Andre Dubus III Talk

     On Wednesday October 24th, Andre Dubus III held a discussion at O'Leary 222 on South Campus at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Andre Dubus III is an accomplished local writer who grew up in the city of Haverhill not too far from my hometown of Methuen. His essays and novels have earned him several national awards. For instance his novel "House of Sand and Fog" was a finalist for the National Book Award, selected to be in Oprah's Book Club, and was a New York Times #1 bestseller. Some of his works were also featured in "The Best American Essays of 1994". Dubus was also awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship which is awarded to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year the foundation receives between 3,500 and 4,000 applications but only accepts around 200. Andre Dubus III is now a full time faculty member at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, and just recently in 2011 has written a memoir called "Townie."

    The discussion Andre Dubus III was holding at O'Leary 222 was about his recently written memoir "Townie." Heading into the auditorium I was hoping that this wouldn't take long to be over. To my surprise the longer I was there listening to him, the longer I wanted to stay there and listen to him. He was much different in person than I thought he would be, especially since he didn't act like your average university professor. He spoke to us students, and also other professors who attended, the same as he would to anyone he's known for a while. I suppose that this could be because we already know his life story from reading the "Townie", and that made him feel comfortable being honest towards us. 

     Once he began speaking I quickly realized that the discussion he planned on having wasn't just about his book, but about life. It was a discussion to grow and connect with people who grew up in the same area, under the same conditions regardless of age or status. He started by reading a passage from the book and talking about it for a brief moment. Ironically, immediately after talking about his book, he explained how much he hates book tours and can very easily grow tired of hearing himself speak and try to be a salesman.This is when I became engaged in everything he was talking about.

     One thing that Andre Dubus taught me was that even though he is an established award winning writer and a university professor, that doesn't necessarily mean that he is successful. He told us that success isn't what many of us think it is. It is not about doing something just for the money, and doing things you know you will get recognized for. Being successful is about doing something that your good at that makes you happy. He said "some people who make a lot of money try to tell themselves they're happy because they walk around with a bigger paycheck than everyone else, when really they wish they could be doing something else." He then followed that by saying "if you don't do what you love you will be dead before your dead", and that message really stuck to me. I thought about that with my own major and realized that I made the right choice. I'm happy with what I'm doing for a career path.

     Dubus made us know that writing was the correct choice for him. He told us that writing a novel is like planting a seed; you start it but you don't know whats going to come out of it. Dubus claims that when he began writing this book he had no intention of including any of his family members in it, until he took it to a publisher where they asked. Surprisingly the whole book ended up being about his family, and to my surprise again he said that writing about his family was the hardest part. 

     Andre Dubus talked about how this book almost had not come into existence because he didn't want it to affect anybody in his family's lives. He asked the question to himself "am I trying to hurt anybody by writing this" and the only way he'd write it is if he answered no to that question. He was scared to approach each member of his family about the book after word had gotten out and was shocked by the reactions he got from his brother, sisters, and mother. Writing about his brother's suicidal thoughts and attempts he thought that his brother would never speak to him again. Very humorously he said his brother only asked that it be put in the end of the book that he's not a screw up anymore. His sister on the other hand is proud of Andre for writing but refuses to read it so she wont have to remember. The biggest shock came from his mother. He said when he approached his mother about it he was driving her in his truck, and his stomach was tied in knots. Then suddenly she grabbed his wrist and said "dont you dare not write this story because of me", and followed by saying "I'm too old to give a crap anyway." Andre was telling us this because he wanted to share a big moment in his life so that we'd feel more comfortable talking about ours.

     The part of Andre's discussion that grabbed my attention most was when he said "I'm surprised my father even got into the book", when the majority of what he wrote about was his father and how he was never there for him. Andre explained how if his father wasn't dead he would have never written this book. While writing it he remembered how much his dad meant to him after all of the hurt and misery he had put him through. He told us that "memory is obstructed to what's important to us" and what was the most important to him was his father. That's why the book became sort of like a father-son story, where almost the entire book was a conversation he never had with his father. Again he claimed that he wouldn't have written the book if he thought it would hurt one of his family members, and that by writing it he didn't want to damage his father's works and relationships.

