Margaret Randell reveals different side of Che Guevara to Mason students

Randell waxes poetic about Che Guevara (photo by Gopi Raghu).

Margaret Randell, author of the book “Che on My Mind,” gave insight to students about her poetry and novels.

On Monday, Oct. 21, 2013, University Life, the Philosophy Department and the Women and Genders Studies Program allowed the Global Affairs Department and its students to experience a treat from a worldly, feminist writer and poet.  

Global affairs students, teachers and guests gathered to hear Randell talk about one of her favorite people, Ernesto "Che" Guevara.

According to Randell, “Che on My Mind” is not a biography, “but a feminist poet’s reminisces of Che.”

She clearly admired him as a person, and said that Che has an “iconic presence.”

“I think I’ve been fascinated by Che since I knew he existed, really!” Randell said.  

Randell read a few excerpts from her novel, giving the audience a taste of her work.  

Her passion for Che brought some good advice to the students who attended her presentation.  She advised students to analyze what is going on around them and to ask questions about who they look up to in our lives.  She told her audience to question power and how it is used and abused.

The presentation ended with questions from the audience members on Che’s life and how Randall, as an author, had come this far and accomplished so much, even during a time she was deported from the country.  Randell has more than 80 published works.

On Tuesday, she also held two events in the Johnson Center Room F.  At 1:30 p.m. there was a group conversational session in which students and faculty learned more about Randell’s struggles in life and her story of becoming a writer.  During the event at 4:30pm, Randell shared and discussed poems from her new poetry collection The Rhizome as a Field of Broken Bones.

For more information about Randell and her published works, visit www.margaretrandall.org.