Convocation: Paula Vogel

"I'm here to proselytize. I'm here to deliver a sales pitch on the urgency of making art central to all of us as citizen participators in this country." Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel began her convocation address—titled "The Necessity of Art / The Impossibility of Art"—by encouraging students to "take very seriously your capacity for creating art here, as undergraduates at Carleton college." A passionate speaker, Vogel is known for exploring controversial topics in her work, such as domestic abuse, gender roles and stereotyping, pornography, and AIDS. Reviewers have commended her humor, compassion, and creative approach to sensitive issues, and she has received several prestigious awards and grants for her work, including the Pulitzer Prize in 1998 for her play "How I Learned to Drive."



 I own and retain the copyright