INSPIRED 'CONVERSATION'

Oprah Winfrey and David Letterman laugh during their talk. DN PHOTO BOBBY ELLIS
Oprah Winfrey and David Letterman laugh during their talk. DN PHOTO BOBBY ELLIS

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By Rachel Stenger


After more than an hour and 40 minutes of a conversation almost cut short, Ball State students said they were more than pleased with David Letterman and Oprah Winfrey.

The event was hosted in John R. Emens Auditorium, where more than 3,000 students watched. The conversation was streamed live to Pruis Hall and the L.A. Pittenger Student Center Ballroom.

One of the last questions Letterman asked Winfrey was, “What do you know for sure?” 

“What I know for sure is that everyone of us is born to make our mark,” Winfrey said. “I’m still making my mark.”

James Bullard, a freshman telecommunications major, said he liked Letterman’s questions.

“His questions were very intellectual,” he said. “I found his interview style interesting; if he didn’t get an answer, he would ask in a different way.”

Tyler Fox watched the event in the Student Center. He said his group of friends and he were told they could get tickets Monday after deciding not to camp out. 

“We were pretty upset when we found out we couldn’t get them,” the junior communications major said.

Fox and his friends made sure to get to the Student Center right at 3 p.m. when the doors opened, he said. 

“I thought that Oprah had a lot to say and I think that she has overcome such adversity,” Fox said after the show. “Now that I know more about her, I’m definitely more of an Oprah fan than I was before this.”

Winfrey spent a majority of the time talking about her childhood and home town of Kosciusko, Miss., where she was faced with several years of abuse.

“I didn’t expect her to share so much of her actual life,” said Laura Merriman, a senior visual communications major. “I didn’t realize she had such a difficult upbringing. She was very inspiring.”

Senior nursing majors Angela Zinich and Kristina Gleissner said they remember watching “Oprah’s Favorite Things” together during their sophomore year.

“I thought she was so inspiring and so well-versed, just a really good speaker,” Zinich said. “She was so intelligent. When I watched her show, she always has good things to say but [Letterman] would ask her a question and she could tailor it [so well].”

Gleissner said she was she enjoyed that part of the conversation focused on Winfrey’s spiritual view on life and her belief in a higher power.

“We are so lucky to have such a huge profile come and someone so good-natured,” she said. “Yeah, there are a lot of celebrities out there but Oprah to her core is a good person and it is great to have such a philanthropist here.”




Raymond Garcia, Chris Stephens, Erin Clark, Blake Bullerdick and Rachel Podnar contributed to this article.


For more on the 'Conversation' click here:  http://bit.ly/114X7xA

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