Maria's Journey

At the suggestion of a condo association member, I did some weeding in an area adjacent to Court One where the Sand Creek Estates sign is located. You could hardly see it, the vines had grown so tall and thick. Hundreds of shoots had sprung up from the roots of two trees, and I also tackled wild rose bushes whose thorns hurt like hell if I wasn’t careful. By the time I finished, I had worked up a good sweat (I read somewhere that sweating cleans out the pores). One neighbor asked if I was planting marijuana, and I replied that it would be an improvement. We have poison ivy in an area near our condo. I sprayed the leaves thoroughly; hopefully it will dry up and fade away. All through high school I played in the woods and never caught poison ivy. Then the summer I was dating Suzanna I worked on an estate and got it all up and down my arms. I never appreciated poison ivy-free limbs until then.

Ray Arredondo gave me six copies of “Maria’s Journey,” and it looks great. On the cover is Maria, age 14, on her wedding day with her mother, who arranged the marriage. Ray and Trish first got the idea for the book from a project funded by the Tri-City Mental Health Center during the late 1970s called “Pass the Culture, Please.” As the project’s oral historian and consultant, I interviewed Maria at length with Ray serving as translator. Trish writes: “Although the family had a long history of oral story-telling, Ray was astounded at how much information was gleaned in these directed interviews.” I conducted a group interview with family members at a Saturday breakfast that included beans, tortillas, eggs, chili, and menudo. The final product was a narrated slide show. Thirty years later Ray and Trish showed me the manuscript. I was so impressed I agreed to edit it and help them locate a publisher. In the Afterword they praised my “excellent suggestions, much appreciated encouragement, and formidable editing skills, which readied “Maria’s Journey” for publishers’ eyes.” That was 26 months ago, and it was worth it.

Today I contacted Robert Blaszkiewicz of the Times, and he will pitch an article I put together about “Maria’s Journey” as a Sunday feature. He also turned my piece over to Olga Briseno, the editor of their Spanish-language publication Viva, and she seemed very excited about it. I told Ray and Trish that they should try to get on Oprah, and they are working on it. So far the family members who have seen it think it’s terrific.

Shannon Bayer, who I’ve known since she was a baby (her mom Janet and I once kept her outside sledding until she almost got frostbite), was in from Boston with a friend, Lana, whom she met in law school. We had breakfast at the Sunrise Restaurant down the street from our condo, joined by Shannon’s sister Kirsten, in from St. Louis with 18-month old Nicholas and six months pregnant. We had a great time, and they gave a thumbs-up to our condo. Kirsten had to leave for the five-hour trip home, but Shannon and Lana joined us at the Star Plaza for Rebecca’s final performance in “Annie.” Perhaps because the reviews were so positive, a huge crowd of over 1,300 people was on hand, including our friends Dick and Cheryl Hagelberg. The four of us went to Appleby’s afterwards and then got in 24 hands of bridge. When we left the theater, Becca was still signing autographs.

Fred McColly just finished volume 21 of his journal about being among the last of a vanishing breed of American industrial workers. Fascinated with anthropology, he is tending a Native American garden on campus. He recently connected on Facebook with an old Greek-American girlfriend named Andrea who also was a student of mine and, he claims, “was like all my girlfriends in those days madly in love with you.” As flattering as that sounds, I don’t believe it. I never messed around with students and with one or two exceptions don’t recall any of them acting like they had crushes on me. Students know what professors are “on the prowl,” and I was never one of them.

Old friend Bob Reller needs our new phone number and address. I have been putting off going through our book and calling people. Bob told head planner Connie Damon he will miss our reunion because he’s touring the Holy Land for a couple months starting next month. He has become very religious since going through a couple near-death experiences. Connie was pleased I located Rick Hoopes.

Phil called to tell me his soccer team beat their arch-rival to win the championship. Down 3-2 at halftime, his captain moved him from midfielder to attacker and he scored twice in the 4-3 win. He said that the winning goal was one of the sweetest of his long career. He also finished putting his FACET footage from the French Lick retreat on a CD for me. Hopefully we’ll see the Michiganders on Labor Day if not before.