In What Way Was John Glenn the Last American Hero?

Alice George titled her book The Last American Hero: The Remarkable Life of John Glenn to reflect her view of Glenn as a singular figure in American history—a man whose life embodied a heroic ideal that she believes has faded from the national consciousness. In her portrayal, Glenn isn’t just a hero for his feats as a fighter pilot, astronaut, and senator, but a symbol of a bygone era when Americans embraced real, flawed individuals as icons of courage and service. She suggests that his 1962 orbit of Earth, his steady character, and his lifelong dedication to public duty made him a unifying figure during a fractious time, like the Cold War and the turbulent 1960s—a role she argues is rare in today’s cynical age.

George doesn’t explicitly dissect the title in the book, but her narrative implies a nostalgia for a time when figures like Glenn could capture the public’s imagination without being torn down by modern skepticism. In interviews around the book’s 2020 release, she noted how Glenn’s death in 2016 prompted obituaries that universally hailed him as heroic, striking her as a contrast to a culture quick to spotlight flaws over valor. She seems to propose that Glenn might be “the last” because society now favors fictional superheroes over flesh-and-blood ones, a shift she ties to a loss of faith in human potential amid scandals and division. The title’s provocative edge—implying no successors—challenges readers to consider whether such heroes can still emerge, or if Glenn’s mold, forged in a specific American moment, is truly broken.

The book brought to mind two other books I've read in recent years, the first being The Last Boy, Jane Leavy's book about Mickey Mantle. "The Sports Illustrated journalist titled her story The Last Boy because sports journalism was moving into a new era. Up till Mantle, the innocence of our heroes was preserved because of the unwritten rule that journalists protect the privacy of person's of importance. They helped maintain the images that had been carefully crafted.

"Leavy essentially states that at a certain moment in time a shift occurred. Up until then, if you revealed what you knew about a player, you were bad. You were slapped on the wrist and sent to your room without supper. Post-Mantle, in the new era of sports journalism, if you failed to reveal something you knew, you were punished. Writers were no longer permitted to conceal. It was their job to reveal."(1)

In both books, the authors use a singular iconic figure to illustrate how journalism in particular, and the broader culture in general, have changed.

The second book that came to mind was Ghost Burglar, by Jim King and Jack Burch. Ghost Burglar is the story of Bernard Welch, one of the most successful thieves in U.S. history, as well a surprisingly witty prison escapee, with two such exits under his belt. 

The book does an excellent job of showing the education of Bernard Welch, how he learned his trade and how he’d become so elusive. How did he end up with a home, including a sauna and indoor pool, in one of Duluth's most elite neighborhoods? That was a lesson he learned from an incident earlier in his career. He was an east coast crook, rich neighborhoods from Jersey to D.C., but he got caught because 200 miles away is still too near when fencing stolen goods. During his first stint in prison he assessed the mistakes he'd made and refined his methods. One of these was how to put his stolen merchandise back into the market and he settled on an unsuspecting community a thousand miles away.(2)

The reason this latter book came to mind is because one of the homes Bernard Welch robbed was that of John Glenn's. There were awards Glenn had received for his achievements, made of gold, which the burglar stole and melted down for resale. 

Though each of these books tell different tales, it's interesting how they also intersect and reveal things about the times we live in.

(1) The Shifting Tides of Sports Journalism

(2) Ghost Burglar

Related Link
Eight Minutes with Jack Burch and Jim King, Co-Authors of Ghost Burglar

10 Thought-Provoking Quotes by Famous 20th Century Authors, Courtesy ChatGPT and Google Bard

Illustration by the author, with AI assistance.

I asked ChaptGPT for a list of the top 20 authors of the 20th century. I then asked Google Bard for five quotes for each author. I selected one for each from the five offered. The original list from ChatGPT included some disclaimers, noting that making lists like this is highly subjective. "This list represents a diverse range of authors from different regions and literary traditions, each contributing in unique ways to 20th-century literature."

"A man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery."
--James Joyce

"Youth is happy because it has the capacity to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old."
--Franz Kafka

"You cannot find peace by avoiding life."
--Virginia Woolf

"The loneliest moment in someone's life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart, and all they can do is stare blankly."
--F. Scott Fitzgerald

"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion."
--Albert Camus

"If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself."
--George Orwell

"What matters in life is not what happens to you, but what you remember and how you remember it."
--Gabriel García Márquez

"The world breaks everyone, and afterward, many are strong at the broken places."
--Ernest Hemingway

"In a universe of silent stars, human speech is a pitifully tiny and inadequate noise."
--William Faulkner

"If you find a book you really want to read but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it."
--Toni Morrison

* * * * *

A Family of Authors: Christina's First Book

My daughter Christina was home this weekend. During her visit, Susie showed us a book that Christina wrote and illustrated when she was four. This was the year I wrote, and sold, my own first book, 1993.

OK, not exactly how you spell Turtle, but it's creative.

Today Christina is a combination stay-at-home mom and crossword puzzle creator. One of her crossword puzzles that goes out via syndication will be in print this Friday in several newspapers. She's a contributor to the NYTimes and was co-collaborator on the first Times crossword puzzle of the new year and new decade.

Crossword Puzzles can make a nice diversion from thinking about coronavirus all the time. Here's an interview with Christina from last year, Creating Crosswords for Fun and Profit.

