Who do you think you are?

Last week North Carolina hosted the NC Festival of the Book, and the second half of it was held on the Duke campus. I read in the paper that all events were at that happy equilibrium of attracting just the right number of people so that few were turned away but authors all had large crowds. This after a N&O editorial saying Book Festivals were, unfortunately, an indicator that books are in danger of extinction, but that's another topic. No one told the hundreds who came.
I got to hear barbara Kingsolver speak to a standing-room-only audience in Duke Chapel. Mike would have enjoyed it too had Biscuit not decided otherwise--the sound of regular applause and laughter were not helping her go to sleep. At any rate, it was, of course, a wonderful talk. The main body of her speech was on the topic of "Who do you think you are?", a question she gets a lot given her subject matter is often poverty, environment, race, imperialism and other unpleasant subjects. It used to rankle her chain because she is untrained in literature, having majored in evolutionary biology; but having traveled more, and discovered that socially engaged literature is more accepted, let alone celebrated, in other countries, she has decided that the question, "Who do you think you are?" is one that should be ignored.
Fans of her work will of course agree that she need not even consider the question. But I think she was challenging everyone to do the same. I'm thinking she's on to something.