For those of you who are unfamiliar with Steve Lopez, he is an award winning journalist for the Los Angeles Times and author of the book and now film, “The Soloist”. On Thursday, February 11th, at the University-Student Union, Cal State LA students were able to listen to Steve speak about his passion for discovering people’s stories.
Steve was walking around downtown Los Angeles one day about twenty years ago, when he heard someone playing the violin beautifully. He stopped and saw that a homeless man was playing a violin with only two strings. This man was named Nathaniel, who through his free spirit and incredible life story, inspired Lopez to truly get to know him, and also began writing about him in the paper. During the Q&A, Steve expressed how despite his mental illness, Nathaniel never gave up his passion for music and his gratefulness to be alive. Steve goes on to talk about how readers began to reach out to him every week and even donated instruments for Nathaniel.
One of the biggest things that struck Steve during his time spent with Nathaniel, was the horrible circumstances that homeless people live through at skid row in Downtown LA. He states that: “It is absolutely unbelievable that just across the street from multi-billion dollar skyscrapers, concert halls, museums, and city hall, is skid row where over 17,000 homeless people live.” He also emphasized the importance of addressing mental illnesses, especially among college students. He thanked President Covino and his wife for starting the Mind Matters Initiative.
Steve really impacted Cal State LA with his and Nathaniel’s story. Whether we were there for a class, or just for personal enjoyment, students were left teary-eyed and emotional by the time Steve finished speaking. He also gave some advice to us college students: “Don’t be wallflowers. Try a little bit of everything while you can and enjoy where you are and what you do!” I was able to meet and speak to Steve after he finished, and he told me to go out into the world and not be afraid to ask questions and learn about other people’s stories. Thank you Steve!