Show r World renowned author visits I Joseph W W. Bateman Local Arts Staff Reporter One of the worlds world's most prolific writers visited Awarded many accolades and pra praise se Terry Tempest Williams addressed a packed audience of students faculty and community members on Friday Sept 8 Speaking on her birthday she related the importance of education and community through her enthralling stories and encounters What do we chose to act acton acton acton on and what do we choose to ignore Williams asked of the crowd of the nearly packed Oak Room at Redwood Campus Williams answered that question while living Jiving in a rural co community uni in tn Castle aste Valley Utah This is a town that was in the process of defining itself And I 1 want to tell you our pur Ur story said Williams in relating how 18 acres at atthe atthe atthe the base Colorado River were auctioned and sold for development This section of land was the cornerstone of the community Pl PlY k Y 0 0 1 t. t Ii 1 i t t J r i J I t V Rt F I i 1 I L nn Photo courtesy Author Terry Tempest Williams seen here with Jay Inslee spoke at on Sept 8 about growing up in Utah The community ok of came together to define themselves and fonn form a covenant with the land Together the community listed water and living close to the wilderness as a priority Out of our shock our anger and affection for each other we organized the Castle Rock collaborations We had no money Williams said We had only our shared love for home Each person volunteered their best skills Some researched possible endangered species in inthe inthe inthe the area others mapped important migratory paths Some members offered their homes for meetings and discussions Some anonymous members even choose to break the law m in m civil ivil disobedience In the cover of darkness the large for sale sign advertising the new development disappeared Only to be found the next morning within Arches National Park Several people contacted the listed developers expressing interesting in buying the Arches Photographs were were taken and the point was made these developers would sell i anything if they could ev eve eyen 1 J a National NatI al Park Williams said Just days before bulldozers were scheduled to start the community along with an anonymous donor raised money to buy back the 18 acres as a Williams Continued on page 2 i Williams speaks at Continued from Page 1 I community trust Together the struggles strengthened the community and saved open space wilderness It all comes down to relationships Williams said It is through the process of defining what we wanted as a town that we became a real community Williams related another experience from her birthday last year working with Rwandan genocide survivors survIvors We had two goals One was to help build and create a genocide memorial Williams said And the theother theother theother other was to work with the children in the village with other artists to take their designs and transpose them onto the buildings During her time there she recounted the stories of the inspiring awe-inspiring residents she came across She told the story of her translator who a year old man taught himself to speak five languages She shared a letter from him where he stresses the importance of education and his dream of coming to America Education is the key to success he said in the letter Her experience in Rwanda helped Williams realize what it means to live in this broken world Williams is the author of 15 books She is best known for her book Refuge An Unnatural History of Family and Place which is regarded as a classic in nature writing Williams' Williams most recent book The Open Space of Democracy is a series of essays which according to her online bio present a sharp-edged sharp perspective on the ethics and politics of place spiritual democracy and the responsibilities of I citizen engagement |