Natalie and I were a couple of kids when we met in a Freshman Studies writing class in 1987. We sat at a round table, reading from a poetry book our professor assigned, and from our own stories, sharing the vast wisdom of our 18 years.

After graduating from Sarah Lawrence College, Natalie went on to earn her MA in History from the University of Toronto. Today she is a history editor at a university publishing house. She spends most of her professional time reading about the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the Reformation and spends most of her personal time reading about the 20^th century.

Natalie has graciously agreed to be a guest blogger on two of my favorite topics: Compassion and Books.

An Empathy Reading List

by Natalie Fingerhut

I was born into an upper-middle class, Jewish household in suburban Toronto. I heard the word “nigger” fairly often and called boys that I…