Related Links

On Breaking Into the New York Times

Here's a link to my own books. Some are eBooks, some in print, a couple at our local library. And a link to The Red Scorpion, my first novel. I noticed yesterday that The Red Scorpion, has some parallels to COVID-19. Both stories begin in a foreign country, crosses into MN, becomes terrifying, results in some deaths, but ultimately has a happy ending. 

There's another aspect of the story that is intriguing. In my story, the Red Scorpion has the power to get inside your head so that you start to doubt whether it is real or not. It's uncanny how similar that aspect of things is in regards to our current pandemic.

Anyways, if you run out of things to do and want a little diversion, here are some ideas to hold you over till the libraries are open again. 

Remembering Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: A Profile in Courage

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, 1974 (Public Domain)

In 1970, the year I left home for college, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for the ethical force with which he has pursued the indispensable traditions of Russian literature." If you've ever read his works, then you know the force with which he wrote.

The Russian author was both in 1918, the year the "Great War" ended, a year after the Russian Revolution. In college he studied mathematics, which he later said saved his life while he was in the Gulag (the Soviet Union labor camp system). Again, later when he was free he taught math to support his family while continuing his work as a writer.

Though he had been writing since youth, he never publicly or privately shared what he was writing about because of the risk involved. It wasn't until he was 42, after Stalin was dead and Khruschev was in power, that he dared to publish One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, compelled by a desire to share his thoughts as well as to obtain some affirmation of his literary value and efforts.

The following anecdote illustrates the source of his reticence about sharing his work:

Nikita Khruschev was giving a speech that was quite critical of Stalin, and suddenly somebody hollered out from somewhere in the audience: "Why didn't you say anything while he was alive??"

Khrushchev slammed his fist down on the podium and hollered, "WHO SAID THAT?"

The room was quiet.

"Now you know why I didn't say anything while Stalin was alive." *

* * * *

During World War II, because of his knowledge of math, Solzhenitsyn served in an artillery-position-finding capacity until he was arrested in February 1945. The grounds for his arrest were some remarks in his private correspondence with a school friend. He was sentenced to eight years in the gulag labor camps. After four year he was moved to a special prison for engineers and mathematicians, which he states probably saved his life.

During his imprisonment he also had a bout with cancer. Two of his greatest works--Cancer Ward and The Gulag Archipelago--were direct out growths of these catalytic experiences.

After the publication of that first novella, he continued to write, but was ultimately expelled from the Soviet Union in 1974.

* * * *
What follows are excerpts and quotes from the Nobel Prize winner's writings and speeches.

You only have power over people so long as you don’t take everything away from them. But when you’ve robbed a man of everything he’s no longer in your power — he’s free again.--The First Circle

For a country to have a great writer is like having a second government. That is why no regime has ever loved great writers, only minor ones.--The First Circle

I can say without affectation that I belong to the Russian convict world no less … than I do to Russian literature. I got my education there, and it will last forever.--The Oak and the Calf

Can a man who's warm understand one who's freezing?--One Day in the Life...

Beat a dog once and you only have to show him the whip.--One Day in the Life...

It is almost always impossible to evaluate at the time events which you have already experienced, and to understand their meaning with the guidance of their effects. All the more unpredictable and surprising to us will be the course of future events. -- Autobiographical sketch, NobelPrize.org

Harvard's motto is "Veritas." Many of you have already found out and others will find out in the course of their lives that truth eludes us if we do not concentrate with total attention on its pursuit. And even while it eludes us, the illusion still lingers of knowing it and leads to many misunderstandings. Also, truth is seldom pleasant; it is almost invariably bitter. There is some bitterness in my speech today, too. But I want to stress that it comes not from an adversary but from a friend.---Harvard University address, 1978

Without any censorship, in the West fashionable trends of thought and ideas are carefully separated from those which are not fashionable; nothing is forbidden, but what is not fashionable will hardly ever find its way into periodicals or books or be heard in colleges. Legally your researchers are free, but they are conditioned by the fashion of the day. There is no open violence such as in the East; however, a selection dictated by fashion and the need to match mass standards frequently prevent independent-minded people from giving their contribution to public life. There is a dangerous tendency to form a herd, shutting off successful development.--Harvard University speech

Should someone ask me whether I would indicate the West such as it is today as a model to my country, frankly I would have to answer negatively. No, I could not recommend your society in its present state as an ideal for the transformation of ours.--Harvard University speech

In different places over the years I have had to prove that socialism, which to many western thinkers is a sort of kingdom of justice, was in fact full of coercion, of bureaucratic greed and corruption and avarice, and consistent within itself that socialism cannot be implemented without the aid of coercion. Communist propaganda would sometimes include statements such as "we include almost all the commandments of the Gospel in our ideology". The difference is that the Gospel asks all this to be achieved through love, through self-limitation, but socialism only uses coercion. This is one point. Untouched by the breath of God, unrestricted by human conscience, both capitalism and socialism are repulsive.--interview, St. Austin Review

* * * *

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was an awakened mind fashioned by his times. He dedicated his life to sharing he wisdom and insights revealed to him. His voice ought not be soon forgotten.

Related Links
The Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Literature Prize 
Solzhenitsyn's Indictment of the West Still Stands
Bio of Solzhenitsyn at the Nobel Prize Website

* Source: Lloyd Wagner, co-author of And There Shall Be Wars.

