Interesting Author

Richard Rodriguez came to campus today. I mentioned at the beginning of the semester that everyone on campus was being encouraged to read his book, Hunger of Memory. Today, the auditorium was packed!

He spoke for over an hour and was so very encouraging, motivating, and inspiring. He spoke about the importance of education and told the students about the number of young people around the world who would love to have the opportunity to attend school and that we take it too much for granted.

He told students they need to travel. Funny, I had just told that to my students this morning. I was thrilled to have an "authority" re-emphasize what I had said.

He spoke about the poor people in America. He said something that I think is seldom recognized at college campuses, he said that one American minority that is almost never recognized is the poor white people. He spoke especially about the South and in that region the poor whites are call "white trash." He spoke about the horror of that title.

He also said that neither candidate in the most recent presidential election ever spoke about the poor. He said the focus was on the "middle class." It was apparent that he has a love for all people, and especially the poor.

He explained how writing his books gave him a place to say the things he could not tell to anyone else. Specifically he said, "There are some things so private you can only tell them to a stranger." I loved that statement. I truly think that is what Blipfoto has been for me many times . . . this is my very private public journal.

He talked about his reality, that the person who wrote that book so many years ago is not him, but writing that book put him in touch with himself, with who he is as a person. He gave "writing" the highest praise. You've got to know that I love hearing that. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to him, and now I will confess that I did not get his book read -- ugh -- I've just had way too many student papers to grade and lots of new prep this semester. So I now definitely want to read the book.

Good night from Southern California.
Rosie (& Mr. Fun), aka Carol