The Pink Tent Book Club
This interview is with Mickey Palmer-Morales from "The Pink Tent Book Club" in Frederick, Maryland. Read on to learn more about this group, including the origin of its name and the activities of its members, all of whom are hearing-impaired.
Q: Does your group have a name and/or a theme? How long has your group been in existence?
A: The Pink Tent Book Club. It has been in existence since May 2001.
Q: How many members do you have? How many men, how many women? What age are most of your members?
A: This book club is an offshoot of our Sorority Chapter that has about 50 female members, but we do have a core group of 5 to 7 who meet on a regular basis.
Q: How often do you meet? Where do you meet?
A: We meet once a month at a member's house.
Q: Do you eat at your meetings? What do you eat? Who brings the food?
A: Yes!! We informally take turns bringing food in. We will eat something that coincides with the holiday, season or book. For example, when we read Chocolat by Joanne Harris, someone brought in truffles from the fancy candy shop in town. Sometimes we make something from recipes in the book. A member made "Friendship Cake" from the book Friendship Cake by Lynne Hinton, a cake from Patti LaBelle's Cuisine, etc. Next month, we will be discussing Eat Cake by Jeanne Ray and, of course, we will be making cakes from the recipe in the back ... yum.
Q: Who leads the discussion? Do you use reading group guides?
A: No one formally leads the group, but we do have a couple of retired Gallaudet University professors who steer the conversation back to the book. We do use your reading guides, and if you don't have a guide for a particular book we read and then we just use a generic reading guide. It's pretty informal.
Q: What kind of books do you read?
A: We read any well-written books. We just don't happen to read science fiction, thrillers, etc. So far, most of the reading has been based on novels. Later we may consider works of nonfiction, short stories and drama.
Q: How do you choose your books? Do you choose one new book at each meeting, or do you choose the books for a number of meetings ahead of time?
A: We choose books based on recommendations from family and friends. Sometimes we choose one book or several books for a number of meetings ahead.
Q: What were some of the best discussions or favorite books the group read?
A: The best discussions are those where we laughed the most. Each individual has their favorite, but we don't have a favorite as a group. We often share our experiences or knowledge in the discussions, which makes it interesting. There is one book that we all disliked, so we discussed in-depth why it wasn't readable. The discussion itself was so interesting that one member said, "Wow, I have to read it."
Q: How do you keep things fun?
A: Good laughs.
Q: What advice would you give to other reading groups?
A: Use your reading guides.
Q: Do you have any horror stories, amusing anecdotes, or other special tales to tell?
A: Special Tale: The name "The Pink Tent Book Club" was created when we read The Red Tent by Anita Diamant. During the course of discussion, we realized that we were sitting at the breakfast table covered with pink tablecloth where we normally gather --- under the beautiful various shades of pink stained glass light fixture. Whatever we discuss there does not leave the Pink Tent.
Q: Is there anything else unique or noteworthy about your group that you would like to share?
A: Yes!! This is a group of Deaf intelligent women who belong to the Alpha Gamma Chapter of the National Organization of the Phi Kappa Zeta. The National Organization is an Alumni organization of a college sorority, Phi Kappa Zeta Sorority, a literary sorority of Gallaudet University. Gallaudet University is the only college for the Deaf in the world and it's located in Washington, D.C.
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