Across a divde: F.W. de Klerk, former president of South Africa and winner, with Nelson Mandela, of the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize, spoke about the past and future of South Africa on January 29. He said the transition from apartheid to democracy was long and difficult. "Knowing you are on the wrong course and being willing to change that course are two different things," he added. Referring to the challenges ahead, de Klerk suggested that "black and white South Africans need to realize that we can easily fall back into a pattern of looking at each other across a divide."
Woman Warrior: Maxine Hong Kingston spoke about her experience writing The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts as the featured author of the freshman book, given to all first-year students by the Introduction to the Humanities program. "Power comes from knowing your history," Kingston said on January 31. "Power comes from a receiving of the old stories and chants. When one human being tells a story and sings the chants to another, [both] acquire the powers that are in the chants."
Original Wisdon: The modern world can learn from indigenous peoples. That was the message brought to Memorial Church on January 24 by Samuel Ruiz Garcia, former bishop of San Cristobal de las Casas in Chiapas, Mexico, and a pioneer of liberation theology. "In this historical moment, there is a message of hope that is coming from the Third World," Ruiz said. "It is not impossible to change the system. It is possible to replace the system of concentrated power with a system that shares."
