The Oregon Humanities Center presented a talk with Terry Tempest Williams Tuesday night in the EMU Ballroom, which is the first in a year-long series entitled Sustenance.
Williams, whose lecture was titled “The Sustaining Grace of Witness,” shared a collection of stories concerning topics which ranged from the construction of a memorial for victims of the genocide in Rwanda, to the repercussions of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, to the implications of the diminishing prairie dog populations in Utah.
She has written several books and won numerous awards for her work as a conservationist and an author.
Throughout the lecture, Williams emphasized the importance of individuals being witnesses, which Williams described as people awakening to social and environmental injustice.
These concrete experiences were enhanced by an intense spiritual focus because Williams was raised as a Mormon.
Through prose and poetry, Williams described the deeper meaning she found in the world around her.
Lisa Berenschot, a University graduate student studying historic preservation, described Williams as a worldly and spiritual person.
“Each person’s witness matters, even if you’re really occupied with other things,” Berenschot said. “You can still be a witness, no matter who you are — student or professional.”
Williams’ message of people bearing witness shined through the most with environmental issues. She emphasized that people have to take personal responsibility for the surrounding natural world. Williams described finding this responsibility as “beauty in a broken world as creating beauty in the world we find.”
Not only did the audience actively listen to Williams’ lecture, but they were also called upon to act. Williams described how she chose to act through personal stories about working for change in Rwanda and the Gulf Coast, and through her books which support and defend the natural world.
“Williams said, ‘Don’t avert your eyes,’” Berenschot said. “It made me think about times in my own life where I have averted my eyes.”
Williams went so far as to say that environmental issues are “justice issues,” pointing out that, though 40 percent of charitable contributions go to religion, only one percent goes to environmental causes.
Though the presentation focused on environmental and human problems, it steered clear of being depressing. Lola Broomberg, who teaches a social action class at the University, said Williams’ lecture inspired her.
“It gave me a willingness to stand in the pain and retain hope and a commitment to action,” Broomberg said.
Terri Mandell, an avid fan of Williams’ work, described Williams’ talk as intense and beautiful.
“She’s a really great speaker,” Mandell said. “She can make you cry.”
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