Baruch Means Brilliance

I have to admit, I usually only attend events at Baruch when a professor mandates it. I’ve often let my enthusiasm for pursuing my love of literature and classic journalism be discouraged by the school’s emphasis on business.  After last night, though, I’m a changed woman. I’ve never felt more proud to be a member of my school’s (that’s right, my school) liberal arts department and a part of such a passionate group of people who I had the pleasure of mingling with for the first time in far too long.

Adrian Nicole Leblanc, this semester’s Harmon Writer-in-Residence, spoke volumes about herself in the first few seconds of her conversation with the crowd of faculty, fans, and budding journalists and writers who attended her reading and conversation.

After a praising introduction by Baruch’s own Christopher Hallowell and Roslyn Bernstein, who charmingly played on the school’s slogan “Baruch Means Business” by presenting a beautiful “twaiku” dedicated to the unsung heros of the liberal arts, Leblanc humbly thanked them for the sentiments and admitted that she feels the praise is often misplaced and doesn’t know how to respond to those who compliment her so generously. Her expressions and her words immediately won me over. The two hours I dreaded sitting through flew by and I was left wishing there were more time to hear her speak and to enjoy her rapport with the crowd that she seemed so grateful to be standing before.

Unfortunately, I’ve only read excerpts of her book Random Family, but if I needed any push to read it in its entirety, meeting her would have done the trick. After listening intently to her journalistic process and the depth of her involvement and dedication to her subjects, I took the time (and missed my bus) to thank Leblanc (to her surprise, which I found all the more respectable) for inspring me to follow through with my goals, and I’d do the same a thousand times.