MAY 17, 1995 - WCC CAMPUS VOICE 3
latkor Til O'Briai thaiks Sosalfo Loiai, Knglish iastrictor,
for her purcliase of his books foIloiiDg his Sondar reading.
Obrien tells stories
to 500 in readings
By CATHERINE GERRINGER
"Everything I just
told you was a lie. I'm
a paid liar."
With these words,
author Tim O'Brien
stunned his audience of
over 400 students on
Monday April 3, at his
10:00 a.m. reading in
the Lecture Hal 1.
Tim O'Brien, author
of Going After
Cacciato. The Things
They Carri^iL The
Nuclear Aqe.^-In The
Lake in the Woods, and
numerous other essays
and short stories,_is
the winner of the 1979
National Book Award.
Time magazine called
his newest work In The
Lake of the Woods the
best novel of 1994.
WCC students have
the opportunity to
study his works in 2
English courses, ENG
152, College Composi
tion II, and ENG 276,
Contemporary American
Fiction.
The WCC Foundation,
the WCC Student
Government Association,
Friends of the Library
of Wayne County, and
private benefactors
combined resources to
bring O'Brien to
Goldsboro for 2
readings.
On Sunday, April 2,
at 3:00 p.m. more than
100 attended the
reading and book
signing, including
people from Cary and
Raleigh.
At the Monday
reading students from 6
local high schools in
addition to WCC
students, faculty, and
staff filled the 400-
seat Lecture Hall.
Both groups heard a
portion from O'Brien's
work in progress as yet
unnamed.
The story revolves
around Herbie and a
make-shift airplane
which is turned into a
cross to crucify
Herbie's sister.
The first person
narrator's mother
interrupts this
procedure.
At both readings he
read from his novel,
The Things They
Carried, specifically'
the portion about the
protagonist's decision
to go to Vietnam rather
than to avoid the
draft.
O'Brien also
discussed his knowledge
of the world, the human
heart, his experiences
in Vietnam, his
childhood, and how he
I stideot discusses a poiit with Dr. Saidra CarltoB-llezaoder
following her reading of "Across the Creek." FIOTO: LIZ MKASOK
Author addresses
changes in the South
By JENNIFER L. TAFE
Dr. Sandra Carlton-
Alexander, author of
presented
lecture as part of
Women's History Month
to 200 Wayne Community
College students in the
Lecture Hal 1.
Dr. Carlton-
Alexander's book, which
took her 14 years to
write, is a collection
of short stories
addressing how changes
in the South in the
past 30 years have
affected relationships
between people.
She said modern
women play multiple
roles in our society:
teacher, mother, wife,
professional, and more.
Authors who inspired
her include Paule
Marshall, Toni
Morrison, and Maya
Angelou.
She also paid
tribute to Alice Walker
calling her a "shero."
Dr. Carlton-
Alexander read a short
story entitled "Across
the Creek" from the
col 1ection.
This story deals
with Beatrice Jones, an
African-American high
school student, who
becomes friends with
Bev, a white girl,
during a summer in the
1950s when they are
working in tobacco.
Their unique
friendship ends when
the girls return to
school and go their
separate ways.
Beatrice knows
jealousy when she
learns that Bev has won
a scholarship.
She feels that
things have been easy
for Bev because she is
white.
All of her life,
Beatrice is driven
secretly to compare her
success with Bev’s.
By a trick of fate,
Beatrice and Bev meet
at an airport almost 30
years later.
They discuss their
lives, successes, and
failures as old
friends, and Beatrice
realizes one value of
their relationship is
that she was driven to
pursue her dreams.
learned to incorporate
all of this into his
fiction.
He said each person
has stories to tell
based on what has
happened to him or her.
He then revealed how
a fiction writer plays
with real experiences
in his writing to
arrive at the true
meaning of life.
Student John Raspe
wrote an entry for his
Humanities 101 class
about O'Brien's visit:
"This was one of the
best occasions I have
ever attended.
"I especially liked
his story about his
trip to the Canadian
border. It was
realistic, emotional,
and suspenseful."
Marcia Shelton, a
ENG 151 student, wrote
in response to the
Monday reading: "Tim
O'Brien bettered my
understanding of
fictional authors
because he taught me
that through writing
your dreams can come
true, and the world can
be a nicer place to
live."