Collin College Book In Common program focuses on Cambodia’s killing fields

by John P. Meyer

Author Loung Ung to speak on Spring Creek campus on October 23.

Keystoning the Collin College Book In Common program for fall 2007 will be a visit by author Loung Ung, who chronicles her childhood experiences in the killing fields of Cambodia (during the 1970's) in her book First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers.

Prior to Ung's Oct. 23 talk, Collin College has scheduled a series of programs designed to raise the awareness of students (and interested community members), including several screenings of director Roland Joffé's searing cinematic portrayal of the events, The Killing Fields (1984). One of these will take place at the Angelika Theater in Plano on October 9 (at 7 p.m.), and several other screenings are set for CCCCD campus locations.

Also upcoming are a pair of roundtable discussions entitled "Cambodia: Her culture & People." The first of these will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 16 at 3 p.m. on the Preston Ridge campus (room F148); the second is scheduled for the next day at 1 p.m. on the Spring Creek campus (room C104).

According to Regina Hughes, director of the Center for Scholarly & Civic Engagement, the Book In Common program is intended to foster a scholarly community through the power of the story, to encourage students to read beyond textbooks and to promote academic discourse and critical thinking through shared experience. For this year's program, the subject matter has been chosen specifically to raise awareness regarding the value and vibrancy inherent in cultural differences.