Last night the library hosted a free author talk by none other than Azar Nafisi who wrote Reading Lolita in Tehran, a book that has spent over 117 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List. It was at the Center for the Arts and she opened to a packed house. And no wonder, she was such an eloquent and passionate speaker, that I felt like I could have sat and listened to her for hours.
She spoke on the power of books transporting you to different worlds and into others shoes and without them we really wouldn't have a full understanding of the beauty that lies in other cultures we don't fully understand.
A powerful statement she made was about not judging a country or a culture by their evil-doers because every country has some history they are ashamed of, just think of the KKK or the Confederates, the United States does not want to be categorized by this hate, just like the Iranian and Iraqi people don't want to be judged by their extremists. Put yourself in others shoes and don't just accept injustice as "part of their culture" because injustice is always wrong. She made me want to stand up and do something about curbing the hate and violence that is so easy to put out of your mind when it is not in front of your face every day. So maybe I will.
She was amazing and inspiring and she made me feel lucky to have been there. Her new work Things I've Been Silent About is next on my list of must reads. Support your library, support your local book store and take a stand.
No comments:
Post a Comment