I am meeting with Mike again this afternoon. I am fighting his dementia for a foothold in his memory. Today, rather than asking him to tell a story-stumping him and causing him to ramble- I am going to try posing both questions and answers, then asking his reactions. I am going to use interview material I have found featuring his contemporaries in The Paris Review, The New Yorker, from the typographic books and magazines I am reading. Perhaps that will give me a fresh perspective on his views and spark some old memories in the process.
It is every bit as challenging working with a live biographical subject as a long dead subject. God bless Charles Shields. His ability to write Mockingbird without Harper Lee's help, permission or blessing is something of the Holy Grail for me.
I spoke with Harry about the Wikipedia entry I wrote. He put some last changes on it and now wants David Berlow look it over to make sure we did not leave any major item out or overstate anything. I wonder if everyone who puts up those Wiki entries are as careful as we are. Oh, to be done with this! Mike does remember the Wikipedia issue and asks about it every time we talk. I will be SO happy when I can pull it up on his computer..and, then hear him tell me how something is not controversial because he KNOWS it is right. Who am I kidding? It never ends.
Since flying is so much of a hassle for disabled people, I am going to drive to my sister's house in Richmond, VA for the holidays. I am thinking of taking a whole week to drive down so that I may stop and visit with Gillet Griffin in Princeton...Mike's longest and best friend from the time they met at Deerfield Academy. I will call today to see if he is available.
1 comment:
(In residence)
It must be an incredible challenge to try to reconstruct this very complex story even as the synapses are losing power. Thank heaven you decided to attempt this before it really was too late; he is a pioneer, and the history should not be lost.
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