Freshmen forced to read poetry

It was a surprising yet enlightened choice, writes Joann Byrd in Seattle's Crosscut. The selection committee at the University of Washington chose a volume of poetry (The horror! The horror!) for this year's Common Book, a text that "introduces freshmen to the college-level process of academic inquiry."  Why ever would UW make such a bold - yet brilliant - move? Byrd explains:

We remember poems; they can change our minds or maybe our hearts. It is never too early to discover that a poem is a minute of sanctuary in an over-subscribed life or a speedy route to another truth about our world. Or that it's pure, sweet indulgence — in beauty, or mastery or wit.

The chosen book is You Are Never Where You Are, a collection compiled at UW that includes 15 poems by 15 poets.  Eat 'em up, froshies!