When Authenticity Isn't Enough

In Authentic, Burey makes her case using interviews with Black, LGBTQ, and other historically marginalized professionals, and with deeply researched data, including about the impact of workplace racism on physical health. She argues that when employers offer workers only shallow encouragements to “come as you are,” they impose emotional labor by requiring employees to educate their colleagues about themselves and their experiences.

“I want people to free themselves from the burden that their own personal self-expression is supposed to transform the culture of work,” Burey said. Workplaces ought to focus less on “silly” surface-level markers of so-called authenticity, such as how Black women style their hair, she said, and more on making tangible improvements in labor practices. “Whatever my hair looks like does not change the fact that I’m not being paid properly,” Burey said, “or that I don’t get the recognition that I need.” ◽

Expert Witness: The Weight of Our Testimony When Justice Hangs in the Balance by Ann Wolbert Burgess and Steven Matthew Constantine

In her latest memoir, Burgess, a Connell School of Nursing professor and acclaimed forensic nurse and criminal profiler, details her experiences during fifty-plus years of appearing as an expert courtroom witness. She and Constantine, associate director of marketing and communications at the Connell School, bring readers into her riveting testimonies during such high-profile cases as the murder trial of the Menendez brothers and the sexual assault trial of Bill Cosby.

She Used to Be Nice by Alexia LaFata ’15

An unflinching look at the long-term trauma of sexual assault, LaFata’s debut novel follows Avery, a young woman who is raped in college and struggles to cope for years afterward. Just as she is beginning to chart a path forward, Avery learns her rapist will be the best man in her close friend’s wedding. As maid of honor, she will need to confront the past once and for all.

Cherished Belonging: The Healing Power of Love in Divided Times by Gregory Boyle, SJ, CSTM’84

Boyle, a Jesuit priest who founded the largest gang intervention program in the world, shares what working on the streets of Los Angeles taught him about the power of radical compassion. Through inspirational stories, and by drawing on foundational Christian principles such as peacefulness, his latest book frames kindness as a revolutionary act that can build bridges and foster community in our polarized world.

All the Signs by Jessie Rosen ’05

When a bleak horoscope triggers an existential crisis for Leah, the protagonist of Rosen’s sophomore novel, she decides to prove that astrology is bunk by traveling the world to meet her many different Star Twins, people born under the same map of stars. As she globetrots from Venice to Istanbul, she discovers that the people who can best help her understand herself are actually back at home.

Humanitarianism from Below: Faith, Welfare, and the Role of Casas de Migrantes in Mexico by BC Assistant Professor Alejandro Olayo-Méndez, SJ

Olayo-Méndez highlights the decades-long work of more than 150 grassroots shelters, many operated by local Catholic parishes, to provide vital services like food, childcare, and legal assistance to migrants at the US-Mexico border. He argues that these resources will remain indispensable as long as poverty and violence compel migrants to flee home in the first place.