The Fall Reading Series by Grossmont’s Creative Writing program started with Journalist Ruben Navarrette on Sept. 25. Speaking during Banned Books Week, Navarrette emphasized the importance of storytelling.
The Harvard graduate from a farm town in Sanger, California, described his life as “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride” from Disneyland. Throughout his life, he said he learned humility, was fired, laid off or canceled 15 times for being too liberal or too conservative, but never for being a bad writer. Navarrette challenged readers to think, which may make others uncomfortable.
“We’re about pushing one point of view,” he said, referring to the media.
Navarrette talked about, “the power of the pen,” as the Latino columnist with 4,000 plus op-eds, 400 editorials, a memoir “A Darker Shade of Crimson” published by the age of 26 and a story in “Chicken Soup for the Writer’s Souls.” As storytelling is a part of his life, Navarrette advised Grossmont students to think critically and from different perspectives, travel, find mentors, collect stories and learn to tell their own, because “nobody remembers data.”
The reading series will continue to host influential authors, ending with New Voices, an event featuring student writers’ work on Dec. 9.