Stone Distinguished Lecture: Brian Doyle on “Children and Other Slippery Miracles, Hawks and Other Delights, …”
The Stanley P. Stone Distinguished Lecture took place on April 7 and was delivered by award-winning writer, essayist and editor Brian Doyle. Doyle spoke on the topic, “Children & Other Slippery Miracles, Hawks & Other Delights, Ruminations & Fulminations, Prayers & Poignancy, Jests & Snickering, Observations on the Astounding Mysteries of Women, Notes on Listening as the Greatest Art of All, & Etc Sundry Expostulations on Human Beans as the Most Interesting & Confusing Creatures of All, with Sidelong Jaunts into Basketball, Bruce Springsteen, Excellent Shoes, Essays about Owls, & Other Pressing Matters.”
Doyle shared some of his comedic and insightful personal stories and published essays. He encouraged students to be good listeners and storytellers, telling them that these skills are the secret to life. Viewers can watch the video on BU Universe.
About Brian Doyle
Brian Doyle describes himself as:
…a hirsute shambling shuffling mumbling grumbling muttering muddled maundering meandering male being who edits Portland Magazine at the University of Portland, in Oregon – the best university magazine in America, according to Newsweek, and “the best spiritual magazine in the country,” according to author Annie Dillard, clearly a woman of surpassing taste and discernment.
Doyle is the author of nine books: five collections of essays, two nonfiction books (The Grail, about a year in an Oregon vineyard, and The Wet Engine, about the “muddles & mangles & musics & mysteries & miracles of the heart”), and two collections of “proems,” most recently Thirsty for the Joy: Australian & American Voices, from One Day Hill Press in Australia.
Doyle’s books have four times been finalists for the Oregon Book Award, and his essays have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s, Orion, The American Scholar, and in newspapers and magazines around the world. His essays have also been reprinted in the annual Best American Essays, Best American Science & Nature Writing, and Best American Spiritual Writing anthologies. Among various honors for his work is, mysteriously, the 2008 Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
His greatest accomplishments are, in order, (a) that a riveting woman said yeh when he mumbled a marriage proposal, (b) that the Coherent Mercy then sent them three lanky snotty sneery testy sweet brilliant nutty muttering children in skin boats from the sea of the stars, and (c) that he made the all-star team in a Boston men’s basketball league that was a really tough league, guys drove the lane in that league they lost fingers, one time a guy drove to the basket and got hit so hard his right arm fell off, but he was lefty and hit both free throws, so there you go.
About the Stanley P. Stone Distinguished Lecture Series
The Stanley P. Stone Distinguished Lecture Series brings notable, inspiring speakers to the 
College of General Studies (CGS), inviting the CGS and BU community to broaden their educational experience related to one of the College’s academic division areas: humanities, social science, natural sciences, or rhetoric. Lecture topic areas span the genres, from environmental change and violent conflict to the biology of viruses and public health; from racism in the U.S. to musical theatre and the American urban experience; from the evolution of goodness to American foreign policy. Instituted in 1989, the College is grateful to offer this enriching experience on an annual basis, made possible by the generosity of Stanley P. Stone (CGS’64, Questrom’66).