From an English Reader

Moving and beautifully written

By 

MirandaLandgraf - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shade It Black (Hardcover)

We don't read the narrator as a woman for the first few chapters. She is a marine, without gender, until slowly the prejudice shades her in too. This is one of the best books on war I have read, and because it unpacks a woman's place amongst the body bags and latrines it is deeply provocative about what must happen to make soldiers. What is so good, is the writing too. There is much here to learn about humanity and it is all beautifully told.

Shade It Black at MU!

(Un)Shading: A Miami University Dialogue on the World Stage

We invite Miami’s newest students, members of the Class of 2015, to enter a composition contest based on the book selected for this year’s Summer Reading Program, Jess Goodell’s Shade It Black. All other Miami students, faculty, and staff are welcome to post their essays as well.
In Shade It Black, Goodell tells us about her firsthand experiences in the Iraq War and its continued influence on her life back home. We invite you to submit a composition (in written, digital, or other forms) that describe how you or someone close to you has been impacted by an event of global significance.
We hope that these compositions will help Miami University highlight ways the people and places of our world have grown increasingly interconnected and the ways we all have a stake in the world stage. While not everyone will have direct involvement with such an event, one of the goals of liberal learning at Miami is to explore ways our daily lives affect and are affected by world events.
You can participate in this exploration in the following ways:

• Submit a 350- to 500-word Shade It Black composition by following the process described on the  Shade It Black Contest Webpage.

• Read, listen to, and view what Miami students and others in the Miami community have shared by going to the Shade It Black Contest Webpage.

• Join the discussion at the 2012 Shade It Black Facebook Page.

$100 Prizes for New Students

To welcome the Class of 2016, we are offering 16 prizes of $100 apiece for the best “Shade It Black” compositions by incoming first-year students. Students at all Miami campuses are eligible for prizes. The contest opens June 2, 2012. Deadline for prize eligibility: Midnight, October 2, 2012.
Winners will be featured on the website of the Howe Center for Writing Excellence. Prizes are gift certificates to the University Bookstore. This contest is sponsored by Miami’s Howe Center for Writing Excellence and the Office of Liberal Education.

Religion and Politics

A new online journal, Religion and Politics, has just published an essay by Jess and John. It describes a community college course that proved to be a turning point in their lives. You can read it here: http://religionandpolitics.org/2012/05/01/i-was-a-mortuary-worker-in-iraq-a-marine-on-what-remains-after-war/

Shade It Black at Miami University. Listen!

"THIS YEAR’S BOOK CHOICE , SHADE IT BLACK, IS SURE TO RAISE QUESTIONS, SPARK DEBATE, AND BUILD CONNECTIONS THAT MAY HAVE NOT BEEN ACHIEVED OTHERWISE."

Insightful commentary on Jess' upcoming visit to Miami University. Please listen:

http://www.prx.org/pieces/77285-shade-it-black

Shade It Black in Colleges and Universities

Shade It Black has been used in courses taught at Brown University, Norwich University, and Jamestown Community College. We believe it has also been assigned to students at UNLV and Portland State University, though we are not certain. And, of course, it has been chosen by Miami University as their 2012 Summer reading program selection. It has also been used in high school courses in Idaho and California. If you know of other educational institutions whose faculty have assigned the book, please let us know.

Thank You, Professor V!

We just received and responded to an email from a professor at Norwich University. Here is our response:

Dear Professor V,

    Thank you very much for asking your students to read Jessica’s story and to consider the validity of her perspective.  She had hoped from the beginning that this project would, in some way, eventually help to improve the operation and effectiveness of the Marines (and the military in general) for all of its members, and for the good of the nation. Your assignment is doing just that.

Here is the email:

I want to let you know that students in my Introductory Sociology classes at Norwich University (the nation's oldest private military college and the birthplace of ROTC) had the option to read Shade it Black this semester. I am now grading the essays they wrote focusing on the experience of token minorities, with Ms. Goodell's story providing a significant portion of their material. I have suggested it as a future summer reading book for incoming students, and for inclusion in our reading & writing for Vets class, as well as in our military literature courses. I am repeatedly struck by how effectively her story resonates with my many male students, and how it opens their eyes. They now "get it" in terms of what it means to be a woman in the Marines, or in the Norwich University Corps of Cadets, or in other organizations. I appreciate greatly Ms. Goodell's contribution to our understanding of what it means to experience persistent discrimination, even from those who mean well. With luck, the students reading her book today will become much more enlightened leaders tomorrow than those we have today. Thank you both.

Jessica Wins Outstanding Female Veteran Award!

The Call of Duty Endowment is proud to announce today’s winner of the Outstanding Female Veteran Award, Jessica Goodell. Jessica would like to donate today’s $1,000 to Veterans Green Jobs, an Endowment partner.
As a former Marine, Jessica Goodell was assigned in 2004 to a Mortuary Affairs unit tasked with collecting, identifying, and transporting the deceased from Iraq. Shortly after she was discharged, she earned a degree in Psychology and is currently working on her PhD. She hopes to become a resident Psychology doctor for the Veteran Affairs Department.
A former Marine and friend of Jessica’s, explained to the Endowment that she has already written one book about her time in the Marines and has shown that she will continue to do outstanding things for Veterans and Service Men and Women alike. “I have seen few Marines endure the stresses she has and make it out alive not only to their own effect but to that which connects all veterans: DUTY.”
The Endowment couldn’t be happier for and more honored to announce Jessica Goodell as an Outstanding Female Veterans. Congrats and thank you for your continued service Jessica!