Danzy Senna’s Memoir Reading at Baruch College

The excerpts spoken by Danzy Senna at last nights reading were to simply put it, brave and captivating. In hearing her read her parts of her memoir Where Did You Sleep Last Night?, she delved into so many aspects of her life in her journey to discover her African American roots on her father’s side. From what little we got from her last night, the fullness of just those few paragraphs were fascinating. She began by talking about the father she barely knew, and how she failed to recognize him when he came to visit her as a child, something she says that still happens when she sees him today and he asks “Don’t you know who I am?” She talks about the times growing up, and upon having her father, she didn’t want to leave her mother because it felt like she was betraying her, which I felt struck such a chord with so many children who struggle with parents of divorce. She discusses the richness and diversity of her multiethnic family, with Asian, Southeast Asian, Jewish, Muslim, Christian roots, just to add to the mixture of her life that’s already filled with such a deep racial mixture. For me, the most poignant time was afterwards, when it seemed as though the students had to take the richness of the story all in first, because no questions were being asked immediately, and then all of a sudden the microphone had become so in demand, it couldn’t reach every student wishing to contribute in time for the next question. What was also very interesting were the questions asked, pertaining not only to her feelings on the memoir, but the reaction of the book by the members of her family in which she writes about. Overall, I thought she was incredible, and am grateful I had to opportunity to attend this reading.