Submitted by Lora Hunter, Jun 11, 2007 19:57

(1979) At the age of eight, my sitter- a young college student (Noreen) attending UC Santa Cruz, read to me portions of "Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature". I remember starring at the green and yellow binding and cover of the book as she read. I remember feeling as if I was listening to Noreen read a foreign language, yet the words and concepts I found intriguing, even if I didn't understand that I was "understanding" much of what she was reading. She left the book with me as a gift since I said I liked it so much. I remember trying to read it on my own, slowly- word for word. Rorty's book prompted me to have all kinds of philosophical thoughts and questions and I didn't even know that they were philosophical in nature at the time. My mother, going through a divorce at the time, was relying heavily on scriptures and the interpretations of motherly women who began to sway her into the group's way of teachings. The Bible was the only book to be read for knowledge and so when my mother found my ‘green and yellow' book hidden between the cushions of a chair, she threw it away and said that philosophical thinkers were wolves in sheep's clothing who lead us away from the ‘Truth'... (kind of ironic). Little did I know that for the next 20 years of my life I would never read anything of a philosophical, political, sectarian nature again. I was to read only the Bible. It's the main reason why I could not muster enough strength to go to college for a secular education until I was 28 years old. My first class was a philosophy class... a forbidden subject. I went to the book store and bought the necessary readings and an anthology of other writers. I was so scared to read them or even bring them into my home. I used to leave them out in my car... then I gathered enough courage to bring the books into my home but I would put an open Bible across the top of the books and keep them in another room at night away from my bed. The class was my favorite class in no time and I soon became deeply engrossed with every reading, every lecture and every concept. I used to tend to my other class homework to get it done and then every spare moment of every day for four months I devoted the rest to philosophy. I couldn't get enough. One day, I was perusing the shelves of the college library when I ran across the dark green and yellow binding of the book. For some reason it looked strikingly familiar, so I pulled the book off the shelf and began reading... my heart began to race as I realized that I had read the book before. Reading the book though and my memories of Noreen had been blocked out and it had been 20 years. So I was left at that very moment with a feeling that I will never feel again, a feeling of a past life or something. I went through the afternoon puzzled. I carried the book and walked and tried and tried to figure it out. I thought that I had come across it in high school or something but then again, I knew in my heart that this wasn't right. By evening after spending hours and hours trying to remember it came to me in a flood of memories and I began to cry. "Yes, I remembered!" I was only eight years old. The next day I went into the counselor and I changed my major from Architectural Technology to Philosophy. I finished my Bachelors in Philosophy in 2004 and then went on to study Education in my graduate work. I am happily helping young adults on their path to education now just a few miles away from Stanford. Rorty often wondered what Philosophy is good for?, well I say, Philosophy teaches you about the world. It teaches you how the other movers and shakers of the world think in every other field. You feel whole and complete and you understand yourself better. Philosophy set me free from a linear way of thinking that held me in for 20 years.

P.S. I was able to see Rorty in person at a Philosophy conference just 5 years ago. Though I had never seen him before in person, I was able to spot him from a couple of rows back from an audience that we were sitting in. I leaned over and told my professor, Hey there's Rorty! And he said, Na! When Rorty got up after the talk I said, see, yes I was right. I finally made eye contact with Rorty and he smiled back a me. I'd like Mr. Rorty to know how much of an impact he made on the outcome of my life.

Sincerely,

Lora

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