On April 2nd, John Green fans, including myself, gathered to hear him give a lecture at the Knapp Center. Green is an acclaimed author, podcaster, and YouTube personality. During this lecture, Green covered topics such as finding his voice, education, and hope. Before attending this lecture, Green was one of my favorite authors and after attending, I have a much deeper appreciation for him.
One thing I worried about when asking my mom to take me to this lecture was that it would be over my head. However, this was far from the truth. Green spoke in a way that was easy to understand yet he was making a complex point. His lecture was formatted as a conversation rather than Green just talking at an audience. This allowed Green to open up to the audience and made it easy for the audience to connect with him.
Green talked a lot about finding his own voice. One anecdote he gave that stood out to me, was a story about a conversation he had with one of his teachers. Green spent a lot of his time in college trying to write like people he admired. Then, one day a teacher he looked up to helped him realize that he needs to write in his own voice. This moment helped shape Green into the writer that he is today.
Green actually talked a lot about school and education. He revealed to the audience that he struggled in school. He was not the ideal student and Green made sure the audience knew that that was okay. He shed light on the fact that school is not the right environment for everyone. To convey this to the audience, Green said, “I want to speak to people who don’t see themselves in traditional measures of achievement because the good news is that the world is bigger than school”.
The most impactful topic he covered was hope. He talked about how people who have hope are often looked down on. Green made a point to emphasize the importance of having hope, especially in the world we live in now. To make this point, Green said, “Hope is not always rewarded, but I believe it is always justified… We have so much work to do, and because it’s temporary, I think that hope actually matters more”.
With this lecture, Green made a huge impact on me and I can’t wait to see what he writes about next.
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