a thing about personal essays

I attended a short lecture by Jessica Zafra in the auditorium a while ago. Of course, it is another requirement for my Humanities class. Anyhow, the lecture was very entertaining and I learned a thing or two from it. The line that I can't forget from it is when she said that in order to write a personal essay, one should cannibalize one's self. That is, if there is actually a self to cannibalize. Then she also mentioned things about the importance of knowing one's self. She also mentioned something like a person develops his/her personality by reading books. And apparently she loves the Old Testament. Pretty cool lecture.