   


  For the majority of the discussion students were allowed to ask Andre questions, and I picked up on that when answering them Andre usually referenced to his father without knowing. He told us how writing was his way of life because that's what connected him with his father and what he always loved to do."Art is a way of transferring feeling from the writer to the reading" is a quote that Dubus kept emphasized when talking about his memoir.

     Sadly I had to leave this discussion a few minutes early for one of my night classes on North Campus. The last thing I heard Andre Dubus say was "Do the best you can do, not the best you know how to do." What he meant by saying this is that do the best you can do, don't just do what you know you can do. Go beyond what you think your limits are, and surprise yourself just like he did with his memoir "Townie". I really got a lot out of hearing Andre Dubus III speak, and it was interesting hearing a college professor/author approach his audience the way he did. I'm definitely going to the next talk Dubus has on campus. 
     

Kerouac Literary Festival

     From October 10th to October 14th of every year Lowell hosts the annual Kerouac Literary Festival. During the five days that the festival was in town I had the privilege to attend two events. The "Beat Generation" play on Saturday night at the Merrimack Repertory Theater and the "Sunset on Jacks Bridge" on University Ave right outside North Campus Sunday evening. Jack Kerouac is an author and poet native to the city of Lowell and is highly recognized for novels such as "On the Road", "Dr. Sax", and "Big Sur". His style of writing was unique and spontaneous, covering a wide variety of subjects that include spirituality, Buddhism, sex, drugs, jazz, poverty and travel. He along with two other men, William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, are credited with starting the "Beat Generation", which ultimately led to the Hippie Movement. Despite helping establish the Hippie Generation Kerouac opposed some of their radical political values. Sadly Jack Kerouac died in 1969 at 49 years old from internal bleeding due to long term alcohol abuse. Now we have this wonderful festival to commemorate him.

    During the weekend of the Kerouac Literary Festival I went home, which means I had to drive back to Lowell for the play. In the downtown area of Lowell there is absolutely no parking within reasonable proximity to the theater unless you get there an hour early. The neat thing about going to see the "Beat Generation" was that this was it's world premiere, and I got to be in attendance for it. Not many people have heard of this play, or heard of it as one of Kerouac's works. The reason for this is that the "Beat Generation" was found and published in 2004 despite being written by Kerouac over sixty years ago. Approaching the entrance of the theater I noticed that most of the attendees were of seniority, and were probably affected directly by several pieces of Kerouac's work. Who knows, maybe many of them even knew Jack on  personal level, and helped engage in the start of the beat generation.


     Walking into the theater the only topic being discussed was Jack Kerouac, and how admirable his works of art were. I soon realized that what captured all of these peoples imagination and hearts was how controversial his writing was, whether it was through his syntax or the subject of his writing. There was not one person who strayed from that subject of conversion...perhaps except for me. Hearing how emphatic they were speaking about him and his works made me question how my generation had wandered so far from literature. These people cherished Kerouac's works, read them willingly, and took all they could out of it. I can confidentially say that if students today were not required to read certain books for class, then the majority of them would have read "Holes" as their last book back in 7th grade. Experiencing this at the play really encouraged me to find a book that I thoroughly enjoy.



     When the play began I was a little excited to see what Jack Kerouac was all about. One of the actors hopped up on stage revealed to us that we were going to be one of the eight audiences who would witness the "Beat Generation" for the very first time. Apparently when Kerouac wrote this play, publishers forced it away and made Kerouac lock it his drawer, and to never mention it again. They said it was too much like "On the Road" so it wasn't worth being published and made into a theatrical production. Since the actors only had four days to prepare for the play instead of the usual four months, they let us know that they would constantly be carrying the scripts around with them. I thought that this would take away from the overall experience and quality of the play, but surprisingly it didn't. The actors only glanced at the script, recited the line, and executed it without any pauses or mistakes.

