Award-winning author Cheryl Strayed’s earliest childhood memories were being rushed out of the house to escape her abusive father’s rage, she said at Syracuse University Wednesday night.

Her family eventually moved to a ranch in Minnesota, and during her senior year she decided to apply to college to be able to become a writer.

Strayed discussed her personal journeys, such as her childhood, during her University Lecture in Hendricks Chapel on Wednesday night. The SU alumna spoke about her journey of becoming a writer, writing the award-winning novel, “Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail” and getting through the hard phases in life.

Strayed was introduced by Mary Karr, the author of the New York Times bestseller “The Art of Memoir,” and one of Strayed’s professors during her time at SU. Karr described Strayed as “a fierce lover of humans, tireless advocate for feminist causes and women in the writing profession.”

“In ‘Wild,’ we find our untamed selves through her,” Karr added before leaving the stage to Strayed.

When talking about “Wild,” Strayed defined it as a book about journeys; both her emotional journey of getting over her mother’s loss, her physical journey through the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) and the journey of learning about her readers’ journeys.

“I began here. I was a writer all my life, but being here is very important for me because what I learned (at SU) has stayed with me forever,” Strayed said.

Strayed said she discovered her calling for the profession at an early age in a church, through a chapbook she was given in Sunday school. The chapbook was simple with watercolor images on every page and a three-line poem describing each picture, she said.

Even though Strayed had not immediately realized she’d become a writer, she said she saw the power and beauty of words and realized she wanted to be someone who would bring out that power.

Although Strayed defined her childhood as happy due to her mother’s hard work, she thought she needed to do something else to become one of the sophisticated people who had something to say, so she applied to college to be a writer.

College turned out to be a life-changing experience for both Strayed and her mother. Strayed was accepted into the University of St. Thomas which offered free, full-credit classes to any family members she would have if she chose to go there, Strayed said.

Strayed’s mother, who got the chance to receive an education at St. Thomas, continued to be a strong influence throughout her life.

“A mother’s love is the most powerful source in the world,” she said. “My mother’s love filled every hole in my life and enabled me to have a happy childhood despite every hardship I’ve been through.”

Therefore, the loss of her mother had a hard toll on her during her last year of college.

“I didn’t know how I could exist in a world where my mother didn’t,” Strayed said.

Finding the answer to that question ultimately led her to the journey that created “Wild.”

Strayed got by in life until one winter day she had to shovel out a truck from the snow in front of the restaurant she worked at. Strayed then realized that she had to do the same thing with her life.

She saved money for a couple of weeks and went on a hike through the PCT.

“My journey through the PCT ended with the simple realization of ‘I’m OK,’” Strayed said. “I had 27 cents in my pocket. I didn’t have a job. I didn’t have a degree, but I had finally accepted the loss I had been through.”

Said Strayed: “The most important thing in life is to be able to be in the company of fear and doing things anyway.”

Published on October 8, 2015 at 12:12 am

Contact Deniz: dsahintu@syr.edu