Sunday, May 8, 2016

Reader Response to Solving the Student Loan Crisis: Dreams, Diplomas & a Lifetime of Debt

People are beginning to reach out and let me know their thoughts about my book, Solving the Student Loan Crisis: Dreams Diplomas & a Lifetime of Debt (available in paperback and on Kindle). 

Late on Friday, after an exhausting and difficult day at work (there were multiple shootings that occurred within miles of my office on Friday by one man), I was coming home after a lovely meal out near DuPont Circle at a fantastic Turkish restaurant called Agora. (DC locals, if you haven't checked out Agora yet, I highly recommend it). Anyway, this past week had been long, hard, tiring - there is so much going on professionally that I almost cancelled this dinner at Agora, but at the same time I knew that was not the right thing to do and I had a good feeling that I'd also enjoy myself. You know how those things go. We've all been there. You know when you need to be around good company and have a face-to-face conversation with someone. So, I did go, despite it being rainy, and my mood being rattled after those shootings, along with everything else that had gone on during my long, arduous work week.

As I said, it turned out to be an outstanding evening, just the thing I needed to end such a tasking week. (Don't get me wrong, I am grateful to have long and challenging work weeks, but by Friday evening, I am ready to hide away, snack on popcorn, and binge watch Netflix).

In any event, after a great and rather deep conversation about all sorts of topics, I wound up on the Metro at 10:30 PM. That's when I received an email from Matt, who is a reader of AEM. The subject heading was: "Solving the Student Loan Crisis -- thank you!!"

As soon as I sat down in my seat, I opened his email and began to read it. Here's what Matt wrote:


Dear Ms. Johanssen [sic],


I want to thank you from my heart for writing a book that speaks truth to power.

I received my copy of Solving the Student Loan Crisis last night, and halfway through I already love it. I will leave a review on Amazon soon, and recommend it to friends and family as often as I can. It is a book that needs to be read by people all over America.

I started following your blog recently and immediately gravitated to your writing style, your humor, and especially the way you humanize the student loan crisis. I know how it feels to struggle under the weight of massive student loan debt. (Mine is thanks to the infamous Thomas Jefferson School of Law.) And I truly appreciate how open you've been about your experience because it really, really helps the rest of us not feel so alone and powerless.

Your blog (and now your book, too) has helped inspire me to take my first steps towards being a student loan activist, instead of remaining a student loan defeatist. Please know that your voice really matters, and most of all please keep writing!
Best regards,

Matt

I was so overcome with emotion by Matt's kind words that I got a bit teary-eyed. I later wrote to him and told him that I am hoping that my book will combat defeatist attitudes about our predicament, and that I was delighted that he understood the message I'm conveying in my book.

Thoughts?

 

2 comments:

Nando said...

I am about 2/3 of the way done reading the book. It is excellent and weaves through the history of higher ed, student debt, and how differing policies from different administrations and Congresses have taken us to where we are now, i.e. student loan hell. Is it fine if I mention this briefly in a TTR entry? I know your book is more general, and it tackles the entire higher ed $y$tem, but law school tuition and the additional 3 years of "education" make it a special subspecies. Thank you.

Cryn Johannsen said...

Nando - thanks so much for your feedback. Of course - feel free to mention it on TTR. If you like it, feel free to leave a review on Amazon, too. I appreciate it, and it means a lot that you find it a worthwhile read. As we both know, we've been at this work for a long time now!