Just a Woman With a Really Weird Childhood...

As I read The Glass Castle this summer, I would often think of the woman Jeanette Walls has become today and the child she was growing up. They seemed to me, polar opposites. How could a woman with such an odd childhood and such eccentric parents grow up to be so NORMAL with a life many people dream of? This is the question I hoped to get answered when I went to watch her speak yesterday at Emens.

The audience was full of BSU freshmen, many of which didn’t even read the book, but also many who did and were probably just as anxious as me to see Jeanette. The speakers who introduced her said lots of nice and inspiring and boring things about how anyone has the ability to become an award winning author and blah blah… they didn’t have much impact on me other than me critiquing their public speaking skills, which weren’t bad. But it was when Jeanette walked out on stage that the audience really started paying attention. Of course, I was skeptical of her at first (it’s in my nature). I was looking for signs of acting and it even crossed my mind that maybe her story wasn’t even true. I kept thinking of the book A Million Little Pieces, and how the author turned out to be half fraud. But I couldn’t find anything within Jeanette’s intentions that wasn’t nervous and sincere, and very endearing.

Jeanette’s speech was particularly enjoyable to listen to because she related to the audience on many different levels. She made jokes about herself and her family, referenced stories from her book and stories of people whose lives her book has touched, and she never stopped smiling. She didn’t seem to be reciting a speech she had written and memorized, but rather her speech seemed free flowing and personal. That’s what made my skepticism go away. You could tell every time she told a story that it was personal and true.

Seeing Jeanette Walls speak as an experience I am glad to have been a part of because she emphasized an idea that I always try to keep a part of my own life, that everyone is good and has redeeming qualities. She is proof that someone can actually become successful without losing their sense of modesty and humility in a way that doesn’t have to bring them down. If they let it, it can actually strengthen them and make for a very interesting and fulfilling life.

One of the first things Jeanette said when she came out on stage was one that really seemed to stick with me for whatever reason. She said something along the lines of, “I’m not celebrity or a hero, I’m just a woman with a really weird childhood…”