Last Thursday, fiction writer and political commentator Jared Sexton was the first speaker in the Smith Creative Writers Reading Series. Dr. Noyes, Professor of English and Creative Writing, introduced his former student at the event. Noyes began the evening by sharing the history of Sexton’s publications, which range from political articles and short stories to crime fiction.

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While he introduced Sexton’s work, Noyes remarked that Sexton, “has a point of view, but its straightforwardly noted, and he’s not above self-critique. He writes passion and empathy.” Noyes also claimed that Sexton is someone he turns to, “in order to help sort through and sharpen his thinking on how to help best navigate these troubled times”. The main focus of the evening’s readings, Noyes explained, was to feature Sexton’s most recent publication, The People Are Going to Rise Like the Waters upon Your Shore: A story of American Rage, a piece of nonfiction that was published following the 2016 presidential elections.

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Sexton began by briefly discussing how he went from writing fiction to writing a nonfiction political novel. Shortly after his first Donald Trump rally, Sexton began to appear on television and write political articles, the first of which explains his standpoint: “We are entering one of the most pivotal eras in American History, and we cannot afford to sit this one out”.

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The excerpt Sexton read referred to the atmosphere that hung in the air following the South Carolina shooting, in which Dylan Roof killed nine African Americans in a racially motivated assault on the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. He opened with, “Americans are notoriously bad at putting things into context ... We are a nation forever losing the forest for the trees.” Sexton immediately pulled the crowd into the grieving, shocked town of Eastover, filled with dilapidated and condemned houses in every direction. He attempted to describe a mind filled with Dylan Roof’s unspeakable hate. He reminded everyone of the same frustrating string of events that happen each time a mass shooting occurs: talking heads, “debate” back and forth for ten minute chunks over the entire newshour, only to end the conversation with, “we are going to have to continue this discussion another time,” something Sexton referred to as, “infuriating media-isms.” No progress is ever made on the topic.

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His excerpt moved on, skimming over the statue controversy in Charleston, S.C. The subject turned to race as his excerpt focused on the other half of the Roof debate, the confederate flag and racism. Sexton stated it is, “a past that was at all times both the past and undeniably the present.” From Statesboro to Columbia, he noted exasperatedly, every flag was at half-mast, except for the confederate flag, which, “still waves at full height in every location. Atop the statehouse, the flags were properly lowered, but there, at the confederate memorial, no such dignity was bestowed.”

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He ended the chapter with a touch of hope, quoting a man who had been in the crowd that had gathered outside the church in Eastover. Members of the crowd held onto one another, grief and love in the air like light, surrounded by singing and prayers. The man announced, “‘He meant to bring war between the races, and he has brought us together.” Cheers from the crowd were followed by When the Saints Come Marching In, played on the trombone.

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This series has been made possible by the Clarence A. and Eugenie Baumann Smith Fund. Other presenters later in the semester include poets Jen Town (Sept. 20) and Henriette Goodman (Oct. 4), and Behrend’s very own Professor of English and creative Writing, George Looney, presenting his newly published fiction book (Nov. 1). Readings begin at 6 p.m. with refreshments beforehand at 5:30 p.m. in the Smith Chapel.