‘Seek You’ author encourages VCU students to make college a time of self-discovery – VCU News

Written by William Lineberry
University College & Honors College

College can be a lonely time of change, but instead of being overwhelmed, students can use it as a springboard to becoming who they become, author Kristen Radke told Virginia Commonwealth on Wednesday. He spoke to a university audience.

Radtke’s book, “Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness,” is part of the 2023 VCU Common Book, a university-wide initiative to introduce complex social issues to first-year students through a common text. Radke discussed elements of graphic nonfiction works, including community, technology, and art, in a virtual keynote address for students, faculty, staff, and the public.

She said “Seek You” could resonate with college students because it deals with themes that she herself experienced at the time.

“When I look back on my college years, I think it was a time of isolation and transition,” Radke said. “But during that time I found a new me. A new chance to think for myself. A chance to try different versions of myself. It provides a level of freedom I didn’t have before. ”

Throughout the keynote, Ms. Radtke read from the “Seek You” section, which she wrote and illustrated, and answered questions submitted by students. The Department of Intensive Inquiry teaches the Common Book as a required text in the UNIV 111 and 112 sections.

Radtke talked about how the writing of “Seek You” arose from her own experience of loneliness. The project began with her portraying the people she sees in her daily life in New York City. A person standing on a street corner staring off into the distance with some kind of stupefaction, or a store clerk endlessly scrolling through his page. A phone behind the counter.

Radtke said he thought these early drawings would be the end of the project. But Edward’s Hopper-esque sketches of hers, along with her own sense of isolation, continued to push her towards further researching the subject and considering it through her interdisciplinary lens.

Ironically, writing about loneliness and illustrating “Seek You” has helped Radke feel less alone and has a deeper understanding of how others endure similar feelings. “It’s become like that,” she said. Putting her thoughts on paper was a way to consider the emotions that almost everyone experiences.

“Writing is a form of exploration,” Radke says. “It’s a desire to put something into the world that doesn’t exist yet. Seeing the uncontrollable anger in our world is something worth writing about.”

Sponsored by University College and the Office of the Provost, VCU’s Common Book program helps frame complex social issues with an interdisciplinary lens, through which books can be analyzed and discussed in academic settings. Click here to see more Common Book events happening this semester.