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Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Shays' Rebellion

Christopher Shays is sounding an awful lot these days like Lowell Weicker. That is, like Weicker in the early 1970s, Shays has given his own party a pounding. At the Congressional hearings on the federal response to Hurricane Katrina, he pummeled Michael Brown, who we all thought had resigned from his FEMA post but we have learned still collects a salary for "consultation." In his testimony Brown proudly pointed out that he spent time as an assistant to the city manager in Edmond, Oklahoma, where the city developed its first emergency response plan. Shays was not impressed with this, or anything else Brown had to say in his own defense. "I have come to the conclusion that this administration values loyalty more than anything else, more than competence, more than the truth. You have reinforced that view."

Weicker, of course, was a Senator, and Shays is in the House. But there are so many similarities -- both emerging from Fairfield County in Connecticut, the most affluent county in America. Both adopting moderate and conservative stances, and fitting easily into the party's big tent. And both critical of party members' performance, to the point where they became clear annoyances. Weicker has always stood for what he believed in, even when it was turning against his fellow Republicans in the Watergate scandal. And, of course, he later abandoned the party and now calls himself an independent. Shays could be an attractive candidate for president. He's articulate, brilliant, if too compassionate to attract extreme right wingers.

Posted by:Lary Bloom at 7:42 AM

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Joan Didion and the Dunnes

It has been some time since anything in the New York Times magazine created the kind of buzz that Joan Didion's cover story did on September 25. By Sunday evening, writers across America were calling or emailing other writers and saying "Don't miss this." Didion, whose nonfiction work has been highly praised and treasured particularly in the way it develops a sense of place, wrote honestly and with great particularity about the death of her husband, John Gregory Dunne. Much of the piece centered on the night that he died, and the detail is breathtaking. As I often say to my memoir students, there is no difference in form between memoir and novel. If you read Didion's piece, you can see clearly the sense of being in the moment, and the rich descriptions, leading to a climax. I was particularly impressed by the way Didion described the emptiness that occurs after loss, and the inability to do the simplest tasks. These are feelings that I felt after my wife Liz died in 2003 -- couldn't even pay a bill.

I couldn't help but think, too, of John Gregory Dunne's brother, Dominick, whom Didion refers to as "Nick" in her piece. That's how he's known to friends in Hadlyme, where he lives in Connecticut. I saw him at a farmer's market in Old Lyme not long ago. It was just after he wrote in Vanity Fair that the locals wanted him to pose nude for a charity calender. He declined, arguing that a photogenic body was not among the gifts nature had provided him.

Posted by:Lary Bloom at 5:06 AM

Monday, September 26, 2005

A Night In New Orleans

It is a city that seldom sleeps, that breathes melody, and that offers kindness on which a stranger can rely. When much of it was put underwater by Katrina, and even by Rita, memories came to mind. Here's one:

Danny Barker, the banjoist, used to play at the Palm Court in the section called Storyville. This is where all the jazz greats played. It is in Storyville where the Jazz Hall of Fame offers a tribute to Louis Armstrong, native son, product of a local orphanage.

One night Barker, then in his 80s and an old friend of Armstrong's, was with a group of four musicians. He was legendary around town, and so was his late wife, the singer Blu Lu Barker.
That night, we were sitting in the front row of the club. I was thinking what I always think: that I should stick my nose in this.

I knew that Danny Barker, as one of the developers of New Orleans jazz, would have a great story to tell. I thought I might offer my services to him as a ghost writer. He'd certainly need me. He's a banjo player from the city's poorest neighborhood, and I'm, after all, a writer. After the show, I went up to him on stage, and congratulated him on his performance. He thanked me for the compliment. Then I mentioned my idea -- how I might help him out, and at the same time help record an important part of New Orleans and jazz history. He said, "I appreciate that. But if you go to the bookstore you can find my autobiography there, A Life In Jazz, published by the Oxford University Press."

Posted by:Lary Bloom at 4:29 AM

Sunday, September 25, 2005

Book Tour Surprises

Authors love to whine about book tours. The exhaustion, sometimes even the humiliation. I remember a television talk show appearance many years ago in which the host introduced me by the wrong name. It is common that local TV personalities avoid at any cost reading the books they talk about on the air. Authors are used to this, and do nicely filling in the blanks. But when I was introduced that morning as Lary Brown, my capacity for rudeness suddenly was tapped. Intentionally, I referred to the host by a name other than his own. This was naughty and unforgiveable. To this day, I regret it.

But if writing is hard work, and it is, peddling a book is also that. For my new book, Lary Bloom's Connecticut Notebook, we have set up a mini-book tour, all within the state. Generally, I looked forward to this commercial trek, and have enjoyed the experiences so far. I see them like baseball games -- oldtimers will tell you that in every baseball game something happens that a close observor has never seen before. This is also true of every stop on a book tour.

My first appearance for this book was in Storrs, CT., for the UConn Co-op. Suzy Staubach runs the general books division there, and has been a great friend and supporter. She's also a talented writer, and her new book, titled Clay, is already getting much attention. Storrs is something of a haul from my house in Chester, but I certainly didn't mind doing it for Suzy, who promoted the event well, taking a small poster that my publisher, Globe Pequot Press, had sent her, and blowing it up to embarrassing size, as if the President were appearing.

In the audience that evening was Beth Usher, whom I had written about seven years earlier, and whose story appears in the new book. At age 25, she is a veteran interviewee. As small child, she underwent dramatic surgery--the removal of half of her brain. This was necessary to address the seizures caused by a rare disease called Rasmussen's Encephalitis, which, if left, untreated causes the victim to be institutionalized. Beth came through the surgery well, though she still has, 18 years later, residual effects, including speech impediments, and weakness in the right side of her body.

As I read the chapter in my book about Beth, I kept checking with her to see if I had permission to include the parts that are private and difficult. She kept nodding, and saying "Go ahead." When I got to the part in the chapter that points out her difficulties with short-term memory, I asked, "Beth, can I read this part, about short term memory?" Without a second to think about, she responded with a smile, "What was the question?" The audience roared. Perhaps some people thought we'd rehearsed that. We hadn't, of course. Beth Usher, a young woman with pluck and humor, reminded me of a reason I write -- to illustrate how people address significant obstacles, and, in many cases, overcome them.

Posted by:Lary Bloom at 4:18 AM

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