On September 21, 2011, Jeanette Walls, author of the New York Times best seller, The Glass Castle, came to speak at Emens Auditorium. The event was held due to The Glass Castle being the chosen book for the Freshman Connections program. Because of this, the audience consisted of students, professors, and other fans of the book, but mostly students. Her speech was about thirty-five minutes long, and I thought it was extremely inspiring.
At the very beginning of her speech, Walls informed the audience that she was not going to lecture us, but simply inform us about the obstacles in life, and how she overcame hers. The introduction of her speech consisted of Walls discussing what she had learned about herself throughout the different events in her life. “Those of us who have had troubled childhoods have an advantage over the people who haven’t had troubled childhoods,” she said.
A specific part in her speech that especially caught my attention was when she talked about all of the people’s lives she had touched, as well as changed through The Glass Castle. She talked about a certain story that consisted of a cheerleader and her group of friends constantly picking on an innocent girl for no reason. One day after a book signing, that cheerleader came up to Jeanette Walls and told her that she had changed her outlook on things, and she had gotten the cheerleader to view the situation from the girl’s standpoint. Because of the book, that cheerleader promised that she was never going to bully anyone ever again.
After an amazing speech, Walls ended by stating, “It’s not about falling, it’s about learning to get back up. No matter what life throws at you, or what bad times you are going through, it is all about how you fall.” She feels like that is a wise way to live your life. Jeanette Walls took her life and turned it upside down. Even if it did not feel right at the time, she built her own version of the glass castle.
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