Anna Quindlen

Tuesday night was the final night in the 2008-09 Guilford College lecture series. The speaker? Anna Quindlen.

It was refreshingly better than I had expected. I guess going in I thought this would be the weakest of the bunch this season, but it was surprisingly entertaining.

As a commentator, columnist, social critic, Quindlen manages to grab a rope and pull down huge national issues to the common citizen viewpoint. Her first person view on national stage issues and how they relate to regular people is unique.

Giving me a huge smile tonight, she expounded on reading and its place in society. Reading gives you a window to other worlds. Reading places you in the mind of authors long gone. Reading holds a solid spot in our daily life...as it should.

She held up a sheet of paper with the words: Call me Ishmael. What does that mean? Sure, it's the first line of Melville's epic Moby Dick, but it is more? Is it just a sentence? Is it something else? To the common 3-year-old it means nothing. A curvy line, a round one, then two straight black marks on white paper. That's all. But eventual learning and mind development allows us to appreciate this sentence. A simple sentence that over 150 years later gives meaning and purpose and basis for debate and reflection. Intriguing.

With the current state of the economy, she lamented the possible cut in library funding. What would endanger us as a society more over the long haul (do not think myopically in the short term here, think long term)....cutting library or defense budgets? What would harm us day-to-day as a people more?

She states empathy is a tennant of humanity. Reading allows you to feel empathy towards the protagonist, antagonist, author. So essentially, reading helps define what humanity is. Deep.

All in all, an evening that left me with a smile on my face and a refreshing take on her public speaking. I don't know why I thought it would be weak. Maybe I foresaw a "girlie" talk. Who knows. But it was great.

2009-10 starts up in October. Mailers go out first of May. An easy renewal for me.