How Well Do You Know Your Literary Nobel Laureates? 10 Excerpts from Nobel Prize Acceptance Speeches

As I circulated amongst Dylan fans last weekend in his former hometown of Hibbing, the prevailing mood was that the selection of Bob Dylan for a Nobel Prize in Literature would generate a renewed interest in Dylan's significant body of work. In my case, however, there has also been a counter-current set in motion, a renewed interest in other prize-winners, especially recent authors with whom I've not yet been familiar.

As I explored the Nobel Prize website, especially the list of literary winners, it was gratifying to see how many of this writers I'd already become familiar with by having read some of their work. This week I enjoyed taking time to read many of their acceptance speeches or Nobel Lectures, and after a while found myself wishing to share a few. After further consideration I thought it might be fun to make a game of it.

WHO SAID IT?
Below I've listed ten quotes, excerpts from various Nobel Laureates in Literature. There is a list of names at the end, each one hot-linked to their respective acceptance speeches, or in two instances their Nobel lectures. 

Instructions: Take a sheet of paper and number it from one to ten. You can probably figure out what to do after that. The answers will be posted in a future blog post in the next day or two.

MATCH THE WRITERS TO THEIR SPEECHES

1.

Pearl Buck

I wish, in this address, to consider certain trends, certain dangers, and certain high and exciting promises in present-day American literature. To discuss this with complete and unguarded frankness - and I should not insult you by being otherwise than completely honest, however indiscreet - it will be necessary for me to be a little impolite regarding certain institutions and persons of my own greatly beloved land.

2.
Every man, and for stronger reasons, every artist, wants to be recognized. So do I. But I have not been able to learn of your decision without comparing its repercussions to what I really am. A man almost young, rich only in his doubts and with his work still in progress, accustomed to living in the solitude of work or in the retreats of friendship: how would he not feel a kind of panic at hearing the decree that transports him all of a sudden, alone and reduced to himself, to the centre of a glaring light?

3.
All human activity is prompted by desire. There is a wholly fallacious theory advanced by some earnest moralists to the effect that it is possible to resist desire in the interests of duty and moral principle. I say this is fallacious, not because no man ever acts from a sense of duty, but because duty has no hold on him unless he desires to be dutiful. If you wish to know what men will do, you must know not only, or principally, their material circumstances, but rather the whole system of their desires with their relative strengths.

4.
To profess my own unworthiness would be to cast doubt upon the wisdom of the Academy; to praise the Academy might suggest that I, as a literary critic, approved the recognition given to myself as a poet. May I therefore ask that it be taken for granted, that I experienced, on learning of this award to myself, all the normal emotions of exaltation and vanity that any human being might be expected to feel at such a moment, with enjoyment of the flattery, and exasperation at the inconvenience, of being turned overnight into a public figure?

5.
Writing, at its best, is a lonely life. Organizations for writers palliate the writer's loneliness but I doubt if they improve his writing. He grows in public stature as he sheds his loneliness and often his work deteriorates. For he does his work alone and if he is a good enough writer he must face eternity, or the lack of it, each day... For a true writer each book should be a new beginning where he tries again for something that is beyond attainment. He should always try for something that has never been done or that others have tried and failed. Then sometimes, with great luck, he will succeed.

6.

Andre Gide

It seems to me, gentlemen, that your votes were cast not so much for my work as for the independent spirit that animates it, that spirit which in our time faces attacks from all possible quarters. That you have recognized it in me, that you have felt the need to approve and support it, fills me with confidence and an intimate satisfaction.

7.
I accept, too, for my country, the United States of America. We are a people still young and we know that we have not yet come to the fullest of our powers. This award, given to an American, strengthens not only one, but the whole body of American writers, who are encouraged and heartened by such generous recognition. https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1938/buck-speech.html

8. 
Since Alfred Nobel died in 1896 we have entered an age of storm and tragedy. The power of man has grown in every sphere except over himself. Never in the field of action have events seemed so harshly to dwarf personalities. Rarely in history have brutal facts so dominated thought or has such a widespread, individual virtue found so dim a collective focus. The fearful question confronts us; have our problems got beyond our control?

9.

Albert Camus

It seemed as if the ancient world lay all about us with its freedom of imagination, its delight in good stories, in man's force and woman's beauty, and that all we had to do was to make the town think as the country felt; yet we soon discovered that the town could only think town thought... In the town, where everybody crowds upon you, it is your neighbor not yourself that you hate and, if you are not to embitter his life and your own life, perhaps even if you are not to murder him in some kind of revolutionary frenzy, somebody must teach reality and justice. You will hate that teacher for a while, calling his books and plays ugly, misdirected, morbid or something of that kind, but you must agree with him in the end.

10. 
My health has always been delicate, and I have been left a permanent invalid by the afflictions of the years since 1933 that have destroyed my life's work and have again and again burdened me with heavy duties. But my mind has not been broken, and I feel akin to you and to the idea that inspired the Nobel Foundation, the idea that the mind is international and supra-national, that it ought to serve not war and annihilation, but peace and reconciliation.

* * * *

I enjoy making games and quizzes. In fact, my first published article for which I was paid was titled, "Make A Game Of It." ($20, before taxes.)

During our annual Duluth Dylan Fest I also assemble the Dylan Trivia Contest that opens the week at Carmody's each year.

HERE IS YOUR LIST OF AUTHORS TO MATCH QUOTES TO. GOOD LUCK!

