Late this afternoon I spent shoulder to shoulder next to eager Wellesley students listening to the author Junot Diaz give a reading from his book, This Is How You Lose Her, as a part of the Distinguished Writers series presented by the Newhouse Center for Humanities.
Let me just say, it was sweet.
His books have such a distinctive homeboy voice in the narrative and hearing that out loud was incredible. Much of the text is sprinkled with Spanish, which I can’t pronounce (product of a super classical education where I studied only Latin), but to hear him say those words in his native language really brought it home. Totally worth climbing over other students to get my seat in the third row. The Newhouse Center was filled to capacity and a live video feed was playing in another location.
Beyond the experience of hearing Junot Diaz speak, I was also struck by the vast number of people who showed up. Of course it is special when a man who received a MacArthur genius grant wants to hang out with Wellesley students, but there were faculty, auditors, and alums also tuning in. That kind of engagement with learning and the arts warms my heart and makes me happy to be at Wellesley. See below for more info on Junot Diaz.
