On September 21st, Jeannette Walls, author of The Glass Castle, otherwise known as Ball State University’s freshmen reader, came to Ball State to give a lecture. This was a fabulous lecture to go to and Jeannette Walls was such a fun and interactive speaker. This book was a wonderful piece of literature and I would recommend it to anyone. Ms. Walls came to Emens Auditorium to give the lecture and the entire room was packed with students, alumni, teachers, and other spectators. Mainly, she discussed how the book was received among different people. One thing Ms. Walls said that stood out was that one young boy who lived in poverty and hated reading said her book was a “good white-trash” book and it made him read more, while another popular blond cheerleader read the book and said that it opened her eyes to another world. Ms. Walls said that if two people from two different worlds could read the same book and enjoy it, then her expectations for The Glass Castle have been met. I feel that her book connected people together, and everyone can find something to relate to.
Ms. Walls also discussed how her mom reacted to her novel. Obviously, her father was already dead by the time the book was published because she talks about her father being dead in the book. In the book, there were several less than kind portrayals of Ms. Wall’s mother, and I thought maybe her mom might have been upset about this. But contrarily, her mother was only a little upset about how Jeannette had described her driving. Someone asked Ms. Walls if she thinks her father would have been upset about the book because it portrayed him as an irresponsible, angry alcoholic at times. Brian, Jeannette’s brother, thinks that Rex Walls (Jeannette’s father) would have been able to laugh at it, but Jeannette said she is sometimes haunted by whether or not her father would approve. I know how she feels, and if I had written a book about my parents and I had portrayed them in less than flattering lights, I would have some serious doubts about publishing that book. From what I understood about the character of Rex Walls, I think he might have been embarrassed by what Jeannette wrote about him. He seemed like the type of person who would be embarrassed by his inability to provide for and raise his family.
One thing I really liked about Jeannette’s lecture was how she talked. She was so impersonal and treated us all like we were friends. When people got to stand up and ask Jeannette question, she listened to us and answered our questions directly and personally. Sometimes authors are not good speakers at all because they can write well, but they cannot speak well. This was so not the case with Jeannette Walls. She was a very eloquent speaker and it was very easy to pay attention to her because she spoke in a way that was both interesting and personable. It was also very nice to be able to put a face to the book. She talked in person the same way she talked in the novel, which shows me that she was not being fake with the voice in her novel. She also told some more stories that she was not able to put in her novel and discussed the actual formatting of her novel. Since many of the memories depicted in the novel were from so early in her childhood, some people wonder if they are actually her memories. The answer is yes, because she told us that if she had trouble remembering something, she would just take it out, and the details in the novel were truly from her memory. This lecture was so interesting and I would definitely go see her speak again.
Cultural Event Report #2
This past month, I went to see Beauty and the Beast live on stage. Since Beauty and the Beast is my favorite Disney movie and favorite story of all time, this was an especially wonderful experience. I enjoyed the music because it was exactly the same as the movie, which I love. This fantastic musical happened on November 2nd, which was a Tuesday night in Emens auditorium. It was very interesting because the main actress who played Belle actually graduated from Ball State University. She was a fantastic actress and played Belle with the utmost accuracy. The man who played the Beast was fantastic as well and I really loved the beast costume. The most accurate character was Gaston, the raging and arrogant townsman who is consumed with the idea of marrying Belle. His voice was so similar to the character’s in the movie that it could have been mistaken for it. I love all the songs and can sing them by heart from watching the movie so many times, but my favorite songs were “Be Our Guest” and “Gaston”. The song “Be Our Guest” is a classic and the man who played Lumiere was absolutely flawless and his French accent was dead on. This song included lots of bells and whistles because it is supposed to dazzle Belle, so it was amazing to see it come to life on stage. “Gaston” was a fantastic song because Gaston’s voice is so similar to the character’s from the movie. Also, they did a choreographed dance where the clinked a bunch of mugs and glasses together simultaneously and it was both flawless and astonishing. Whoever the choreographer was for this musical did an amazing job. The cutest part of this entire musical however, was when Chip (the little boy in the castle who gets turned into a teacup) turned back into a little boy and ran out to give his mother a hug. It was absolutely adorable! As an elementary education major, I typically find kids adorable anyway, but this was just about the cutest thing I’d seen in a while.
As for connections, it was hard to make a whole lot of them because this musical was not really about any of the topics we have covered in class. It was set in a time period different from our own and in France, which is in Europe, like some of the works we have read in class. The main theme of this musical is not to judge a book by its cover and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. There weren’t any works we read in class that had this direct theme, but I do know of an ancient Greek myth with this same idea. There is the myth of how Persephone lives with Hades for half of the year because he is in love with her and she lives the other half on Earth because her mother wants her there. That is the Greek was to explain the seasons. Even though we did not read this directly in class, we did read many other ancient works, especially ancient Greek works. Hades could be compared to the Beast in this story because he is outwardly not someone a Goddess could fall in love with, but Persephone falls in love with him anyway, so she could be compared to Belle. This may be a stretch, and we never directly talked about this myth in class, but it did have a few valid connections to Beauty and the Beast. Overall, this musical was absolutely fantastic and it was one of the best stage productions I have ever seen, topped only by Wicked. I would definitely see it again and recommend that anyone go and see it as well.