W.B. Yeats -- Bertrand Russell -- Pearl S. Buck -- Herman Hesse 

Sinclair Lewis -- T.S. Elliot -- Albert Camus

Sir Winston Churchill -- Ernest Hemingway --  Andre Gide

* * * * 
Was it entertaining? What did you learn? 

The Big Nine

When I think of the number 9, the Beatles' White Album comes first to mind, and specifically side four, Revolution #9. "Number 9, number 9, number 9." If you're older, you may recall the strange notion that Paul had been killed which got circulated based on clues from these later Beatles albums. For example, at the end of Strawberry Fields Forever (Magical Mystery Tour) you can clearly hear the phrase, "I buried Paul" in that weird exit ditty that feels like a receding train.

The rumor was that by playing Revolution #9 backwards on a turntable you could hear another of the clues. This was back when stereo turntables could actually be rotated backwards. And when I did this, the repeated phrase "Number 9, number 9, number 9" transmogrified into "Turn me on dead man." Or at least that is what it sounded like to me. How did they do that?

When I think of the number nine I also think of golf. Are we planning to play the front nine or the back nine this weekend? I dunno. I'm not the biggest golf aficionado, but I do strive to get in two rounds a year, once with my brothers and once in the company's annual golf outing, which happens to be coming up next week... which means I'd better get a few practice swings in soon.

Today's Big Nine has nothing to do with the Beatles or with golf. Instead it refer to nine authors whose work has repeatedly reached the top slot on the #1 New York Times Bestseller List. Before I spill the beans, who would you say are the top nine best selling authors of our time?

This particular list only covers the first half century of #1 bestsellers, from 1942-1992. And, for the record, being a bestselling author should not be confused with being a "great" writer. At least that is what John Updike stated in one of his interviews a few years before he died. Updike felt that authors who consistently produce pop hits are good at what they do, but the great writers take risks, and pop writers aim for the vast middle. Or maybe the great writers touch themes which are too hot for the masses to immerse themselves in too deeply?

To be a bestselling author requires knowing how to write, but also involves being connected to a publishing house. This year one million books will be published, primarily due to electronic publishing and publish on demand technologies. My guess, though, is that the bestsellers will continue to be published by places like Random House and McGraw Hill whose deep pockets and established distribution systems put their books in high profile locations at the bricks and mortar establishments that remain the bread and butter of the industry. Sure, Kindles are selling like hotcakes, but there's still a lot of us who would rather curl up with a good book than with a gizmo.

So, the Big Nine... the nine authors with more weeks at #1 than another other writers of their time. These nine authors accounted for 73 #1 bestsellers, or 14% of all #1 bestsellers from '42 to '92.

Stephen King

James Michener

Danielle Steele

Robert Ludlum

John Le Carre

Sydney Sheldon

Bob Woodward

Daphne Du Maurier

Tom Clancy

I guess you can't argue with success.

For most of these writers it isn't "literary value" that built their following, but that they had each established themselves as a brand. Their works had brand identity, and it made them easy to market. Stephen King: horror/suspense. James Michener: deeply researched pop epic. No one is hoping for romance fiction when they reach for Tom Clancy.

Hot Tip: If you are an artist, or musician, or writer seeking pop acclaim (i.e. wealth and fame): identify and strengthen your brand, crank out a lot of product, and get connected.

It's all just trivia. Something to think about as you enter the weekend.... Hope yours is a good one.

Playing For Pizza

His books have sold over 250 million copies. For this reason alone literary critics might be unable to call him a "great" writer. His work is simply too accessible, too readable, too much fun. In point of fact, he knows how to tell a story that connects so as to keep readers fully engaged.

I've read a few Grisham books, his claim to fame being the legal thriller genre. Who doesn't enjoy this genre made famous by Erle Stanley Gardner's Perry Mason? Scott Turow's Presumed Innocent is likewise gripping, and dripping with the legal drama that keeps pages turning.

So it took me by surprise to find Grisham tackling the subject of Italian football. What's more, the story begins with the Cleveland Browns, my first and only love in football, though the central character's a quarterback whose claim to fame is as Cleveland's greatest goat, not star. (Echoes of Ernest Byner, for whom I momentarily feel pity.) In fact, the poor Rick Dockery is possibly the NFL's greatest goat. At least that is the reputation he earns as his prima dona quarterback lifestyle crashes beneath a heap of linebackers.

And finally, the clincher event that made passing on the book near impossible... it takes place in the vicinity of some people I have recently begun to fall in love with, in Northern Italy. This statement needs further embellishment.

Earlier this may I received an unexpected email from Mario Monasterolo, who it turns out has become utterly fascinated with capturing the history of his region. Of special interest are the personal stories of old timers whose memories reflect the rich vast past in ways that history books often fail to capture.

Through our correspondence I learned that Mario had been utterly fascinated with my father-in-law's book, especially as it touched upon Italy, because of the unpretentious and down-to-earth observations of an young man with fresh eyes who recorded his impressions without an eye to impressing editors, but simply for his passion of preserving memories.

A brief introduction to Mario: When I was about forty, I began working as a professional in a new and growing sector of our region: historic-cultural heritage safeguard, and its promotion through tourism. I got in strong touch with our wonderful territory on a regional scale and I got to know its history from the point of view of the smaller towns. Torino and Piemonte were industrial areas (they are still now) which had forgotten their past. Cultural heritage was considered of little importance till twenty years ago: now it’s enjoying growing attention, tourism is growing, too, also thanks the Olympic Winter Games 2006, and Piemonte is considered a national leader as far as safeguard and promotion of cultural heritage are concerned. Not ‘cause of me, naturally! I’m just a very small... ant!