     As the story line of the play progressed I can see how publishers could have denied publication of this play because it was too similar to "On the Road". There were some noticeably different features to each one too though. The "Beat Generation" was about a group of friends from the 1950's who were gamblers and alcoholics. These men also struggled financially but believed that they could change their fortune in the very near future. Their plan was to go to the horse track everyday, gamble away their money, and earning more than they ever thought possible. As you may have already guessed, this plan did not work well and they didn't make nearly enough to get them out of debt. After this they carried on with their lives as they always did, with no motive, just alcohol and gambling. Towards the end of the play the group meets a Bishop, and begin to question what the real meaning of life is and the true meaning of their existence on Earth. Just like in "On the Road", the characters are spiritually lost in the world and go on with each day trying to gain wealth and raise their social status.

     The second event of the Kerouac Literary Festival I attended was the "Sunset on Jack's Bridge" on Sunday the 14th. This took place on the bridge right outside of North Campus. This event consisted primarily of people who knew the Kerouac family or Jack himself. A few of them were still hippies, wearing unbuttoned shirts with long gray hair down to their shoulders. Others were well dressed and appeared to be authors themselves. 

     While I was there a few people read their favorite pieces and lines of Jack's literature, then said a few prayers about him. Once everything that wanted to be said was said, everybody was given a white flower to throw over the bridge in remembrance of Jack. As we launched the flowers into the river everyone yelled "for Jack!" or "Jack Kerouac!". Almost immediately after all the flowers had been thrown I saw a watermelon go flying over the fence, exploding on the rocks in the river. Apparently a character in one of Jack's books actually throws a watermelon over that exact bridge. 

     The most interesting part of the tribute on the bridge was meeting a man named Larry Myers. Larry claims that he knew Jack, and is very good friends with the family still. Supposedly Jack's brother in law from California is extremely wealthy and is paying Larry to write a story about Jack for a good chunk of money. Although this does seem true I have yet to research if Larry is actually a published author. I will try to find some time to check that out soon.

     Overall my experience at the Kerouac Literary Festival was an interesting one. It was very unique to see one of Kerouac's plays on its world premiere after being locked away in his drawer for over sixty years. I learned a lot about what times were like back in the 1950's, and how much Jack still means to the city of Lowell. The experience's I gained from this excursion have also helped me rediscover the joy of reading. I've actually started to read "Angela's Ashes" by Frank McCourt not too long ago. It's hard to believe that some things Jack wrote about that changed the way people viewed literature throughout the world happened on the very streets outside my dorm.

Optional Excursion 1: "The Fighter"

     A few weeks ago in mid-September my "FYSH" professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell informed us about the showing of the movie "The Fighter" at the O'Leary Library on South Campus. This movie not only features two famous actors, Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale, but also plays a vital role in the city of Lowell and the history that surrounds it. After the Industrial Revolution left its mark on Lowell the city had fallen into turmoil. By the mid-1970's the population dropped by nearly twenty-thousand to 91,000 and 13% of the city's residents were unemployed. The city's industrial economy had been reduced to a much smaller scale and marginal business. The city's infrastructure and buildings were old, decaying, obsolete, and abandoned. Nothing seemed to be going right for this city and it felt as if things would remain this way for a long time to come. That's where the story behind "The Fighter" comes in. In 2000 Micky Ward, a Lowell native and professional boxer was given the chance to fly cross seas to England to take on the champ Shea Neary. In the "2000 WBU Light Welterweight Title Match" Ward was able to out duel Neary in an 8th round technical knockout which brought pride, joy, and hope to the city of Lowell.

     My excursion started off roughly as I had to walk to South Campus from my dorm at Fox Hall. I would have been ecstatic if I could have taken the bus, but neither of my roommates have classes on South Campus so we didn't know which buses went where. After the painful twenty minute walk I was relieved to walk into O'Leary and find a seat for the movie. 

