Author's chat at Penn broadcast on the 'Net

In her interview, Grace Paley stressed the need for environmental activism. Following Monday night's well-received reception, author Grace Paley returned to the Kelly Writers House yesterday morning for a more intimate question-and-answer interview session. During her reading the night before, Paley -- an acclaimed writer, political activist, feminist and environmentalist -- read from The Collected Stories and a short selection from her collection of poems. So yesterday, about 30 Penn students, aspiring writers and Philadelphia residents came back for more of Paley's razor-sharp wit and humorous anecdotes to take part in a conversation that was broadcast over the Internet. After a short brunch, English Professor Al Filreis, the faculty director of the house, welcomed the small audience in the living room in addition to those connected via Internet to the forum. Paley, still slightly shaken after falling on the way to the Writers House yesterday morning, comforted herself by using a bag of frozen peas to slow the swelling. Unfazed, she collected her thoughts and answered a variety of questions. She spoke about her own writing process, while emphasizing the importance of her matter-of-fact narration. She acquainted the audience members with her personal life experiences and explained how they often serve as a window into her work. Specifically, she pointed out that her evolution as an activist is often mirrored in her fiction. In answer to a question regarding whether she actively used her writing as a political medium, Paley responded, "I don't set out to do it, especially. I am who I am." Paley has been an activist of sorts throughout much of her life -- having traveled to Vietnam to free prisoners of war in the late 1960s and participating in small-scale demonstrations in Vermont, her current residence. She referred to the mantra "Act locally, think globally," as a creed to which she subscribes. To those who might believe that today's youth do not have a polarizing issue like Vietnam, Paley argued that caring for the environment should be a top priority. "The most important thing [to pay attention to today] is the earth," she said. She cited the recent World Trade Organization riots in Seattle as an example of an environment-related issue that captured the attention of the world. Paley told the audience that she could not stress enough the "importance of risk [and] the opportunity for bravery," in the life of youngsters as a way to engage them in current events. Cynthia Baughman, a part-time lecturer at Temple University and frequent visitor to the Writers House, said she "loves [Paley's] work and admires so much that she is a deeply political person who writes fiction with a political agenda." She added that she respects Paley both for her writing and the changes that she and other like-minded women accomplished in the 1960s and 1970s. Wharton and Engineering senior Adam Kaufman noted that Paley's work "embodies what it means to live in a political manner." Her message to the aspiring writers in the audience was simply: "Say it, feel it, sing it" and write it. And she advised the rest of the crowd always to intervene in important issues in order to combat ignorance and fight the apathy of "niceness."

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