By Alexandra Napoli
Staff Writer
Neil White, author of “In the Sanctuary of Outcasts,” the 2012 ‘All Bonaventure Reads’ selection, spoke about what shocking discoveries led to the dramatic change of his life while living in prison in the Reilly Center at 7 p.m. last Monday.
After a small introduction to engage his audience, White provided his listeners with an update on each character in his book. He even took the time to call Pete, a leprosy patient he had kept in contact with after his release. The audience listened to Pete on speakerphone as they had a conversation about Pete’s day and his irregularly fat cat.
Freshman marketing major, Alison Thomas, particularly liked listening to the conversation.
“Characters in a book are simply characters,” Thomas said. “It was nice to hear the real Pete and get a more concrete image in my mind about him and the other people [White] wrote about in his memoir.”
White’s presentation soon turned into a discussion rather than a speech. He answered all questions posed by students about family, his financial situation or his thoughts while kiting (a form of check fraud).
A crowd member asked, “Did you ever think you would get caught kiting the checks? Or did you think the crime would just float on by and no one would ever say anything?”
“I was born with a not-so-great quality. And that was entitlement. I believed that if I impressed enough people; if I did enough good, some rules didn’t apply.” White said
Alissa Foster, a freshman political science major, enjoyed the presentation.
“I liked listening to what happened after the book — where everyone is now and what [White] is doing,” Foster said.
In addition to discussion between White and the campus community, selected freshmen attended a dinner held for the author prior to his speech. The ABR committee chose approximately thirty freshmen to attend the dinner and represent their peers. Out of the approximate thirty attendees, the committee chose 13 to reflect on the memoir. These were published in a book and given to White as a thank you for visiting campus.
Morgan Statt, a freshman journalism and mass communications major, was one of the thirteen students whose reflection contributed to the book.
“[White] was very easy going and open to answering any questions we had for him. It was such an honor when he asked us to sign his book.” Statt said.
Shannon Haberman, a freshman biology major, reflected on the impact White’s speech had on her.
“The overall experience of reading the book, learning from it and listening to the author talk about everything you had been wondering was amazing,” Haberman said. “He answered all of the questions that came to my mind as I read. I think having him here was very eye opening and insightful.”
Freshman strategic communication major, Brianna Kasperek, agreed.
“I think both his memoir and discussion had an impact on everyone throughout the SBU community,” Kasperak said. “These lessons will definitely stick with me for a long time.”