On September 21st, Jeannette Walls, author of The Glass Castle, otherwise known as Ball State University’s freshmen reader, came to Ball State to give a lecture. This was a fabulous lecture to go to and Jeannette Walls was such a fun and interactive speaker. This book was a wonderful piece of literature and I would recommend it to anyone. Ms. Walls came to Emens Auditorium to give the lecture and the entire room was packed with students, alumni, teachers, and other spectators. Mainly, she discussed how the book was received among different people. One thing Ms. Walls said that stood out was that one young boy who lived in poverty and hated reading said her book was a “good white-trash” book and it made him read more, while another popular blond cheerleader read the book and said that it opened her eyes to another world. Ms. Walls said that if two people from two different worlds could read the same book and enjoy it, then her expectations for The Glass Castle have been met. I feel that her book connected people together, and everyone can find something to relate to.
Ms. Walls also discussed how her mom reacted to her novel. Obviously, her father was already dead by the time the book was published because she talks about her father being dead in the book. In the book, there were several less than kind portrayals of Ms. Wall’s mother, and I thought maybe her mom might have been upset about this. But contrarily, her mother was only a little upset about how Jeannette had described her driving. Someone asked Ms. Walls if she thinks her father would have been upset about the book because it portrayed him as an irresponsible, angry alcoholic at times. Brian, Jeannette’s brother, thinks that Rex Walls (Jeannette’s father) would have been able to laugh at it, but Jeannette said she is sometimes haunted by whether or not her father would approve. I know how she feels, and if I had written a book about my parents and I had portrayed them in less than flattering lights, I would have some serious doubts about publishing that book. From what I understood about the character of Rex Walls, I think he might have been embarrassed by what Jeannette wrote about him. He seemed like the type of person who would be embarrassed by his inability to provide for and raise his family.
One thing I really liked about Jeannette’s lecture was how she talked. She was so impersonal and treated us all like we were friends. When people got to stand up and ask Jeannette question, she listened to us and answered our questions directly and personally. Sometimes authors are not good speakers at all because they can write well, but they cannot speak well. This was so not the case with Jeannette Walls. She was a very eloquent speaker and it was very easy to pay attention to her because she spoke in a way that was both interesting and personable. It was also very nice to be able to put a face to the book. She talked in person the same way she talked in the novel, which shows me that she was not being fake with the voice in her novel. She also told some more stories that she was not able to put in her novel and discussed the actual formatting of her novel. Since many of the memories depicted in the novel were from so early in her childhood, some people wonder if they are actually her memories. The answer is yes, because she told us that if she had trouble remembering something, she would just take it out, and the details in the novel were truly from her memory. This lecture was so interesting and I would definitely go see her speak again.
Cultural Event Report #2
This past month, I went to see Beauty and the Beast live on stage. Since Beauty and the Beast is my favorite Disney movie and favorite story of all time, this was an especially wonderful experience. I enjoyed the music because it was exactly the same as the movie, which I love. This fantastic musical happened on November 2nd, which was a Tuesday night in Emens auditorium. It was very interesting because the main actress who played Belle actually graduated from Ball State University. She was a fantastic actress and played Belle with the utmost accuracy. The man who played the Beast was fantastic as well and I really loved the beast costume. The most accurate character was Gaston, the raging and arrogant townsman who is consumed with the idea of marrying Belle. His voice was so similar to the character’s in the movie that it could have been mistaken for it. I love all the songs and can sing them by heart from watching the movie so many times, but my favorite songs were “Be Our Guest” and “Gaston”. The song “Be Our Guest” is a classic and the man who played Lumiere was absolutely flawless and his French accent was dead on. This song included lots of bells and whistles because it is supposed to dazzle Belle, so it was amazing to see it come to life on stage. “Gaston” was a fantastic song because Gaston’s voice is so similar to the character’s from the movie. Also, they did a choreographed dance where the clinked a bunch of mugs and glasses together simultaneously and it was both flawless and astonishing. Whoever the choreographer was for this musical did an amazing job. The cutest part of this entire musical however, was when Chip (the little boy in the castle who gets turned into a teacup) turned back into a little boy and ran out to give his mother a hug. It was absolutely adorable! As an elementary education major, I typically find kids adorable anyway, but this was just about the cutest thing I’d seen in a while.
As for connections, it was hard to make a whole lot of them because this musical was not really about any of the topics we have covered in class. It was set in a time period different from our own and in France, which is in Europe, like some of the works we have read in class. The main theme of this musical is not to judge a book by its cover and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. There weren’t any works we read in class that had this direct theme, but I do know of an ancient Greek myth with this same idea. There is the myth of how Persephone lives with Hades for half of the year because he is in love with her and she lives the other half on Earth because her mother wants her there. That is the Greek was to explain the seasons. Even though we did not read this directly in class, we did read many other ancient works, especially ancient Greek works. Hades could be compared to the Beast in this story because he is outwardly not someone a Goddess could fall in love with, but Persephone falls in love with him anyway, so she could be compared to Belle. This may be a stretch, and we never directly talked about this myth in class, but it did have a few valid connections to Beauty and the Beast. Overall, this musical was absolutely fantastic and it was one of the best stage productions I have ever seen, topped only by Wicked. I would definitely see it again and recommend that anyone go and see it as well.