From: cothrolv at uwwvax.uww.edu <cothrolv>
Date: Mon, 30 Oct 1995 08:49:40 CST

I was lucky enough to be in the audience for Sharon's speech. It was
<<wonderful, and very moving. She is a great speaker, very natural and down to
<<earth. Very appealing (as evidenced by the author's response). I'm looking
<<forward to reading her new books . . .

<<Robin

I also was lucky enough to be in the audience for Sharon Creech's speech. Robin has touched a little bit on what I think was so extraordinary about it. Sharon developed a special rapport with both the audience and the person doing the signing. There were several times when she stopped momentarily to admire what the signer was doing. Another memorable, very poignant moment was when Sharon choked up because she saw people in the audience reacting emotionally to her speech. Amazingly, it wasn't an embarrassing or awkward moment. At least, I didn't feel that way. Sharon's demeanor throughout the speech was natural and comfortable. I'm sure that many years of teaching have honed that style. But I, also, think that the reason why Sharon's speech was so special was because she had something she wanted to say which came from genuine, heartfelt emotions. Like others on the list, I hope that Sharon's speech is published. For those who were not there, it is a wonderful speech, which stands on its own. For those of us who were there, it will bring back the memory of the extra dimension Sharon brought to the speech.

Vicki Cothroll UW-Whitewater cothrolv at uwwvax.uww.edu
Received on Mon 30 Oct 1995 08:49:40 AM CST