Friday, March 13, 2009

Reflections


Two months have flown by since my last post and yet it feels like days.

"Beyond Stereotypes" has come and gone, and I couldn't have asked for a better turnout. I can proudly say we had a total of 66 participants and conversations were strong. Four professors have expressed interest in incorporating the sessions into their curricula in future semesters. Out of all the evaluation forms we received back, only one was negative. I feel proud that I helped create something that looks to become a regular feature of University Library in years to come.

Yesterday I represented University Library at the Ishmael Beah festivities on campus. For those of you who don't know, Ishmael Beah is the author of "A Long Way Gone," which was the campus reader project this year. He is a native of Sierra Leone, who at the age of 12 tragically lost his entire family at the hands of a brutal civil war. He was enlisted as a child soldier and was forced to not only witness but commit horrific crimes, at the risk of losing his own life. The book tells the true account of his childhood, what he went through and the miraculous recovery that followed. He now travels across the globe sharing his message of peace and hope for victimized children.

Considering the lecture was held the day before Spring Break commenced, I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of the turnout. However, walking in you could immediately tell how many people's lives this man's novel has touched by the fact that the room set up to seat 500 was packed. I was lucky enough to get a seat right behind the man himself, and I could tell just by looking at him that he has been through a lot in his short life. Before the lecture began, he sat very quietly and kept to himself, only lifting his head to smile and say "Hello" to whoever was introducing themselves to him at the time. When he got up to the podium, however, he completely transformed. His speech was absolutely inspiring and focused on the reasons why he wanted to write "A Long Way Gone," and what has happened since it was published.

Here are a few of the quotes I managed to scribble down:

  • "When you dehumanize someone else, in reverse you dehumanize yourself."
  • "Good people can become extremely horrible. Bad people can show signs of goodness. It is not black and white."
  • "I wanted people to see the resilience of my people and the beauty of the culture that were there, that are still there.
  • "I wanted to put a human face to this experience and wanted people to think 'this could be my brother, this could be my son, this could be me.'"
  • "Think of your education as a journey to discover yourself and your humanity. Use it to expose yourself to the world."
  • "One's life has to not just be for yourself, but for others. If it's only for yourself, it's not worth having."
  • "Show love in how you look at people and how you treat them."
  • "The issue of violence and children is not just where there are civil wars. It's wherever children are being victimized.
After the lecture, Beah moved downstairs to Barnes & Noble to sign copies of his book. The line wrapped completely around the store, and somehow I managed to be the very last person in line. I laugh remembering it because by the time I got to his table, he looked at me with a huge smile on his face and said "We're almost done!"

I was also lucky enough to attend the private dinner held in his honor later that day. Only three tables were set up in the ballroom, with about 20 total people in attendance. At the beginning, we went around and introduced everyone and then had a wonderful dinner buffet. Beah ate dinner at one table, had coffee at the next table, and dessert at the final table in order to get to talk to everyone. He is an amazing, inspirational man and yesterday's activities are something I will never forget.

I am attaching two pictures I managed to shoot during the lecture and at the book signing. They aren't that good, but you at least can see what he looks like. =)

Until next time,
Alise

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