In the time since we graduated many walkways and buildings had been retrofitted to better accommodate people in wheelchairs. Back in 1990 student protesters had shut the school down for days making demands for such things like hiring a rabbi, offering kosher meals, establishing an intercultural center. Thosedemands at the time had seemed so radical. Today they seemed so reasonable as to be a matter of course. Oh, the irrelevance. The obsolescence. The creeping amount of aging before you even get old. The phantom of time haunted me as i drove back to the city in my station wagon. It followed me back to my apartment where i poured myself a glass of wine and was in bed by 10. In theensuing year the feeling of irrelevance became a near constant companion. It clouded my vision like the membrane on an eye of a lizard , shielding me from what i couldnt comprehend, staring me the mortification of my own cluelessness and it had me staring at myself in mirrors and avoiding mirrors. It had myself
Obama finds no easy answers and plenty of contradictions and the problems of our time. But his other books include the breakthrough essay collection, my misspent youth and the unspeakable, which won the penn center usa award for creative nonfiction. Shes also received fellowships from the guggenheim and National Endowment for the arts fellowships and she teaches in the mfa writing program at columbia university. Thank you all for coming out. Im always really relieved when people show up. I love coming to the strand and i love seeing people very early in my career, not that really, actually earlier i was on a book tour i was in minneapolis, in st. Paul and it turned out to be the same night that David Sedaris was doing a reading at the university in minneapolis and in like a stadium basically. Anybody who was anybody who cared about this went to see david who did errors except for one young woman who showed up at my event and she had driven 100 miles from her parents farm to come see me
Founding crew that set up this this program. Tony lucas was a wonderful nonfiction writer and reporter who was not only great at what he did, but also cared a lot about the field. This kind of work is not part of mass culture shall we say but its a Distinct Community of people who really care about it and are devoted to it and help and support each other and it was very important to tony to be part of that community he put on with me as his sort of deputy a big conference on nonfiction writing at new York State Writers Institute in albany back in 91 or 92 called telling the truth at the time of his death. He was the president of the Authors Guild he just, you know did as much as he could possibly do not just for his own work, but for other people who do this work, and and i think he would be really pleased to see what this Program Named after him has become i never got to know mark linton because he had died i think by the time we started this program i got to know his widow and his hi
1997. I guess 25 years ago part of the founding crew that set up this this program. Tony lucas was a wonderful nonfiction writer and reporter who was not only great at what he did, but also cared a lot about the field. This kind of work is not part of mass culture shall we say but its a Distinct Community of people who really care about it and are devoted to it and help and support each other and it was very important to tony to be part of that community he put on with me as his sort of deputy a big conference on nonfiction writing at new York State Writers Institute in albany back in 91 or 92 called telling the truth at the time of his death. He was the president of the Authors Guild he just, you know did as much as he could possibly do not just for his own work, but for other people who do this work, and and i think he would be really pleased to see what this Program Named after him has become i never got to know mark linton because he had died i think by the time we started this pro
Welcome everybody. Were here for the J Anthony Lucas prize pride project ceremony will be honoring excellence in Nonfiction Book writing with four awards. Im nick lemon. Im x dean now faculty member here at columbia journalism school, and im especially happy to be here because i was back in 1997. I guess 25 years ago part of the founding crew that set up this this program. Tony lucas was a wonderful nonfiction writer and reporter who was not only great at what he did, but also cared a lot about the field. This kind of work is not part of mass culture shall we say but its a Distinct Community of people who really care about it and are devoted to it and help and support each other and it was very important to tony to be part of that community he put on with me as his sort of deputy a big conference on nonfiction writing at new York State Writers Institute in albany back in 91 or 92 called telling the truth at the time of his death. He was the president of the Authors Guild he just, you k