When: Tuesday, Oct. 29, 7 p.m.
Where: Nebraska Union Auditorium, 1400 R St.
Lincoln, Neb., Oct. 9, 2002--Learn about one woman's struggle to live a life without labels and other compelling issues surrounding self-concept with essayist Lucy Grealy, author of "As Seen on TV," during a public program at 7 p.m. Oct. 29 in the Nebraska Union Auditorium, 1400 R St.
"I discuss what it means to have self-esteem and talk in detail about my own path towards it and how the idea of self-esteem has become packaged into a product that one must acquire, like any other beauty product," Grealy said.
Grealy was diagnosed at age 9 with potentially terminal cancer and had one-third of her jaw removed. She says she subsequently endured "18 years and almost 30 operations" to "fix her face." The pain, isolation, and the cruel taunts of her peers are vividly portrayed in a straightforward, matter-of-fact manner in her memoir "An Autobiography of a Face." She will share how these experiences shaped her personality and self-concept.
"I'm anti-title, anti-label," Grealy said. "Our ideas of who we are and what we should be are given to us in a rigid form by society... it's difficult not be oppressed and depressed by our culture's images and ideas." Grealy always ends her presentations with a strong positive message and clear advice.
Grealy's essay, "Mirrorings," which originally appeared in Harper's magazine, won a National Magazine Award in essays and criticism, and was included in "Best American Essays: 1994." She teaches creative writing at the New School for Social Research in New York City and nonfiction writing in the Master of Fine Arts program at Bennington College in Vermont.
Grealy's program is presented by Friends of the Libraries of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in conjunction with the UNL Women's Center, with additional funding from the Nebraska Humanities Council and UNL University Libraries, the Equity, Access and Diversity Program, the educational psychology department and the Women's Studies Program. For more information contact Joan Barnes at (402) 472-6987, or jbarnes3@unl.edu.
Contact: Joan Barnes, Development & Public Relations
Librarian, (402) 472-6987, (jbarnes3@unl.edu)
For questions regarding these releases, contact:
tsimons1@unl.edu
(402) 472-8514, Fax: (402) 472-7825