Well, this is one "ant" we have grown to love, and certainly he is one more reason we're falling in love with Italy.

John Grisham fell in love with Italy, too. He was doing research in Bologna for a 2005 thriller caller The Broker, and whether it was the food, the wine, the countryside or the whole mix, his heart had been stolen.

This is not the book I expected. And the impression I get is that the food, the music, the charm of the people, the Italian countryside you experience if you ever get a chance to go will exceed anything your imagination attempts to conjure up if you get a chance to take in this boot-shaped land that plunges deep into the Mediterranean. I challenge anyone to read this book without a longing for the food Grisham so wonderfully describes when our hero Rick Dockery first discovers the cuisine of Parma.

What a great world! Still so many treasures to discover.

Here's an excerpt from Amazon.com's interview with John Grisham about his book Playing for Pizza.

Q: American football in Italy seems like an unlikely subject for a John Grisham novel. What was the inspiration for Playing for Pizza?
A: Three years ago when I was in Bologna researching "The Broker", I discovered American football. One of my guides in the area played football for the Bologna Warriors for 10 years. I couldn't believe that American football actually existed there, but the more I heard about it the more intrigued I became.
Q: There is some great football writing in this novel. What kind of research was involved in capturing how this American institution is played in small town Italy?
A: The only way to research the book was to go to Parma and watch a game. The coach is an American who played at Illinois State, and he proved to be extremely valuable. I met many of the Italian players and the story simply unfolded.
Q: Speaking of research, you write lovingly of Italian food and wine in this book. What's your idea of the perfect Italian meal?
A: First course: prosicutto and melon; second course: stuffed tortellini; third course: roasted stuffed capon, all served with a great Barolo wine.

Well, check it out if it's in your library. I listened to the unabridged audio version and just finished two hours ago. I think you can tell I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Photos of green Italian hills courtesy Mario Monasterolo. Click to enlarge.

Ten Minutes with Ellen Sandbeck

My wife Susie met Ellen Sandbeck first through pottery classes at the Depot here in Duluth. At some point along the way our families became intertwined and our friendship continues to this day. Ellen and Walt have been part of our Philosophy Club four years and we get together for on special occasions at times. Their kids and ours were of similar ages, and both families seemed to appreciate the creative energy and values found in the other. And I always have high regard for productive writer friends whose work has found its way into print.

When we first met, both our families lived in the neighborhood of Duluth’s Central Hillside. Eventually, both our families moved to the country. Susie grew up on a farm and needed the wide open spaces, and the Sandbecks are consummate gardeners. Back to nature is no fad with Walt and Ellen.

The following interview was stimulated by a desire to share Ellen’s wit and perhaps help increase awareness for her books.

enny: You started out as more of an artist. How did you become interested in writing?
Ellen: I was recruited by a non-profit environmental group that wanted me to write a booklet about non-toxic housekeeping and gardening--one of our landscaping clients belonged to the group, and volunteered me for the job before telling me about it! I had 15 years’ worth of notes that I’d been compiling about organic landscaping, and the “booklet” turned into a book which I named “Slug Bread & Beheaded Thistles; Amusing and Useful Techniques for Nontoxic Housekeeping and Gardening.”

enny: You illustrated books for the Dover Series. What kinds of things did you learn from that experience?
Ellen: Those books contained hundreds of images, so I was essentially paid to practice and improve my technique. I learned that no matter how many people love an image, it doesn’t matter if the owner of the company doesn’t get it. Also, it is a bad idea to have one’s work space in the middle of the living room, where one’s finished product is vulnerable to the predations of crayon-happy toddlers and coffee-toting guests.

enny: How would you describe your writing style, not the end product, but the process?
Ellen: My writing process... come up with an idea for a project that requires a lot of research; attempt to write a proposal that a publishing company will be interested in; endure ridicule and derision caused by my glaring incompetence at writing proposals; hire a friend to write the proposal; submit proposal to my agent; wait for contract, which is almost inevitably too short for the proposed project; nearly work myself to death meeting the deadline (They don’t call them deadlines for nothing. My last one was actually more of a “drop-deadline.”); wait for the editor’s suggested revisions; make revisions, send manuscript back; wait anxiously to hear those magic words: “Your manuscript has been accepted;” wait for check. OR, alternately, wait to hear that the manuscript has been rejected, then try to figure out how to raise the money to self-publish.

enny: You began by self-publishing a book on growing worms. What did you learn from this experience?
Ellen: Actually, I began by writing Slug Bread & Beheaded Thistles, see question #1. We are still producing copies of “Laverme’s Handbook of Indoor Vermicomposting.”

