Pulitzer Winning Writer Junot Diaz Inspires Exonians
In an impromptu visit to Exeter, Pulitzer prizewinning author and MIT creative writing professor Junot Diaz met with students for an eye-opening, question-and-answer-style discussion last Thursday.
Diaz is a Dominican American writer whose critically acclaimed works include the short story collections “Drown and This Is How You Lose Her” and the novel and 2008 Pulitzer Prize winner “The Brief And Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.”
English instructor William Perdomo and Diaz have known each other since their late 20s and currently teach together at VONA, a summer workshop for writers of color at the University of Miami. Perdomo and Diaz had originally planned for Diaz to visit Exeter sometime in May, but with only a 48 hour notice, Diaz had announced he would come last week. Although the event was quickly put together, the student turnout was strong, especially considering that it was Principal’s Day.
While on campus, Diaz said that although his observations of Exeter were limited to a narrow window of time, his general impression of Exonians was that everyone seemed “tremendously stressed and generally cheerful.” He also said that after talking to young people of color, Exeter “seems like a challenging environment for those who do not belong to the affluent mainstream.”
“The visit encouraged me to worry less about writing at this stage in life and more about seeking the kinds of experiences that will lend more color to my perception of humanity.”
During the Q&A, students asked questions varying from how to know a creative writing piece is over, to what Diaz’s opinions on the current situation in Baltimore is. While answering questions about creative writing, Diaz ultimately lent insight instead to the way one lives their life.
Perdomo said that although “we might have thought he was giving creative writing advice, he was giving everything but [that].”
Diaz stressed the importance of human experience, especially at the young age of Exonians.
He encouraged students to go out into the world and live their lives, get their “hearts broken in three continents” and return to writing at 25 and then see if they have something to say.
He confronted the occupational pressure that is often put on creative writing. Diaz said that although this is present across the entire educational spectrum, “these pressures and expectations are most extreme at institutions like Exeter.” He credited the “general sense of insecurity and the cut-throat competition that exists for high status universities and jobs” caused by neoliberal policies and politics as the root of the “competitive mania” and growing pressure to succeed. Diaz said that because of the “deep inequality” within our entire society, even in “a beautiful, privileged place like Exeter, a casual visitor can detect traces of that malaise.”
Senior Peter Bitman said that Diaz’s remarks regarding occupational pressure and life experience were ironic as he thought about his own creative writing. “The visit encouraged me to worry less about writing at this stage in life and more about seeking the kinds of experiences that will lend more color to my perception of humanity,” Bitman said.
Perdomo said that Diaz was “implying that creative writing stems beyond form; one has to focus on the content—content being your humanity—to find ourselves as writers.” Perdomo said that Diaz’s talk left his creative writing students, who are currently reading “This Is How You Lose Her,” in “re-evaluation mode.” He added that his students have begun asking themselves the “big questions about life,” and that how those questions connect to creative writing is a secondary concern.
Senior Yasmine Kaya noted that many of the seniors she talked to agreed that Diaz said “exactly what we needed to hear.” Kaya said that his emphasis on the value of life experience was refreshing. “It was a relief to hear someone tell us that we should be going out and living our lives how we want to.”
Senior Hannah Fuller also agreed that his talk was supportful for seniors, who are now making their own decisions as they go out into the world. Additionally, Fuller said that although she considers herself to be “pretty liberal” as head of Democratic Club, Diaz “encouraged me to be even more radical with my thinking.”
Senior Karley Rojas said that as an Exonian, who has worked hard enough to achieve conventional success, she feels as though she has left herself behind in the process; Diaz affected her “profoundly as he spoke about living past the expectations of other people.”
Diaz’s opinion on the current events in Baltimore and the issues in America were also impactful for members in the audience. Diaz’s “statement about economic violence was key,” Perdomo said. Diaz explained that although the protests in Baltmore are defined as “violence,” the injustices ingrained in America’s policies that sustain racial and socioeconomic inequality are never associated with “violence.” He said that the oppressed community’s reactions towards these injustices are tame in consideration to the amount of violence they have endured. “He made us consider and question our sense of privilege,” Perdomo said.
Prep Jayleen Jaime was also glad to hear Diaz’s opinion on racial injustice, specifically about Baltimore, “especially since it’s been generally ignored by faculty. This gave me inspiration to foster these types of conversations,” Jaime said.
Lower Jesus Rivera was also inspired specifically, as a person of color, by Diaz’s talk about issues such as “big corporations lobbying to keep the poor where they are on the socioeconomic ladder.” Rivera summarized the impact of Diaz’s visit on students, stating that “seeing a person of color speak with that much passion and assertion was phenomenal.”