'You can get all A's and still flunk life.'
-Walker Percy
As we continually grasp at that next rung of the ladder – and amid the demands of coursework and grades, extra-curricular involvement, grad school applications, and job fairs – it can be easy to forget that what we all really want is a good life. None of us wants, as Thoreau puts it, to find ourselves at the end of our life and discover that we have not lived it. In this seminar, we will consider how to live life with intention, purpose, and meaning – and how to do that specifically during college. We’ll explore the ways in which the contemporary world can often mislead us about living the good life and so explore newer paths to fulfillment.
For this June’s reading group, we’ll review the manuscript of a forthcoming book to explore stories of young people trying to figure out this life in order to ask ourselves about our own deepest desires. Reading Majoring in Life: The Complete Guide to Adulting, by Anna Moreland and Tom Smith, also offers us a chance to give concrete feedback to the writers which will be included in the published version of the book. At the end of this three-week seminar, we will receive an audience with and lecture from the authors, Professors Anna Moreland and Tom Smith. This final lecture is free and open to the public. For more information and to register, click here.
Dates & Time: Wednesdays, 5:00-6:15 pm ET
June 8: Work
June 15: Leisure
June 22: Romance
June 29: Culminating Lecture by Anna Moreland
Location: Zoom
RSVP: This seminar is open only to Penn and other University City students (and Spring 2022 graduates). Click the button below to RSVP.