Article By Margaux Kay LaPointe, '11
Photos Courtesy of Jen (Jennifer) Cywinski, 10

This year’s One Book Villanova, The Glass Castle, was celebrated on Monday, Jan. 26, with book author Jeanette Walls’ visit to campus. Walls, pictured left, signed copies of her work, attended a community dinner, and was the featured presenter at “An Evening with Jeanette Walls.”

This event was the accumulation of One Book Villanova. In the fall, a food drive inspired by the needs of Walls’ family collected more than 500 breakfasts and 300 pounds of canned food. Terry Nance, Ph.D., assistant vice president of multicultural affairs and associate professor of communication, introduced Walls. “This is a celebration that the reading opens for all of us,” Nance said. “Celebrating reading is to celebrate education, which is also a celebration of transformation.”

The Glass Castle is a memoir describing Walls’ years growing up in the Southwest and in a small mining town called Welch, West Virginia. Her parents encouraged her and her siblings’ dreams, although they choose to live an unconventional wandering without rules in poverty.

Despite the hardships in her childhood, Walls moved to New York City, graduated from Barnard College, and became a celebrity gossip columnist for New York Magazine, living on Park Avenue. Although she was successful, Walls said, “My story used to shame me.” Seeing her mother homeless by choice on the streets of New York City made Walls afraid of losing her dream life. Her mother, Rose Mary, encouraged her to share her story: “Tell them the truth. Just tell them the truth.”

Walls wrote the memoir to help her forgive herself but, she said, “I am not going to stand up here and tell you that I’ve completely come to terms with my past.” When Walls was young, she thought there was a monster under her bed. Her father Rex said that this was “Demon,” a monster that had chased him for years and was now chasing his children. In the middle of the night, he took Walls out to hunt Demon. He was trying to teach her to face her fears, but Walls had a hard time learning this lesson. She explained, “For so long my Demon was myself, my past, my truth.”

Her hope for The Glass Castle was to “make one person understand,” she said. Rex’s goal was to find gold and build the glass castle. It was, according to Walls, “a dream and a hope for the future.” She wanted to give people in situations similar to her past a glimmer of hope like the glass castle, and to give others an understanding of what it’s like to be unsure of their next meal. With this, she said, people could “understand that we all have something in common.”

Although Walls’ childhood was dysfunctional, she said, “I never doubted I was loved.” When she was young, she thought, “We might not have food, we might not have heat; but my parents would never make fun of my dreams.” While Walls’ father taught her to have big dreams like the glass castle, she explained, “Mom gave me the gift of optimism.” Rose Mary continues to see the bright side of everything. In these more fortunate times, Walls feels grateful because, “She taught me the difference between wanting things and needing them. I will never take these luxuries for granted.”

She assured the audience that every individual has a story to tell. “There’s nothing extraordinary about me,” she said. “I just faced extraordinary challenges. You all have these resources.” She encouraged everyone to “take these things from your past and make them work for you; turn them into an advantage…. Know that you can fall and pick yourself up.”

Pictured right: The band, Wissahickon Chicken Shack, performed during "One Book Villanova" festivities. 

 

Margaux Kay LaPointe, ’11, is a sophomore from Lebanon, Pa. She is an intern in the Office of Communications in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Villanova University. Margaux is majoring in communication with a specialization in public relations.
 

Photos courtesy of Jen (Jennifer) Cywinski, 10, a junior from Paoli, Pa. She previously attended Rosemont College and University of the Arts in Philadelphia as an Art major. She is now majoring in English.