I recently read Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover. It opened my mind to the various forms of education and how each individual is formed by their experiences. Tara grew up working in her father’s junkyard without ever being allowed to receive formal education, other than the heavily swayed religious, paranoid, anti-government doctrine of her father.
The memoir takes the reader through an array of dysfunctional and abusive events that leave Tara feeling ashamed and undeserving of an education. By the end of the book Tara has gone through a transformation. She receives a BA at BYU, is awarded a Gates Cambridge Scholarship, and earns a PhD in history. She survives a mental breakdown and the estrangement of her family in the process.
“Everything I had worked for, all my years of study, had been to purchase for myself this one privilege: to see and experience more truths than those given to me by my father, and to use those truths to construct my own mind. I had come to believe that the ability to evaluate many ideas, many histories, many points of view, was at the heart of what it means to self-create.”
We are not limited by our upbringing. The world is vast and the possibilities endless. There’s a universe of stories. What better way to explore and shape ourselves than the library. Tara was able to use her academic studies and self-will to bridge the information gap of her rearing. The library played a pivotal role in expanding her experience or lack thereof. The library facilitates connections, not only to information but to people as well. Come grow with us. Give yourself the opportunity to self-create and build your story here at Laramie County Library System.
Find Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover on the third floor call number B WESTO, T. Also available in e-book on the Cloud Library or audio on the first floor at BOCD B WESTO,T.
~Deanna Comer