Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner
speaks at CHRISTUS Lyceum

Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner David McCullough was in Corpus Christi earlier this week to speak at the 28th Annual Lyceum Speaker Series, which supports the CHRISTUS Spohn Health System Foundation. Funds raised at this year’s Lyceum will help support construction of the new CHRISTUS Spohn Dr. Hector P. Garcia Memorial Family Health Center, which is poised to transform healthcare in the Coastal Bend. The plan, called "People and Actions Transforming Healthcare".
 
Addressing a sold-out crowd of more than 700, McCullough marveled at the South Texas hospitality he had received and even joked about walking into a local bookstore and asking for a copy of his latest book, “The Wright Brothers” to an unsuspecting store clerk.
 
“He sent me to the science section…it’s a history book! These men changed the world! When I told him I was David McCullough, he was a little embarrassed, but that’s ok,” he laughed.
 
The prolific author, historian and narrator of numerous documentaries, including the Ken Burns series "The Civil War", said when historians review the most important moments in American history, the Wright Brothers and their discovery is on the top of the list, adding they “changed world history almost like nobody else has since.”
 
“One hundred years from now, when historians are evaluating our time here on earth, they will look at what has happened in medicine as by far, one of the most important things that has changed our lives,” he said.
 
He also noted a decline in the humanities is an unfortunate trend.
 
“We are seeing a decline in the use of the English language…a decline in the ability to express oneself on paper,” he said.
 
He implored the audience to spend time cultivating ideas and thoughts without the crutch of technology.
 
“Information is not learning. It is not an education just because you can look up something on the computer. Expressing your thoughts through writing focuses your mind in a way nothing else does and that’s extremely important,” McCullough explained.
 
(PATH) includes major changes to the Memorial and Shoreline campuses. For more information on the transformation, visit www.OurPathForward.org.