enny: How did you get your first contract with a New York Publisher?
Ellen: Let’s see... I self-published Slug Bread & Beheaded Thistles, sold the entire first printing of 3,000 copies, then had to do another printing in order to pay off the loan for the first printing. Cartons of books take up a lot of room, by the way. We stored them in our hallway. (It’s a long story. See question #1. It was supposed to be paid for by the environmental group. I got screwed.) I sold a total of about 10,000 books, paid off my loan, made a profit, and after about three years thought that the book was winding down and dying a natural death, when suddenly, out of the blue, I got a phone call from a literary agent in New York City. I thought at first that the call was a hoax, because I hadn’t sent anything to an agent. I kept waiting for my husband’s friend Bob to quit talking in a falsetto and laugh at me. (He’d done this to me many times.) But it turned out that the woman on the other end of the line was really a literary agent in New York City. She said that she’d bought a copy of Slug Bread at a garden center on Long Island, and was wondering whether I’d be interested in having her represent me because she thought she could sell the book to a big publisher. Then she said: “You don’t have to make a decision now. We can hang up and you can think about it and call me back.” I thought that was uproariously funny: “Yeah right! What decision? No, I don’t want to make money? No, I don’t want to get published?” I had to expand the book a bit, because the original version was only 80 pages long, and when I was done, my agent held an auction for the book because eight publishers were interested. Broadway/Doubleday had the winning bid. I am very lucky to be represented by the best literary agent in the entire universe.

enny: You are currently on your fourth book? What is the “working title” and what’s it about?
Ellen: I submitted the manuscript for my fourth book to Scribner on August 31, 2008. I made my deadline by one day. I’m still doing the back and forth revisions with my editor. The working title is “Green Barbarians; How to Live Bravely On Your Home Planet.” I’m not sure whether the publisher will go for that title, but I’m hoping!

enny: I loved the look and feel of your first two books, Slug Bread and Beheaded Thistles and Eat More Dirt. Your creativity spills out in so many ways. Do you like writing more or making art?
Ellen: Making art is much more fun, but writing pays better.

enny: What ways of promoting your books have you found most effective?
Ellen: Readers’ word of mouth. Giving talks.

enny: What advice would you give to someone just starting out as a writer?

Ellen: Unless you are already famous, it is very, very difficult to pique the interest of a publisher or an agent. Publishers very rarely read anything that is unagented, and agents are not interested in authors who are not already published. I think that one of the only ways around this Catch-22 is to self-publish. I usually give aspiring writers the same advice: Produce a manuscript that you really love and really believe in, pay a really good editor to edit it, then self-publish. (If you don’t believe in your book strongly enough to put your own money on the line to publish it, why should anyone else?) After your cartons of books arrive, send out review copies to local newspapers and bookstores, contact your local Barnes & Noble or other large bookseller, ask for the contact information for the regional buyer, then send a copy to the buyer. Pray for good reviews.

enny: What are you working on now? And what would you work on next if you knew you could not fail?
Ellen: I am still working on the revisions of, and illustrations for, Green Barbarians. If I knew I could not fail? I would work on women’s and children’s rights issues in repressive, patriarchal countries. I think misogyny is the root of all evil.

ennyman: Thanks, Ellen!

Roadmap to Lifelong Recovery: Interview with John Prin

Yesterday I met with long time friend and author John Prin to talk about books, writing, life and his newly released The Roadmap to Lifelong Recovery: Tested Strategies to Overcome Addiction and Avoid Relapse.

John and his wife Susie are residents of Edina, Minnesota, where John went to high school. I met John in a writer’s group in 1982 or '83. When I first became serious about my own writing career, John helped me learn the ropes, served as somewhat of a mentor and a friend. John is founder of True You Recovery, a business devoted to helping people overcome addictions. He and his twin brother Dave also teach courses on happiness.

Their father was a popular 1950’s Twin Cities musician who hosted or performed on several Minneapolis TV shows on WCCO including the very popular Uncle Toby’s Talent Hour, a 90 minute Saturday morning variety show. The show featured 4th graders to high school students in a format that was a cross between Ed Sullivan and Art Linkletter’s kids program.

Our interview took place at Hinckley’s Grand Casino, a midpoint between the Twin Cities where John resides, and my place here outside Duluth. The time flew fast, as it always does when friends reunite. Here below I’ve transcribed the formal part of our discussion.

enny: How old were you when people first noticed you had an aptitude for writing?
JP: I would say a senior in high school. I had the most amazing lit teacher… Everett Anderson… he drew it out of me like water. Robin Williams type of teacher (Dead Poets Society) Every day a circus… everybody had to stand up and recite…. Chaucer, Shakespeare, a sonnet…. A fantastic teacher. I think it was many years later when people recognized I had a talent…. Mid-forties … Started to publish essays and short articles, personal articles of which I have published ten or twenty.

enny: Who or what was the biggest influence in pushing you into a writing career?
JP: Ev Anderson, unquestionably. Some of the really good movies of the day… I would think, “Who writes this stuff?” I wish I could say it was one great novelist but it wasn’t.

enny: How did you become interested in addiction counselling?
JP: Of course I was addicted myself. I drank for thirty years, and for the last fifteen years I drank I was addicted and I had to hide it. I came to a spiritual crisis in my life where I would have to die with it or live without it. It was not blocking God’s love toward me, but was blocking my openness to God. Without AA I couldn’t stop on my own. The first word in AA is WE. Went from I-solated drinker to the community of people who have found sobriety. In finding sobriety through AA, which happened immediately, my openness to God and all that came with it occurred. Gratitude, fulfillment, growth, satisfaction… so I know I am finally on the path I am supposed to be on in my life.

