On May 27th, 2010, Ryan A. Conklin spoke at the Barnes & Noble bookstore on 82nd & Broadway in New York City. He appeared at an author event to discuss his book, An Angel From Hell, as well as his experiences being an American soldier in Iraq. The event began with an introduction, which was necessarily laudatory, from the B&N store person. On the dais, Ryan modestly sat looking down and away from the audience as his credits were read, as he sometimes appears uncomfortable hearing others sing his praises. After the introduction, Ryan rose and positioned himself at the podium to begin his presentation.
Ryan spoke about why he entered the Army, and about his subsequent deployment to Iraq and the effects that experience had upon him. He also spoke about the difficulty of reintegrating back into civilian life and how writing the book about his time in Iraq helped him to deal with the memories and the emotions that were a consequence of it. He encourages other vets to find their own creative outlet to use as cognitive therapy to understand why they feel the way they do.
After the brief discourse on the subject and history of the book, the program moved to questions from the audience. Many of the questions had to do the politics of the Iraq War. As one of the audience members pointed out, the people in this Upper West Side area of New York are enthusiastically liberal. The consequence is that people from the neighborhood wanted to bash the initiation of the war and tried to get Ryan to join in by stating his political views concerning the justification for the conflict. Ryan didn't bite, stating repeatedly that he is not political and the politics of the war weren't visible to him. For someone at his level, he needed to be concerned about snipers and IEDs, not the debate on Saddam Hussein's possible long-term weaponry objectives.
It should be noted that the audience for the event was skewed heavily to the senior demographic. That's not something that would necessarily be expected for a book by a cast member of MTV's The Real World. However, it was apparent from observation that most if not at all of the seniors were spending a Thursday evening at the book store, and happened to wander into Ryan's book discussion. The remainder of the group was from Ryan's possible key fan demographics: teenage girls, young women, and older men.
After the Q&A, the audience was allowed to approach Ryan for him to sign their copy of his book and/or to take a photo with him. The Ryan fans in attendance availed themselves of the book signing opportunity while the elderly wandered away as easily as they had drifted in.
A good time appeared to be had by all, including Ryan Conklin. It's a shame that such opportunities are so limited in number and geography.
For those wondering, Ryan stated at the event that he has not had a haircut since he returned from Iraq in January.
