Questions asked by Terry Shaw, author of the novel The Way Life Should Be.
Q: How did you decide to take this approach with the book?
A: The structure of Niagara Digressions grew out of my feeling (and growing awareness) that the older story-tellers of our culture, the grandmothers, grandfathers, uncles, and so on, were increasingly being valued less as younger family members were more engaged electronically and less inclined to spend hours listening to Grandpa “prattle” on, jumping from one story to the next, usually about the so-called old days, often stories that seemed unrelated to one another, interspersed with comments about current events, a story someone else had told, perhaps a little lie, a joke--
And my further perception of that is we are losing something of value, our common history, the sense of the places in which we live, how those are meshed with the lives of family members and our neighbors and beyond, across the nation. We are losing what we are supposed to love, what wasn’t ours to destroy in the first place. What if, I wondered, a circumstance arose where a person were asked to tell a story--and what if that person were me, because I am one of the elders now--what would I say?
Q: Describe “Niagara Digressions.”
A: Niagara Digressions is what I would have said. It’s the digressive (hence the title) extended story of specific, ordinary people living lives, as are those around them, a meditation on the nature of experiencing the world and the way our minds function when indulging in the pleasure of story-telling.
Q: How long did it take you to write? (Yes, I know you mentioned that in the author’s notes. But the readers of the website won’t have read that yet)
A: The short answer to how long it took to write is about five years, I believe. The longer answer is in the Author’s Notes of the book.
Q: Tell us about its path to publication?
A: The path to publication went through writing several or more novel manuscripts over the years, and essays, and writing poetry, getting published in what’s known as the “little mags,” and then specifically to my friend Eric Gansworth, an accomplished and successful writer, who was familiar with two things: the Niagara Digressions manuscript as it was being written, and the marketplace. As a professional writer, he knew that Starcherone Press was interested in innovative, or experimental, writing and suggested that I submit Niagara Digressions there. Because Eric had read much of my writing over a period of many years, and was witness especially to the creation of ND, he was the perfect choice to write an introduction to the book, which he has done, a thoughtful story and fine digression in its own right.
Q: I’ve called you a Rust Belt beatnick poet farmer. How would you describe yourself?
A: So I’m a Rust Belt beatnik poet farmer, huh? That ain’t bad! In terms of assigning someone to those kinds of cliche categories, it put a smile on my face. I’ve worked in the plants and factories, and have seen the wasted landscapes, the dumps, and abandoned, window-broken, falling down places, locally & nationally, industries that have sad stories to tell; I’ve appreciated the beat generation’s literary output in the aggregate (and I have a shaggy beard like all those beats in the cartoons); I’ve written poetry and participated in public poetry readings; & have done some farming, though real farmers wouldn’t, by any stretching of the word “farmer” define me as one of them.
Beyond that, I’m a person who takes pleasure in putting words together, making sentences and paragraphs, creating images, and expressing ideas that others might appreciate.
Q: What writers have inspired you?
A: Every writer I've ever read has inspired me--that may sound like a cop-out answer, but it’s true. Sometimes I’m inspired to work harder at writing, sometimes to avoid certain kinds of lousy writing. (Perhaps I embrace some kinds unknowingly.) I mentioned quite a number of writers I’ve admired in ND. Most recently I’ve admired & enjoyed the work of Julian Barnes (The Sense of an Ending), Thomas Bernhard (The Voice Imitator), and Roberto Bolano (By Night in Chile).
Q: What do you have against Shredded Wheat?
A: I have nothing against Shredded Wheat--I love it. It’s a good, down-to-earth, blue collar, staff-of-life cereal. It adapts well to being served with a variety of fruits, milk, cream, prepared with or without hot water, and so on. It’s tied up with happy childhood memories, Straight Arrow, Niagara Falls. I remember when a picture of Niagara Falls, with “Since 1892,” used to be printed on every box, inside a border with a stalk of wheat, grain still in the heads, curved at each end.
Q: Do you still consider yourself to be a first class shithead or was that just a phase?
A: It’s true that in one of the stories in Niagara Digressions I mentioned that I was “studying to be a first class shithead.” I wasn’t bragging and wouldn’t put it on a resume. I was recognizing I was being a jerk (another way of saying it) and then telling about how I tried to make amends.
Q: You write a lot about Niagara’s past. Are you optimistic about its future?
A: Yes, I write a lot about Niagara’s past, and the past generally. That old observation, “the past is prologue,” is still rich and meaningful. On a good day I experience optimism about the future of Niagara Falls in spite of all the signs indicating I’m a fool to feel that way. Because I very much value our heritage of the natural world, when I’m constantly confronted with the lack of respect it gets, then it’s tough to maintain an attitude of optimism. Let me tell you a story about that...and also about my alcoholic Grandfather & other heavy drinkers in my family, the buffalo that went over the Falls once (not that it wanted to, but during an event of “entertainment”), about my drunken Uncle Earl who embraced our Christmas tree one year, and about the shoulder blade of a deer I’ve had for over a half century.
On 17 March, 2012, Jeff Morrow sponsored a reading and book signing at the Book Corner, Niagara Falls, New York where, after being introduced by Eric Gansworth, I read that Christmas story and other selections from Niagara Digressions. That was Saint Patrick’s Day--and I’m half Irish, if that counted for anything. It was a notable date because the City of Niagara Falls had been incorporated on that day 120 years before. Those in attendance were an appreciative group, who’d been entertained by jazz & rock instrumentals performed by guitar player Tom Case at the beginning of the afternoon--and they made interesting comments, & suggestions about the web site, & asked good questions at the conclusion.
