{"id":817,"date":"2022-03-21T11:32:10","date_gmt":"2022-03-21T15:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.berea.edu\/president\/?p=817"},"modified":"2022-03-21T11:32:10","modified_gmt":"2022-03-21T15:32:10","slug":"bell-hooks-and-the-most-precious-gift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/blog\/bell-hooks-and-the-most-precious-gift\/","title":{"rendered":"bell hooks and the most precious gift"},"content":{"rendered":"![\"bell](\"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2022\/03\/20170613_BellHooks_JB-1-300x200.jpg\")
This past December, Berea, and the world, lost a friend and an icon. bell hooks, n\u00e9e Gloria Jean Watkins, spelled her pen name in all lower-case letters because she wanted people to focus on her work, not her person. But it was her work and her person that inspired the Berea College community to establish the bell hooks center and even to name a campus road after her. And that same community prompted bell to establish the bell hooks Institute at Berea College. These named places will remind current and future community members of one of the world\u2019s great minds, a Kentuckian, an international hero of feminism and, for the last 17 years of her life, a Berean.<\/p>\n
Born in 1952 in the segregated community of Hopkinsville, bell transcended the limitations society tried to place on her. She studied English at Stanford University, earned her master\u2019s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Cruz. The author of dozens of books ranging in topics from race and gender to poetry and children\u2019s literature, bell\u2019s prolific teaching career stretched across many prestigious schools, including Yale, Oberlin, The City College of New York and, ultimately, Berea College, where she chose to continue her life-long work in social justice.<\/p>\n
There are not enough words available in this column to express the impact bell hooks had on society, both globally and locally. Her feminist refrain\u2014feminism is for everyone!\u2014was and is so profoundly Berean in its inclusiveness. She welcomed me, too, as a fellow feminist, and we became friends, but she was not shy to point out when my thinking needed correction. It was always an honor to have her expand my horizons because she was so smart and so fierce.<\/p>\n
bell had many friends and they all, like me, honored and treasured their relationships with her. Her tent was so very welcoming, capacious and full of learning opportunities. She read at least a book every day and always eagerly shared what she had learned. We will miss bell so much and will always be proud that she chose to associate herself with us and that she allowed us to put her name on the center where we celebrate all gender identities, seeing their inclusion as fundamental to the welcoming mission and identity of Berea College.![\"bell](\"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2022\/03\/20201016_Fall-Campus-photos_Tyler-Rocquemore-1-300x200.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Her work, her life and her presence spoke to five of Berea\u2019s eight Great Commitments: our commitments to the liberating potential of a liberal arts education, to interracial education, to gender equality, to sustainability and to Appalachia. That close alignment is no surprise because another conviction of bell\u2019s that made her such a true Berean was that love, the impartial love celebrated as well by Berea\u2019s founders, was the answer to most of what is wrong with our culture.<\/p>\n
In her classic book, \u201cAll about Love: New Visions,\u201d she wrote about the openness of a generous heart: \u201cThis is the most precious gift true love offers\u2014the experience of knowing we always belong.\u201d<\/p>\n
That experience\u2014belonging\u2014is denied so many in our society based on superficial differences like race, gender and class, but bell admonished us to be better, to see in each person potential and worth. We can honor bell\u2019s legacy by opening our tents and our hearts in a way that makes that most precious gift less rare.\u00a0 Even as that gift is bestowed more frequently, it will still be so very precious.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This past December, Berea, and the world, lost a friend and an icon. bell hooks, n\u00e9e Gloria Jean Watkins, spelled her pen name in all lower-case letters because she wanted people to focus on her work, not her person. But it was her work and her person that inspired the Berea College community to establish […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":228,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
bell hooks and the most precious gift - President's Office<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"bell hooks and the most precious gift - President's Office\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This past December, Berea, and the world, lost a friend and an icon. bell hooks, n\u00e9e Gloria Jean Watkins, spelled her pen name in all lower-case letters because she wanted people to focus on her work, not her person. But it was her work and her person that inspired the Berea College community to establish […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/blog\/bell-hooks-and-the-most-precious-gift\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"President's Office\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-03-21T15:32:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2022\/03\/20170613_BellHooks_JB-1-300x200.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lyle Roelofs\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lyle Roelofs\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/legacy.berea.edu\\\/president\\\/blog\\\/bell-hooks-and-the-most-precious-gift\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/legacy.berea.edu\\\/president\\\/blog\\\/bell-hooks-and-the-most-precious-gift\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lyle Roelofs\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/legacy.berea.edu\\\/president\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3221b08e32e5f5f6a0500741c7535a00\"},\"headline\":\"bell hooks and the most precious gift\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-03-21T15:32:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/legacy.berea.edu\\\/president\\\/blog\\\/bell-hooks-and-the-most-precious-gift\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":590,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/legacy.berea.edu\\\/president\\\/blog\\\/bell-hooks-and-the-most-precious-gift\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/legacy.berea.edu\\\/president\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/11\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/20170613_BellHooks_JB-1-300x200.