As a professional I had been sober for two years and a friend asked about going into counseling, … and got the message that this is for me, and within a month I was enrolled in professional training to become an addiction counselling.

enny: Your first two books were Stolen Hours and Secret Keeping: Overcoming Hidden Habits and Addictions. Which was the hardest to write and why?
JP: I would say my second book, Secret Keeping. Does writing one book help you write the next? Only slightly. Each book is different. The hard work was taking Secret Keeping, book two, and doing all the research concerned. I read over 1000 articles on secret keeping, power differentials, etc. scientific literature… synthesis of many points of view from philosophy to science to psychology to spirituality…. It was a much more complex tapestry.

enny: Any advice you would give to others who decide to leave their job to pursue their passion?
JP: Write the book first and get to the final page before you quit your job. Getting the book written and re-written and edited is only half the work. Getting people to read it is the other half of the work. Getting people to sit down and read it, or make them aware it is there… You have to be involved in both parts. So for most of us it's two jobs… one 9-5 job to make money to pay the bills and then the second job as a writer.

Also, you have to find the format that really works for you. I worked too many years in the screen play format that was not conducive to my kind of writing. For me what works best is an inner narrative style.

enny: To whom or what do you attribute your intense, above average ambition?
JP: First, I agree with you that I am above average when it comes to ambition. The first influence was my father, indirectly. Seeing his influence on peoples’ lives as an entertainer blew my mind. We couldn’t go anywhere in Minneapolis without people coming up to him and saying “Oh I loved when you played that song” or things like that. I saw early on the impact he made on the masses.

Then, I had four near death, out of body experiences by the time I was 24. When you have these out of body experiences, three in water - lakes or the ocean - one was a car accident... None of these were planned; all completely unanticipated. You realize you’re alive for a reason. These were spiritual experiences. The first thing you know is that you are not your body. You are way more than your body. When it happens four times in the space of fifteen years, there’s a reason you’re back. It’s a big reason.

So the question is, "What is the reason?" I floundered. It’s trial and error. You have to discover it. I went through a process, very challenging… up through my forties, perhaps into my fifties. First, I thought a great novel. Then a great movie script. And then it came to me, to write the story of my life, and understand the issues there inside me. Self pity, depression, despair… How I came to experience a personal Christianity, sobriety and integrity. I don’t have to lie any more or where the mask any more.

(My life goal today is) to make the largest contribution possible to the most people to help their lives become the most they can be.

enny: You went to Hollywood for ten years when you were young and tried to make it as a screen writer. Do you still have a desire to make films? What would be your first?
JP: Yes and no. The no part is, I do not want to be the director. I would want only to be indirectly involved. One reason is the Hollywood mindset which is contaminated and corrupt.
There are some film projects (I've developed) which would be of help to a mass audience. I still believe Cora’s Rhapsody would be such a project. It's an epic struggle and triumph of the human spirit….

The one question I ask people: If you were to wake up tomorrow morning and when you opened your eyes you had ten billion dollars, what would you do for the rest of your life? If I had that, I would do Cora’s Rhapsody and some other projects. A collaborative effort with talented people… and write my novel.

enny: Isn’t some secret keeping healthy when kids are developing? How would you differentiate between healthy secrets and toxic secrets?
JP: First of all, keeping a secret is essential to becoming a human being. I have to be able to keep information to myself to protect others, or I am not a human being.

What makes a secret toxic is when you have to do it in the darkness, sneak away, to relieve something that is unresolvable.

There is at least one person here in this casino, for example, who is here hoping not to run into anyone they know, who hopes no one will see them… There is a behavioral aspect to a toxic secret that you conceal… There’s an element of criminal thinking in toxic secrets. And as soon as you act on toxic secrets you are acting against who you were meant to be, against life itself.

enny: Your third and latest book is called Roadmap to Lifelong Recovery. What was the impetus behind this book and how does it differ from the others?
JP: People can get sober from gambling, alcoholism, drugs, but staying sober is the true challenge. Almost anyone can go on a diet for sixty or ninety days and lose a lot of pounds, but can they maintain a lifestyle where they are disciplined?

enny: I notice that the diagram on the cover is a map of the U.S. and the road map goes from the West Coast to the East Coast. Was this deliberate? Or just something that happened?
JP: It’s only because we read from left to right. The concept is not because we go from the west to the east… Life is a journey with deadends, detours or ditches. The more we avoid deadends, detours and ditches, the less likely we will relapse.

Why do people with diabetes relapse? They don’t follow directions. They know what they have to do. It’s a journey that takes time… you have to determine where you want to go. The southern route, middle route, northern route… You have to plan, map out your roadmap.

John Prin and his brother Dave have been teaching courses on happiness.

JP: I’ve been sober 12 and a half years. The one thing I have learned most is to accept the present moment for being what it is. When I do not, I end up in a negative state that I have put myself in. That puts me at odds with the moment and others. That’s where stress comes from. That’s where anger comes from.

The Third Man

Completed Graham Greene's The Third Man. Story of racketeering and murder in post war Vienna. The real story is about heroes and disillusionment. Very interesting how Greene's main character (a writer) is made to see things through the distorted lens of his hero worship -- and later, while speaking to fans of his own, the misunderstandings that occur because they worship him. A very funny moment in this otherwise dark story. Greene is masterful at painting with darks and shadows.

Journal note, Dec. 21, 1993

Greene is one of the great writers of our century. His works deserve to be read, ought to be required reading for any literate person. His autobiography (A Sort Of Life, I believe it called) reveals a brooding man with intense inner conflicts. A frequent event in his life is a game of solitary Russian Roulette with a loaded pistol. It is not a pretty portrait, but out of this tortured dungeon of self comes a world class writer whose works have tremendous power and dignity.

