pursuit: What They Read in 2025
In a world teetering between war and uncertainty, young academic women turn to books—not as mere escape, but as a way to confront reality, to seek wisdom in the echoes of history, and to understand the weight of the present. They read in dimly lit libraries, at café tables littered with half-drunk cups of tea, in quiet university archives where dust clings to forgotten volumes. They are drawn to words that unravel complexity, books that demand contemplation, and authors who have wrestled with the same existential questions that haunt their minds today.
Here is what they read.
1. Existential and Philosophical Works
In times of crisis, philosophy becomes a mirror—reflecting both the weight of the world and the possibilities of thought. These books challenge, unsettle, and offer a way to navigate uncertainty.
Simone Weil – Gravity and Grace (moral clarity and reflections on human suffering)
Hannah Arendt – The Origins of Totalitarianism (a timeless study of power, ideology, and authoritarianism)
Byung-Chul Han – The Burnout Society (a philosophical take on modern exhaustion and performance-driven culture)
Jean Baudrillard – Simulacra and Simulation (a critique of reality and illusion in an age of digital manipulation)
Albert Camus – The Plague (a novel that mirrors today’s existential and ethical dilemmas)
Søren Kierkegaard – The Concept of Anxiety (an exploration of freedom, dread, and the human condition)
These thinkers guide them through uncertainty, offering both discomfort and clarity—challenging them to see beyond the immediate chaos.
2. Poetry and Literature of Longing, Loss, and Human Experience
Sometimes, only poetry and fiction can capture what analysis cannot—the deep, wordless truths of grief, love, exile, and the quiet resilience of the human spirit.
Anne Carson – Nox (a fragmented, deeply personal meditation on loss and memory)
Paul Celan – Todesfuge (haunting post-Holocaust poetry that lingers between beauty and horror)
Rainer Maria Rilke – Letters to a Young Poet (a lyrical guide to solitude, art, and self-discovery)
Ocean Vuong – On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous (poetry-infused storytelling on identity and survival)
Virginia Woolf – The Waves (a novel that reads like a long poem, exploring time, consciousness, and human connection)
Clarice Lispector – The Hour of the Star (a sparse, existential novel that lingers long after the last page)
These books are read slowly, lines underlined in pencil, phrases whispered to oneself in quiet moments.
3. Political Thought and Social Critique
Understanding the present requires looking at the past and tracing the patterns of history, power, and resistance.
Naomi Klein – Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World (on misinformation, conspiracy culture, and the fracturing of reality)
Timothy Snyder – On Tyranny (20 lessons from history on how democracy is lost—and how it can be protected)
Achille Mbembe – Necropolitics (on the politics of death, control, and who gets to exist in modern power structures)
Olga Tokarczuk – Flights (a novel that blurs fiction and philosophy, exploring movement, exile, and identity)
Rebecca Solnit – Hope in the Dark (on why history is shaped by those who refuse to give up)
These books are read with urgency—annotated, discussed, debated. They provide frameworks for understanding the unfolding crises of today.
4. Science, Psychology, and the Search for Meaning
In times of uncertainty, some turn to the mind and the universe—to trauma studies, quantum physics, and new ways of seeing.
Carlo Rovelli – The Order of Time (a poetic examination of time and its illusions)
James Bridle – New Dark Age: Technology and the End of the Future (on the unpredictability of AI, climate change, and human systems)
Bessel van der Kolk – The Body Keeps the Score (on trauma, memory, and how the body stores experiences)
Donna Haraway – Staying with the Trouble (rethinking human and non-human relationships in a time of ecological crisis)
These books stretch their understanding beyond politics and poetry—into the unseen forces that shape the self and the cosmos.