On Wednesday, March 26th, Piper Kerman, a well-known author for her memoir Orange is the New Black, came to speak at Merrimack College. Throughout the two lectures that she gave, one in the Writer’s House and one in the multi-purpose room, she touched upon her experience in a woman’s prison and her advocacy for reform within these prison systems.
Kerman’s first appearance within the college that day happened at 3:30 p.m. within the Writer’s House, a new fixture to the school as of this year. She came into this building ready to answer all questions that the book group had gathered. With a bigger turn out than expected, she answered all questions with ease and poise, never deterring from a question. Various people asked questions from what her experience was like in there to how she feels that woman’s prisons, along with prisons in general, need to change. After an hour of answering questions, the room departed, with many eager to hear her speak for a second time.
At 7:00 p.m. hundreds of students, faculty members, and resident’s near the North Andover area gathered into the multi-purpose room within the school. Piper Kerman came out eager to speak to the whole crowd. She spoke first about her book and touched upon her experience. She claimed how she could not have survived without her finance, even after he was shocked with the recent news about her going to prison. She touched upon how long it took her to finally enter prison as she was indicted in 1998, but did not step foot into a prison until 2004. She then went on and talked about themes of her book including empathy, gender, and a few other prominent ones. She finished her speech talking about advocacy and her ideas of prisons. In her personal opinion too many people are sent to prison and are not given the rehabilitation that they need. By giving people help rather than just putting them in a cell, she believes that the overcrowding of prisons would diminish along with giving people a better chance to better their lives. After an hour and a half of speaking, she resided her talk with questions from the audience, followed by a book selling and signing for all to enjoy.