The Carolinian [November 11, 2008]

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.THE e e aro 1n1an
THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF UNCG
w w w . c a r o· I FREE---------------------- n a n o n n e . c o m
Famous author, John Irving, speaks to campus
Toby Shearer
Staff Writer
The prolific and sometimes
controversial writer John Irving
visited the UNCG campus last
Thursday, guest lecturing at Pro­fessor
Craig Nova's Intermediate
Fiction class, ·and later that eve­ning
speaking to a mixed crowd
of students and fans at Aycock
Auditorium: John Irving is a best
selling author and has written
eleven novels including the laud­ed
The World According to Garp
and The Cider House Rules which
Irving later adapted into an Acad­emy
Award winning screenplay of
the same name.
Professor Craig Nova, him­self
an accomplished author and
friend of Irving, said the recent
visit was the latest in an effort to
introduce creative writing stu-
. dents to successful authors and
exposure to the day-to- day
workings of an author. "These
occasions are when students can
see the wide variety in 'the work
of writers and, as far as that gees,
the wide variety of writers them­selves.
These people are not
monolithic." he said.
Later that evening in the Ay­cock
Auditorium Irving took the
stage in a light grey tweed -suit
and in a calm, paced voice traced
his long standing history with
controversy and his.love oflitera­tur.
e. Since the publication of his
PHOTO BYTOBY SHEARER
John irving spoke at Aycock Auditorium on Thursday Nov. 6.
most famous novel, The World
According to Garp in 1978, Ir­ving's
books have rattled public
sentiments, three of his books
being banned at various times.
Irving cavalierly joked, "It makes
me ·wonder how I failed to offend
with the other eight novels."
Irving walk~d th~ audience
through a meandering examina­tion
of the controversies that have
gripped America over the years
and their relation to his work,
such as the issue of abortion in
The Cider House Rules to the
rampant sexuality of his book,
The Hotel New Hampshire. He ad­mitted
he never maliciously dis-cussed
a controversial issue, but
rather, his goal had always been to
illuminate situations people don't
like to talk about.
Irving pointed out that through
history writers from Shakespeare
to Golding have been bann~d for
their contrqversy, the ban simply
serving to propel those authors
into the realm of infamy. "I would
prefer if all of my novels had been
band because 'in my experience
banning is very good for book
sales" he said.
John Irving's twelfth and forth­coming
novel is called Last Night
In Twisted River.
Psychologist speaks in public sct-ools
Giovana Fabiano
The Record
McClatchy Newspapers
By the time they ieach high
school, most teen~ have )leard
the lectures: Stay in schpol, don't
drink and drive, and don't do
drugs.
So instead of preaching the
same old sermons · i:n an effort
to persuade kids to make posi­tive
choices, Matt Bellace takes a
different approach ·~ he makes
them laugh.
At a recent school assembly
at New Jerse_y's Elmwood Park
Middle School, Bellace, a clinical
psychologist, motivational speak­er
and standup comedian, had
hundreds of kids roaring in fits of
genuine side-splitting laughter.
With a mix of self-deprecating
humor, goofy antics geared at ad­.
olescents, and carefully selected
pop culture references, Bellace
THE CAROLINIAN
ESTABLISHED 1919
VOL. LXXXIX
ISSUE 6
put on a
show that
middle ·
school
Matt Bellace speaks to students about positive choices and stay­ing
drug free in Elmwood Park, New Jersey, October 23, 2008.
(Don Smith/ The Record/ MCTj
students
could ap­preciate.
And while
they were
laugh­ing,
he
sneaked in
some ad­vice
about
studying,
staying
away from
drugs and
alcohol,
and learning how to embrace "Last time I played paintball,
"natural highs:' Among his many my frienq suddenly turned to me
suggestions for natural highs, Bel- and saip, 'Why are you crying?'" ·
lace cited running, duct-taping . · he said. "I ~ot hit in the one place
fn ·e nd s to wa 11 s - on 1 y 1" f the y ,\ e . you'nf.not protected- your neck
willing - and paintball, which h1
reenacted before the crowd. SEE SPEAKS ON PAGE THREE
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seven for details.
Irving's advice to
~ un·dergrad, grad ·
students
Lili Johnson
News Editor
When the tattooed man in
a plain blue T-shirt and jeans
walked into the Hodges roorri in
the library, I was perplexed. John
Irving was not ·what I was ex­pecting
at all. I thought that the
Academy Award winner (eider
House Rules)would be pompous,
dressed in expensive clothes and
feel much too proud to talk to a
group .of college students aboqt
his writing. Instead, Irving was
easygoing, answered every ques­tion
we asked him, and seemed
excited at the chance to teach us
something this thing called fic­tion
writing.
Irving met my 20-person In­termediate
Fiction class taught
by Craig Nova and about 10 or so
English graduate students in the
library Thursday afternoon, just
hours before his speech at Aycock
Auditorium.
"Writing is different than act­ing
because when you're a writer
you get to be all of the parts."
Originally Irving had wanted to
I
be an actor, and before he loved
novels he loved plays.
On average, Irving spends five
years per novel, the length of
most of our undergraduate career.
While most of this time is spent
writing, a·lot of it isn't. "I always
begin with the last sentence and in
11 out of 12 novels that last sen­tence
never changed," said Irving.
From there he works backwards.
He plans out the characters, plot,
tone of voice, and action so that
-by the, time he .stf!ItS to write the
story, all he has to worry about is
the language.
"My job,'' Irving said, "as a
writer is to know a little more
than you do. The more I write,
the mo.re conscious I am about
misleading the reader," he said.
"It's all about entertainment."
Near the end of the class period
Irving asked all of is if we liked
being alone. For those of us ·se­rious
a.bout becoming noveleists
Irving offered this advice.
"I knew I wanted to be a writer
because I needed to be alone, and
you better like being alone if you
want to be a writer."
A few easy tips to reduce your energy use and help protect our
environment!
Is your pet practically like family? Give him or her the best treat­ment
and throw the planet a bone while you're af it. ..
• Adopt from a shelter- why buy when you can save one of
the-7.0,000 puppies and kittens born in the U.S. daily
• Spay or neuter your pet. We don't need any more homeless
animals. Plus, spaying and neutering dogs and cats helps
them live longer healthier lives.
• Watch what they eat! Natural and organic pet foods use
meats without drugs and hormones
• Use natural pet care and cleaning products. They are gentler
on your pet and on the environment.
• Get crafty! Use recycled toys. Save old yarns that your cat
might love. Buy organic catnip and cat grass!
For more tips on how to green your pet visit, www.planetgreen.
discovery.com/go-green/green-pets
Compiled by Maggie Colgrove, staff writer.
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