By Joe Sanchez-Castro
Dan Barry, ’80, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist for The New York Times, will speak Monday Sept. 26, about his most recent book “The Boys in the Bunkhouse.” The lecture will be held at the Richter Center at 7:00 p.m.
Barry is a noted journalist, having received many journalistic awards in his career.
According to his website, Barry has received a George Polk Award; an American Society of Newspaper Editors Award, for coverage of the first anniversary of Sept. 11; a Mike Berger Award; an award from Sigma Delta Chi/Society of Professional Journalists; and the Best American Newspaper Narrative Award. Prior to being on staff at The New York Times, he worked as a city hall bureau chief, Long Island bureau chief, police bureau chief and general assignment reporter for the metropolitan desk. Barry began writing the “This Land” column in 2007, which took him to all 50 states.
In addition to his lecture, Barry will be speaking to classes throughout the day.
Many freshmen said they enjoyed the book and it was perfect in relation to issues regarding the exploitation of people with disabilities.
“I think it was very insightful on the terrible situation that was going on in Atalissa,” said Christopher Somma, a freshman political science major. “It was a very good and smooth read. I feel like Barry wants to inform the readers about what is going on in our world.”
Somma added Barry wants to show us how we can seek to mitigate these immoral injustices that are prevalent in our society.
Furthermore, Somma said this book serves as an incentive to treat others with respect.
“I am definitely going to see Dan Barry this coming Monday. I am pumped to see the guy who wrote it,” Somma said.
Lucy Sauter, a freshman education major, shares the same appreciation for the book and the topics it raises.
“I feel like it was a good book because it shows the mistreatment that disabled people have to endure, and overall raises awareness of this widespread issue,” said Sauter.
She added Barry aims to not only raise awareness to disabled people but to increase awareness for anyone who may be getting taken advantage of and may not see it.
At Bonaventure there is the All Bona Reads program which aims to promote community by having all freshmen read the same book. The All Bona Read committee chose “Boys in the Bunkhouse” for this year’s class. Each student has to write a paper on the book, and the students that write the best papers get the chance to do a meet-and-greet with the author.
“I was able to relate to it because my dad is a social worker, and he has a lot of clients with disabilities,” said Amber Levias, a freshman journalism and mass communication, one of the ABR winners.
“We are a generation that is very open minded, and I think we, as college students, have the ability to bring awareness to people with mental disabilities and the issues that can occur for people who don’t really understand what’s going on,” Levias said.
She added disability rights isn’t frequently mentioned in the news and one of Barry’s main goals is to raise awareness for these people because they also deserve to be treated with the same respect.
Faculty added some insight as well.
Chris Brown, director of first-year experience and orientation, said the university does a lot of programming on issues of diversity.
“One of the areas that I don’t think we have programmed much about is issues around people with disabilities, and how ability and disability affects someone’s day-to-day life, and the different ways that people with disabilities are excluded from society,” said Brown.
“By focusing on this story we were able to explore some of the challenges and some of the progress that has been made in society for people with disabilities,” he said.
Some members of the Bonaventure community expressed how the book ties into the schools Franciscan Heritage.
Patrick Vecchio, retiree and former Bonaventure journalism and mass communication professor, said, “The most important Franciscan value is the one where we learn how important it is to respect the worth and dignity of everyone. This book shows how easy it is for the other to be exploited in our society. How we as a society enable exploitation by not paying attention. The book shows how we can’t be concerned with our life, rather we have an obligation as citizens to look out for the less fortunate.”
sanchejd16@bonaventure.edu