Q: How did you decide to take this approach with the book?
A: The structure of Niagara Digressions grew out of my feeling (and growing awareness) that the older story-tellers of our culture, the grandmothers, grandfathers, uncles, and so on, were increasingly being valued less as younger family members were more engaged electronically and less inclined to spend hours listening to Grandpa “prattle” on, jumping from one story to the next, usually about the so-called old days, often stories that seemed unrelated to one another, interspersed with comments about current events, a story someone else had told, perhaps a little lie, a joke--
And my further perception of that is we are losing something of value, our common history, the sense of the places in which we live, how those are meshed with the lives of family members and our neighbors and beyond, across the nation. We are losing what we are supposed to love, what wasn’t ours to destroy in the first place. What if, I wondered, a circumstance arose where a person were asked to tell a story--and what if that person were me, because I am one of the elders now--what would I say?
Q: Describe “Niagara Digressions.”
A: Niagara Digressions is what I would have said. It’s the digressive (hence the title) extended story of specific, ordinary people living lives, as are those around them, a meditation on the nature of experiencing the world and the way our minds function when indulging in the pleasure of story-telling.
Q: How long did it take you to write? (Yes, I know you mentioned that in the author’s notes. But the readers of the website won’t have read that yet)
A: The short answer to how long it took to write is about five years, I believe. The longer answer is in the Author’s Notes of the book.
Q: Tell us about its path to publication?
A: The path to publication went through writing several or more novel manuscripts over the years, and essays, and writing poetry, getting published in what’s known as the “little mags,” and then specifically to my friend Eric Gansworth, an accomplished and successful writer, who was familiar with two things: the Niagara Digressions manuscript as it was being written, and the marketplace. As a professional writer, he knew that Starcherone Press was interested in innovative, or experimental, writing and suggested that I submit Niagara Digressions there. Because Eric had read much of my writing over a period of many years, and was witness especially to the creation of ND, he was the perfect choice to write an introduction to the book, which he has done, a thoughtful story and fine digression in its own right.
Q: I’ve called you a Rust Belt beatnick poet farmer. How would you describe yourself?
A: So I’m a Rust Belt beatnik poet farmer, huh? That ain’t bad! In terms of assigning someone to those kinds of cliche categories, it put a smile on my face. I’ve worked in the plants and factories, and have seen the wasted landscapes, the dumps, and abandoned, window-broken, falling down places, locally & nationally, industries that have sad stories to tell; I’ve appreciated the beat generation’s literary output in the aggregate (and I have a shaggy beard like all those beats in the cartoons); I’ve written poetry and participated in public poetry readings; & have done some farming, though real farmers wouldn’t, by any stretching of the word “farmer” define me as one of them.
Beyond that, I’m a person who takes pleasure in putting words together, making sentences and paragraphs, creating images, and expressing ideas that others might appreciate.
Q: What writers have inspired you?
A: Every writer I've ever read has inspired me--that may sound like a cop-out answer, but it’s true. Sometimes I’m inspired to work harder at writing, sometimes to avoid certain kinds of lousy writing. (Perhaps I embrace some kinds unknowingly.) I mentioned quite a number of writers I’ve admired in ND. Most recently I’ve admired & enjoyed the work of Julian Barnes (The Sense of an Ending), Thomas Bernhard (The Voice Imitator), and Roberto Bolano (By Night in Chile).
Q: What do you have against Shredded Wheat?
A: I have nothing against Shredded Wheat--I love it. It’s a good, down-to-earth, blue collar, staff-of-life cereal. It adapts well to being served with a variety of fruits, milk, cream, prepared with or without hot water, and so on. It’s tied up with happy childhood memories, Straight Arrow, Niagara Falls. I remember when a picture of Niagara Falls, with “Since 1892,” used to be printed on every box, inside a border with a stalk of wheat, grain still in the heads, curved at each end.
Q: Do you still consider yourself to be a first class shithead or was that just a phase?
A: It’s true that in one of the stories in Niagara Digressions I mentioned that I was “studying to be a first class shithead.” I wasn’t bragging and wouldn’t put it on a resume. I was recognizing I was being a jerk (another way of saying it) and then telling about how I tried to make amends.
Q: You write a lot about Niagara’s past. Are you optimistic about its future?
A: Yes, I write a lot about Niagara’s past, and the past generally. That old observation, “the past is prologue,” is still rich and meaningful. On a good day I experience optimism about the future of Niagara Falls in spite of all the signs indicating I’m a fool to feel that way. Because I very much value our heritage of the natural world, when I’m constantly confronted with the lack of respect it gets, then it’s tough to maintain an attitude of optimism. Let me tell you a story about that...and also about my alcoholic Grandfather & other heavy drinkers in my family, the buffalo that went over the Falls once (not that it wanted to, but during an event of “entertainment”), about my drunken Uncle Earl who embraced our Christmas tree one year, and about the shoulder blade of a deer I’ve had for over a half century.
On 17 March, 2012, Jeff Morrow sponsored a reading and book signing at the Book Corner, Niagara Falls, New York where, after being introduced by Eric Gansworth, I read that Christmas story and other selections from Niagara Digressions. That was Saint Patrick’s Day--and I’m half Irish, if that counted for anything. It was a notable date because the City of Niagara Falls had been incorporated on that day 120 years before. Those in attendance were an appreciative group, who’d been entertained by jazz & rock instrumentals performed by guitar player Tom Case at the beginning of the afternoon--and they made interesting comments, & suggestions about the web site, & asked good questions at the conclusion.