     "The Fighter" not only focused on the fight against Shea Neary, but on Dicky and Micky Ward's struggles back home in Lowell. "The Fighter" illustrated the crime, drug use, and poor conditions the city was in after its economic collapse. In the movie Dicky was a very talented and successful boxer who knocked down Sugar Ray Leonard in an HBO fight, but had his career fall apart from cocaine addiction. Dicky had also been getting arrested several times, which put stress on Micky. In this movie Micky's two main concerns are his family and the city of Lowell, which he eventually has to pick between. He knew that if he ever wanted to make a name for himself he'd have to leave his mother from being his manager and brother as his trainer. Although Micky knew that this would cause conflict between his new staff and his family, he emphasizes the fact that he needs both of them in order to achieve his success.

     My favorite moment of the film comes towards the end when Micky has his title shot within reach. In the late rounds Micky is losing, but has enough heart to keep fighting on and refuses to go down. In between one of the rounds, Dicky grabs Micky and says "Are you like me? Was it just good enough to fight Sugar Ray? Never had to win, did I? You gotta do more in there. You gotta win a title. For you, for me, for Lowell. This is your time, all right? You take it. I had my time and I blew it. You don't have to. All right? You get out there, and use all the shit that you've been through, all the shit we've gone through over the years, and you put it in that ring right now. This is yours. This is yours". Those lines really emphasize how important family and Lowell meant to these two despite the harsh lives they've had to grow up with.

     After the movie we were introduced to a guest speaker who acted in the movie. This man was the police officer from the movie who was Micky's new trainer. Ironically this man played himself in the movie. Having no background with acting I was surprised at how well he performed in front of celebrities and knowing that he would be seen all around the world. He told us that his role wasn't difficult at all because all he had to do was just be himself. He then got to telling us about his experiences with Micky in real life and with Mark Wahlberg in the movie. One of his biggest points about Micky's success was about the heart that Micky had when he stepped into the ring. Other boxer's may be bigger, stronger, and even more talented but Micky always had for want in his heart and that's why he outlasted them despite getting pounded on. In a sense Micky Ward, metaphorically speaking, is Lowell. He had been struggling his whole life, but he worked hard to getting back on his feet and push forward to establish a successful career.

     Living as close to Lowell as I do, I have noticed that the city is gradually getting nicer every year that goes by. A lot of the old mill buildings are starting to be put to use again for new businesses and entrepreneurs. There's also a lot of construction and new modernized buildings being sprung up from the city, especially near the university. Obviously I don't clearly remember what Lowell looked like before Micky Ward's fight in 2000, but if Lowell was how "The Fighter" portrayed it to be, then I have to agree that Micky Ward's victory did indeed dramatically change the atmosphere of Lowell.  

     Now that my excursion's done, I just thought I'd let you know that many of my friends and family have been antagonizing me for never seeing "The Fighter" for several years now, and this excursion was actually the first time I watched "The Fighter". I feel that waiting this long actually turned out to supply a much better experience to watching "The Fighter". I got to view it for the first time in the city the movie was filmed in, and got to hear a guest speaker who played both a role in the movie and with Micky in real life. It was sort of my own special premier of the "The Fighter", and I couldn't have asked for a much better one.

The Lowell Textile Museum

     On Sunday October 7th, I went to the Lowell Textile Museum with my father. The Textile Museum's exhibits resembled a lot of the exhibits held a couple of blocks northeast at the Boot and Cotton Mills. Both museums emphasized the working conditions employees' dealt with on a daily basis and the importance of the fabric and textiles that were being produced in the mills. While the Textile Museum did have more information to offer about the history of the mills; both of the museums have equal importance to the city of Lowell, and the impact the Industrial Revolution had on it.

     Right when I walked into the Textile Museum the first thing that caught my eye was the huge bale of cotton that had a rope creeping through the ceiling above it. Some people might say I embarrassed myself when I tried to pull it, as it reached nearly one inch off the ground. The thing that was fascinating about the Textile Museum was that as you turned each corner to enter a new exhibit it felt like you were moving forward a few decades each time. The first exhibit began with what a persons living room for the 1800's looked like, along with an example of an apprentice shop, where they would train young men and women to acquire a skill. As I turned right down a thin hallway, I found myself inside of a replica general store from the 1800's. It was pretty unique seeing what people used to go to the store for then compared to what we go to the store for now.

