On Wednesday night Margaret Atwood came to our local university to do a speech and a few of us from the mindyourmind office bought tickets to go see this wonder woman live. I expected to learn a lot from her speech but I didn’t expect it to be as entertaining as it was. She definitely came across as a person who spoke her mind and said that writers have an advantage because they can say or do what they want without feeling at risk of losing their job.

One of my favourite comments she made was about how innate the artistic impulse is in human beings. Any child under the age of five expresses herself through all forms of art, from finger painting to randomly breaking out into dance when hearing a song play. She said we are all artists but some are clearly better than others. In answering a question about true artistic talent, she said that it’s important to expose ourselves to all calibers of art so that we can understand truly great art by learning what makes it good in comparison to other pieces.

The woman clearly knows her power in this world but also the limitations she possesses. The seventy-one year-old writer of over 50 books talked about artists’ role in society and how most of them should not be politicians or in charge of great societal leadership. She acknowledged that she doesn’t have two million dollars to donate to rescue missions but that she can go online to sign a petition to save bees. Every little bit helps! Every word that left her mouth was full of wisdom but she came off as very down to earth and humble about her impact on the world.

The speech was over far too quickly for me – I could have listened to her all night! As I said above, her humility has given me a lot of respect for all her brilliance, and I will now approach her wide range of literature with an open heart. I feel so fortunate to have been able to witness such a national treasure.

By Erin