Lecture: "Frybread and Fiction" - David Treuer

This lecture was given on September 4th by David Treuer during the Opening Convocation for the freshman class. As a general overview, I thought that his lecture was very witty, informational, and interesting. The topic of the lecture seemed to be how to read interpretively, which sounds like the most boring thing in the world to have a speech on, but he managed to make it work. Treuer had some great points throughout his speech relating to teaching. He stated that "if there is a problem with how this generation is, it's because how we are taught." He thought that the process by which this generation learns is concerning. I have heard this line from my parents, who are both teachers, yet him saying it really made me understand how big of an issue it is. I was also surprised when he said that literature is about lying in a very convincing way. That certainly got me thinking! He said that if you're reading literature for the "big picutre" you're losing the meaning of reading. Treuer's main point seemed to be that reading is building understanding, not just reading facts through our own interpretation. The second half of his speech was centered a lot towards ethic reading which he considered to be quite different from other literature. Overall, I thought the speaker did a great job of presenting and speaking with quick humor and the ability to relate the topic to freshman in college.