     Exiting the general store exhibit I walked a few decades further into the era known as the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution went directly against Karl Marx's ideas of a classless society. Mill owners and overseers struck it rich while rarely stepping foot in the mills. Mill workers on the other hand, worked awful hours, in grim conditions for a very low wage. Despite Marx's ideology sounding pleasant for many people, it simply would not work in the industrial era. Nobody would want to do harder jobs for the same wage as people who do simple meaningless tasks.

     As I began walking through the Industrial Revolution exhibit, I vividly remember a blurry photo of the America's first mill of the Industrial Revolution in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. It's hard to believe that all of this history happened within a one hour radius from my house. Moving further through the Industrial Revolution exhibit Lowell started to take a major role. Lowell is infamous for having three quarters of the mill workers population being female and even more infamous for the conditions they had to work in and the wages they were paid. Surprisingly these women still managed to find time to write and publish several works of literature, and magazines. There was also a strike advertisement being shown in the exhibit to get people to stop working. The coolest part of this exhibit I thought was the bell that was created by Paul Revere. You never really think about how he was a skilled blacksmith, because of the famous midnight ride he went on when the British tried to take over America in the 1700's. We truly live in the most historical state in America.

  After I traveled through the Industrial Revolution era I arrived on the second floor of the museum. The whole left wing of the second floor was dedicated to many different varieties of beautiful clothes and fabrics. It really emphasized the amount of money invested into the textile trade, and why these mills were so successful in generating a powerful economy. The demand for beautiful clothes, fabrics, and dresses were greater than ever before with new high powered machines. Before having beautiful pieces of textile was a privilege, but now since an abundance can be made in such a short time everyone can buy them. This allowed for a larger population of people to pump money back into the economy.


 
Walking further through the second floor you walk into a modernized textile room that shows new textile technologies used in the world we live in today. For instance, on display was the 2004 USA Women's Olympic Team swimsuit from Athens, Greece. They thinness, lightweight, and shape of the swimsuit made it possible for the swimmers to shave at least a fraction of a second off of their finishing time, and in that sport a fraction of a second is huge. Another piece of textile I thought was interesting was the difference between a 1940's raincoat, and the raincoats we use today. In the 1940's raincoats would repel water by dipping the cotton in oil and creating something known as oilcloth. Nowadays rain coats are either made of nylon, polyester, and microfibers.

    Approaching the last room in the museum is where I found my personal two favorite segments of the museum. Of course one was the baseball piece, which showed how textiles were used to make the inside of a baseball. I honestly didn't know that the reason they used wool was because when the ball hits the bat, the ball becomes deformed and wraps around the bat, but the make-up of wool causes the ball to reform to its normal spherical shape and able to use again. I guess I never hit the ball hard enough to notice. My other favorite piece was the video piece right outside of the plane. It was a quick five minute movie about what was going on in the textile mills of Lowell during World War II. I remember one women mentioning how whenever a new wave of immigrants arrived they always stuck together. For instance, the Irish stuck together, the French Canadian stuck together, the Portuguese and so on. Then all of a sudden when the war broke out and everybody was the same, they were American. All of the women in the mills united and worked together to make parachutes for the paratroopers. She then explained how important it was that they got inch of the parachute right with no holes, and how they had to make the seams so tight that they would cut someone if they tried to rip it with their bare hands. They were dealing with someone's life so everything had to be right.

    So that concludes my trip to the Lowell Textile Museum, and I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially with my father. It's pretty cool to see how cities surrounding my own came about and established themselves throughout time. Seeing where we've been and where we are now is amazing. It really gets you thinking about how technology will continue to advance in the future, and what will come of it. I would without a doubt come back sometime by the end of the year to see what new exhibits and features the Textile Museum added on.

