NEW ROCHELLE, NY — On Wednesday night, the main event in town was at New Rochelle High School where hundreds of audience members in the Whitney M. Young Jr. Auditorium reveled in a visit by author and activist Alice Walker.
The literary giant best known for her 1982 Pulitzer prize-winning novel The Color Purple offered her wisdom and observations on facing racism, the Spielberg-directed movie adaptation of her famous book, environmentalism and more. She also gave advice on writing.
“Really follow your spirit, because writing enlarges your spirit,” she said as she was questioned by NRHS students on several topics. The event, “An Evening with Alice Walker,” was presented by NRHS and the Women’s Enterprise Development Center (WEDC).
NRHS English Department Chairperson Lydia Adegbola reminded the audience of the breadth of Walker’s works, including Meridian and We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For. The Color Purple, she said, remains relevant more than 35 years after Walker wrote it.
“It embodies the struggles and self-empowerment of women that are just as relevant today as they were in the time it was written,” Adegbola said.
She was one of several local leaders and students who helped introduce walker, including Interim Superintendent Dr. Magda Parvey and three NRHS students.
Adegbola was a member of the planning committee that arranged the event, along with NRHS Interim Assistant Principal Camille Edwards-Thomas, NRHS House IV Principal Shadia Alvarez, Coordinator of Student Affairs Laurie Collins-Thomas, and Dr. Traci Alexander of WEDC. Dr. Alexander, an NRHS parent and executive producer of The Book Talk, was the connection that brought Walker to the District.
Walker arrived at the school along with 1,000 copies of her newest work, Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart, a collection of poems in English and Spanish.
Student Sofia Ochoa told the audience, “We are so inspired by her work, her creativity and her passion for her writing. We are even more excited for her to share her work in English and Spanish.”
Walker explained the new book’s title as a Buddhist metaphor for addressing what angers us.
“Often, we start screaming at whoever shot us or whatever shot us and we completely forget that we are wasting time because the arrow is still in the heart,” she said.
Walker’s influence ran deep. Bongi Duma, a cast member of The Lion King and a member of the entourage that arrived with her, talked of growing up in South Africa’s apartheid system.
“It was people like her who gave us strength to continue with the struggle,” he said.
NRHS junior Felicity Flores, an aspiring writer who has drafted a novel, told Walker; “You have given me resilience beyond words.”
