In a nine-day period, these celebrated figures gave public lectures:
“By the time I was 15, I knew I wanted to be in show business, but there was a problem: I had no gifts. But I had the element necessary to all early creativity — naiveté — that keeps you from knowing how unsuited you are for what you are about to do.”
Comedian, writer, and actor Steve Martin, who addressed a capacity audience Dec. 8 in McCosh 50. His lecture was titled “Stand Up: My Rise and Collapse.”
“In a democratic society, it’s unjust to have only 1 percent take the bullets for us. It’s not only unjust, but immoral.”
Tom Brokaw, broadcast journalist and author, who spoke on “The Time of Our Lives” Dec. 6 in Richardson Auditorium. Brokaw added that during the two longest wars in U.S. history, “nothing was asked of the rest of us ... if we so chose, we didn’t even have to think about those wars.”
“Usually, when I finish a book, there are four or five other books I’m thinking of. ... Sometimes those books in the back of my mind have been there for 10 or 12 years or more. I choose the next book because I know the most about the ending ... and I have to know the voice.”
Novelist John Irving, speaking Nov. 30 in McCosh 50 about writing his new novel, In One Person, to be published later this year.