Students explore issues and human experiences through stories

Students in Bethel’s social work and English and journalism departments recently came together to explore real-world issues through stories. The departments recently joined forces to host an interview with author Vibhuti Jain to discuss her novel Our Best Intentions as part of a monthly speaker series. “We’ve created this Human Experience Speaker Series to really invite in stories. We encourage our students to engage in storytelling and story listening,” says Bethel Professor of Social Work Nicholas Zeimet.

As journalism major Talia McWright ’24 interviewed Jain virtually, attendees learned not just about the story Jain wrote, but also stories from her life and the experiences that shaped her book. The novel, set in upstate New York in the aftermath of a crime, follows two protagonists who, like Jain, are first-generation South Asian immigrants. Jain’s background in law and her life experiences provided some grounds for inspiration, but she also was inspired by understanding people with differing social perspectives. “When I was writing it, I was thinking about the title, Our Best Intentions,” Jain says. “It came from this place of wanting to understand people—I think that’s why I write.”

The Human Experience Speaker Series offers students, faculty, and community members a chance to listen, learn, and grow together. A key goal is to expose participants to varied human experiences—values, marginalization, oppressive and racist systems and histories, power, empowerment, resistance, and more. While Jain’s novel commentates on political and social issues, it also aims primarily to empathize with the humanity of every perspective. “When we see people we don’t agree with we just so often find ourselves thinking that we’re nothing alike. Even though our actions may differ so widely, we’re so similar in what we want—which is just bettering our lives for ourselves and our loved ones.”

The story follows multiple first-hand narratives with a rich cast of characters full of their own unique perspectives. Jain wrote it this way to help readers to empathize with the characters by inhabiting their experiences firsthand. To McWright, her favorite part of the interview experience was learning about Jain’s decision-making processes and character development as she wrote the novel. “Fiction is such an important literary style to examine and explore, especially as readers don't often know the inspiration behind the creative imagination,” McWright says. “Speaking with Jain not only answered a lot of questions I had as I was reading the novel, but I also learned so much about her and what led to the creation of this work.”

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