Hamilton vs Jefferson

     After personally visiting the Boot and Cotton Mills in historic downtown Lowell, and researching the topics of the Hamiltonian and Jeffersonian arguments; it is clear to me which argument I side with, despite the major flaws each posseses. After carefully fiddling through a few documents and educational articles on the subject; I found that I prefered the Hamiltonian approach to the economy, aside from the harsh laboring issues many men and women had to put up with. Although I agree with the fact that the common people and the virtue of agriculture are exremely important to a country's economy; I also feel that just that alone would not escalate the economy to the type of status and wealth needed to be a strong country.

     Previous to the Industrial Revolution many Americans were uneasy about factory work. Many "Jeffersonians" saw it as a danger that would result in a large class of dependent employees; controlled by their wealthy bosses, and forced to work under grim conditions. At this time across the Atlantic in England, the Industrial age had already begun in cities like Manchester. The Industrialization in England had created the rise of a large, poverty stricken class of unskilled workers, but had also brought in a substantial amount of wealth for the country as a whole. Many "Jeffersonians" or artisans knowing this, saw the Hamiltonian approach to the economy as a threat to their independance and their standard of living.

     Though those facts may be true, the Hamiltonian approach which states the economy weilds most of its power from industrialization is true as well. Factories and Mills brought in large portions of money and provided alot of wealth in many cities that housed those factories and mills, such as Lowell. Factories and Mills provided both men and women desperate in need of money to help their families for themselves with jobs. It also forced people to become more educated if they wanted to acheive wealth and status in America. The industrialization in America helped modernize cities, and helped us discover new technologies for ways we can out-do other countries and acheive a higher economic status. Although it did widen the gap in social classes, it did help America become one of the most powerful countries in the world.

     The mills of Lowell attracted the most attention, for they were newer, larger, and more industrial than anything America had ever seen before. Lowell even housed the first large scale textile mill in America. These mills surpassed other American mills by including new technologies such as power-loom weaving and spinning. The size, corporate structure, and urban setting of these large textile mills set the standard for subsequent industrial development in America.

     The great cost of running these machines were the mills biggest downfall. Even when the demand for the product was low the mills had to keep running. This is where all of the problems came into play. Since the market for the product simply wasnt there, and the machines had to keep running; many of the employees, if not all had to take pay cuts. In Lowell, this led to a new kind of work force that involved young women laboring in the mill. There were also other reasons contributing to the women workforce in the mills. In this day in age, women had already been employed in home textile work, and the fact that they were not expected to support their families meant they could be paid less. While working in the mills these women faced muggy conditions of getting black lung from all of the dust, and possible dangers such as getting their hair or arm caught in one of the looms; meaning they could potentially be scalped or have their arm amputated. These types treatments and conditions existed for all types of employees not just women; but it was unusual to see a women doing work outside of her own home; which industrialization had changed.

     Despite the tremendous amounts of up and downs the Industrial Revolution caused, it did bring wealth, power, and social classes over to America which in the end created a bigger, stronger economy. The growth of the Industrial Revolution in Lowell caused many immigrants to come overseas; causeing Lowell's foreign body to become almost half it's population. The city's entire population had grown enough to reach the 2nd most populated city in the state behind Boston; and in its prime hosted some of the wealthiest individuals in America; along with becoming one of the richest and "booming" cities in America. The wealth of Lowell during the Industrial Revolution allowed it to gain one step up on most cities in the world, and allowed for the building of major bridges and canal-ways; along with building the railway for use of recreation and transport, that now runs beneath Lowell High School. Without the "Hamiltonian" approach for an economy backed by powerful industrial enterprises allows a country to strengthen, and grow it's economy; and allows the country to modernize, and gain new technologies to compete with other growing countries in the world and not fall behind. The "Jeffersonian" approach of an agricultural backbone based economy would help create an even economy; but in the long run set it behind as other countries become wealthier, and obtain emerging technologies to carry on in their advancements.