Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Ruben Review:

As I sat in the audience tonight at Castaneda's presentation/Q&A, I was appalled at the audacity of the student body. I was interested in what he had to say. He discussed the troubles he had writing the book, gave details on how he got bits of information, gave advice to those aspiring to be writers of any kind, and then proceeded to be grilled by a good portion of the student body.

I think that it is right to discuss and question an author's work in the proper context. I do not, however, think that the appropriate time is when the author is speaking in front of a group of thousands of students in front of his friends, colleagues, and subjects. Being accused of being a misogynist putting yourself on a self-righteous pedestal are no light matters. I think it was inappropriate and wrong. It was also wrong for the other students to snap and clap at a pointed question or quip with the intention of cornering a distinguished speaker.

I thought that Mr. Castaneda did a good job responding to all of the remarks and defended himself very well. Although I do not think that he should have had to spend his time on the defensive, I have an updated respect for the man now that I heard him speak about his experience and saw some of the people that he was writing about.

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