His characters themselves are usually complicated, world weary travellers on life's road, hard pressed by their circumstances, thus brought into situations that explore the deeper depths of the soul. What do we find at the heart of a man when we strip everything else away? When we pick at the scabs, what do we see? What is here worth preserving? His perceptive probing and vivid prose at times create amazing and memorable epiphanies.

Recommended readings: The Power and the Glory, The Heart of the Matter, A Burnt-Out Case, The Tenth Man, The Quiet American, The End of the Affair, Orient Express, The Comedians and of course The Third Man. (I have read all these and more.) You will not regret reading this writer, wherever you begin.

Woody Allen

Reading portions of Woody Allen’s book Side Effects & reflecting on his movies. Allen addresses and incorporates the serious questions of life & meaning, and while making humor/jokes, etc. Although some find it irreverent, is he not, at least, raising the questions? The “heavy question” or “profound thought” is a regular feature of his humor, as are his countless references to classic literature.

Perhaps this is the only way modern man can toy with these ideas. Allen, then, is the genius who has managed, more successfully than many preachers, to confront modern man with a true sense of his situation. Why am I here? Why do we do the things we do?
August 1, 1993

A few Woody Allen quotes to give a taste of his flavor:

"Eternal nothingness is fine if you happen to be dressed for it."

"If only God would give me some clear sign! Like making a large deposit in my name at a Swiss bank."

"Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons."

"I'm astounded by people who want to 'know' the universe when it's hard enough to find your way around Chinatown."

"It is impossible to experience one's death objectively and still carry a tune."

"There are worse things in life than death. Have you ever spent an evening with an insurance salesman?"

"I'm not afraid to die, I just don't want to be there when it happens."

"I don't believe in the after life, although I am bringing a change of underwear."

How to Teach Writing to Young People

A few years ago I had the privilege of participating in a workshop for coaches of youth soccer led by Buzz Lagos, head coach of the Minnesota Thunder, a professional soccer team. Coach Lagos showed us all kinds of neat games that we could have our kids play to help them learn basic skills. It was a fun experience and one in which I learned a lot.

At the end of the evening he conducted a highly informative question and answer period. One attendee asked a key question that has across the board applications for all teachers or instructors. He asked “What skill level should we be expecting eight and ten year old soccer players to be at?” The answer surprised me, but then made perfect sense. Coach Lagos replied, “You should not even be thinking about skill levels at that age. What you want is for every child to learn the rules and enjoy the game.”

The coach’s reply demonstrated his love for the game. Buzz Lagos also showed a deep understanding that if the children do not enjoy playing, they will not apply themselves to mastering its fundamental skills. Instead of laying heavy expectations on eight and ten year old kids, let them simply have fun. (This was how I developed my skills in baseball as a boy, and later as a young artist.)

I believe this is exactly what our children need when it comes to learning basic skills like reading and writing. If we can somehow foster a love of reading, and an enjoyment creative self-expression with words, we have done a remarkable thing. To give our children a love of learning, a love of reading, and the enjoyment of self-expression through writing and art... what a wonderful gift!

I may be wrong, but I have always believed that children are filled with an innate desire to learn, to create, to explore, and to express themselves. In other words, they begin life with natural motivation. Our role, then, is not to attempt to motivate, but rather to avoid quenching this natural motivation. Here’s an example of how to kill the love of reading. Recently, my wife was at someone’s home when an argument erupted between the two children regarding what to watch on television. The father, infuriated, resolved the matter by punishing the one in the following manner: “Go upstairs and read a book.” Yikes! Reading as punishment is hardly the way to foster a love of reading!

Perhaps one day I will finish my book of exercises for training young people to become better and more interesting writers. In the meantime, take these words to heart. If your children have a passion for self-expression, whether through art, music or the written word, rejoice. Encourage. And worry about technique later. You never know where it will lead.

Recommended Readings

The two greatest influences on our lives are the people we meet and the books we read. Here is a short list of thought provoking or entertaining recent readings.

(1) Relativism ~ by Francis Beckwith & Gregory Koukl
(2) The Death of Common Sense: How Law Is Suffocating America ~ by Philip Howard
(3) The Long Tail ~ by Chris Anderson
(4) False Presence of the Kingdom ~ by Jacques Ellul
(5) Bias ~ by Bernard Goldberg
(6) Blinded by the Right ~ David Brock
(7) Closing of the American Mind ~ by Allan Bloom
(8) The World Is Flat ~ by Thomas Friedman
(9) A Bend in the River ~ V.S. Naipaul
(10) Mere Christianity ~ C.S. Lewis

(Bonus Recommendation) Boogers Are My Beat ~ by Dave Barry

Markings

"We cannot afford to forget any experience, not even the most painful." ~ Dag Hammarskjold

Hammarskjold was the first Secretary-General of the United Nations. His book, Markings, is a collection of notes, poems, philosophical musings, insights on life and the challenges of being human in the modern world.

I discovered Hammarskjold in June 1993. Of his book I wrote in my own journal, "an honest, deep 'picking at the scabs' trying to understand the mysteries of injury and healing, pain and meaning. And good writing, too." And later I referred to it as a "treasure chest filled with gold pieces."

Here are two more "gold pieces" for today from Hammarskjold:

"Never look down to test the ground before taking your next step: only he who keeps his eye fixed on the far horizon will find his right road."

"Never measure the height of a mountain, until you have reached the top. Then you will see how low it was."

Thank you Mr. Hammarskjold for your service to humanity and for having shared this book of deeply personal and profound insights.