Living Life With a Purple Crayon
Marilyn Taft Thomas, November 10, 2008
4:30pm - Adamson Wing, 136A Baker Hall
There is a whole series of children's books about Harold and his purple crayon. Harold has a great imagination, and he draws himself in and out of various situations with his purple crayon. He goes off on adventures by drawing a boat and climbing into it, he draws various creatures he meets along the way, and when he is all done exploring his purple world, he draws the window to his bedroom, scrambles through it, and climbs back into the bed he has just drawn with his purple crayon.
My journey through life is a lot like Harold's, but my purple crayon helps me to make sense of the things that already happened to me. Whenever I get stuck in a life situation, and just can't seem to find my way out, I write. Sometimes I write music, sometimes I write words. Often, it is poetry. Writing, for me, is a search for self-discovery. If I knew what I needed to say, I wouldn't have to say it.
My purple crayon is my fundamental tool for coping with the difficult challenges of life itself. This lecture is all about some of those challenges and the purple crayon that helped me through them.
For more information on Marilyn Taft Thomas, visit the Marilyn Taft Thomas website.
The University Lecture Series is a partnership between the Office of the Vice Provost for Education and the Division of Student Affairs. All lectures are free and open to the public. All lectures are on Carnegie Mellon’s Oakland campus.
