Well, my interest in this author started in 6th grade when I read A Wizard of Earthsea She was always someone who's work was compelling, but I didn't seek it out, nor did I seek out more infomation on her. She was just an author who's work I liked. As my life trundled along, I absorbed the remaining Earthsea books, along with The Dispossessed, Left Hand of Darkness, Malafrena, and Lathe of Heaven.
So as I read over the preliminary materials for the Celebration of Choice dinner hosted by NARAL ProChoice Oregon and saw that she was joining Oregon's First Lady, Mary Oberst and Treasure Mackley, a young Multnomah County activist (not to discount either of these other speakers, particularly Treasure, who was introduced to me earlier in the evening as a 'star', by Jefferson Smith... frankly , calling her a 'treasure' would have been completely appropriate, but we can dwell on her merits and clearly bright future some other time...), representing a 'before, during, and after' Roe v Wade set of perspectives, I was pleased I was going to have another encounter with this writer who's words seemed to find their way to my attention at random intervals throughout my life.
Little did I know these words weren't simply going to find their way into my mind and stick. These words were going to sear themselves into my heart. Intensely personal stories are compelling even when not told by a person with quietly powerful presence or a gift for wordsmithing. In Le Guin, we are given all three. And the story resonated in the room, pulling tears, draining breath from lungs - not in gasps or from stunning blows, but from a gently pressing weight of emotion that emanated in a subtle surge from this woman whose physical stature completely belies the magnitude of her soul.
I am quite certain I do not do the experience justice.
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