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/legacy.berea.edu\\\/president\\\/blog\\\/bell-hooks-and-the-most-precious-gift\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/legacy.berea.edu\\\/president\\\/blog\\\/bell-hooks-and-the-most-precious-gift\\\/\",\"name\":\"bell hooks and the most precious gift - President's Office\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/legacy.berea.edu\\\/president\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/legacy.berea.edu\\\/president\\\/blog\\\/bell-hooks-and-the-most-precious-gift\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/legacy.berea.edu\\\/president\\\/blog\\\/bell-hooks-and-the-most-precious-gift\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/legacy.berea.edu\\\/president\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/11\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/20170613_BellHooks_JB-1-300x200.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-03-21T15:32:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/legacy.berea.edu\\\/president\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3221b08e32e5f5f6a0500741c7535a00\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/legacy.berea.edu\\\/president\\\/blog\\\/bell-hooks-and-the-most-precious-gift\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/legacy.berea.edu\\\/president\\\/blog\\\/bell-hooks-and-the-most-precious-gift\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/legacy.berea.edu\\\/president\\\/blog\\\/bell-hooks-and-the-most-precious-gift\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/legacy.berea.edu\\\/president\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/11\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/20170613_BellHooks_JB-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/legacy.berea.edu\\\/president\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/11\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/20170613_BellHooks_JB-1.jpg\",\"width\":2048,\"height\":1367,\"caption\":\"bell hooks, wearing red, smiles into the camera\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/legacy.berea.edu\\\/president\\\/blog\\\/bell-hooks-and-the-most-precious-gift\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/legacy.berea.edu\\\/president\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"bell hooks and the most precious gift\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/legacy.berea.edu\\\/president\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/legacy.berea.edu\\\/president\\\/\",\"name\":\"President's Office\",\"description\":\"President's Office\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/legacy.berea.edu\\\/president\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/legacy.berea.edu\\\/president\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3221b08e32e5f5f6a0500741c7535a00\",\"name\":\"Lyle Roelofs\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50639fddc9cad932c14ceb36920c0ff8d846e646a75a0a6388233e9f1a5b8bc0?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50639fddc9cad932c14ceb36920c0ff8d846e646a75a0a6388233e9f1a5b8bc0?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50639fddc9cad932c14ceb36920c0ff8d846e646a75a0a6388233e9f1a5b8bc0?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lyle Roelofs\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/legacy.berea.edu\\\/president\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/jasonmiller\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"bell hooks and the most precious gift - President's Office","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"bell hooks and the most precious gift - President's Office","og_description":"This past December, Berea, and the world, lost a friend and an icon. bell hooks, n\u00e9e Gloria Jean Watkins, spelled her pen name in all lower-case letters because she wanted people to focus on her work, not her person. But it was her work and her person that inspired the Berea College community to establish […]","og_url":"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/blog\/bell-hooks-and-the-most-precious-gift\/","og_site_name":"President's Office","article_published_time":"2022-03-21T15:32:10+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2022\/03\/20170613_BellHooks_JB-1-300x200.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Lyle Roelofs","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lyle Roelofs","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/blog\/bell-hooks-and-the-most-precious-gift\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/blog\/bell-hooks-and-the-most-precious-gift\/"},"author":{"name":"Lyle Roelofs","@id":"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/#\/schema\/person\/3221b08e32e5f5f6a0500741c7535a00"},"headline":"bell hooks and the most precious gift","datePublished":"2022-03-21T15:32:10+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/blog\/bell-hooks-and-the-most-precious-gift\/"},"wordCount":590,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/blog\/bell-hooks-and-the-most-precious-gift\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2022\/03\/20170613_BellHooks_JB-1-300x200.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/blog\/bell-hooks-and-the-most-precious-gift\/","url":"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/blog\/bell-hooks-and-the-most-precious-gift\/","name":"bell hooks and the most precious gift - President's Office","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/blog\/bell-hooks-and-the-most-precious-gift\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/blog\/bell-hooks-and-the-most-precious-gift\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2022\/03\/20170613_BellHooks_JB-1-300x200.jpg","datePublished":"2022-03-21T15:32:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/#\/schema\/person\/3221b08e32e5f5f6a0500741c7535a00"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/blog\/bell-hooks-and-the-most-precious-gift\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/blog\/bell-hooks-and-the-most-precious-gift\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/blog\/bell-hooks-and-the-most-precious-gift\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2022\/03\/20170613_BellHooks_JB-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2022\/03\/20170613_BellHooks_JB-1.jpg","width":2048,"height":1367,"caption":"bell hooks, wearing red, smiles into the camera"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/blog\/bell-hooks-and-the-most-precious-gift\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"bell hooks and the most precious gift"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/#website","url":"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/","name":"President's Office","description":"President's Office","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/#\/schema\/person\/3221b08e32e5f5f6a0500741c7535a00","name":"Lyle Roelofs","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50639fddc9cad932c14ceb36920c0ff8d846e646a75a0a6388233e9f1a5b8bc0?s=96&d=blank&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50639fddc9cad932c14ceb36920c0ff8d846e646a75a0a6388233e9f1a5b8bc0?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50639fddc9cad932c14ceb36920c0ff8d846e646a75a0a6388233e9f1a5b8bc0?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Lyle Roelofs"},"url":"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/blog\/author\/jasonmiller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/228"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legacy.berea.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}