Jenny isn't the New Yorker, but I'm really happy about this publication. Youngstown's not far from where I grew up. The college and the magazine both have a focus on working class issues. I read a few of their past editions, and they put out some good stuff. I'm proud to be part of it.
I'm also pleased this particular story found a home. It's about a teacher and her husband who take one of the teacher's students into their home when her foster care situation goes sour. The father has a hard time figuring out how to connect with the girl and be the father he needs to become. Some of that is from my real life, the part of my real life I unironically love and treasure. This is one of those stories I felt I had to find a way to tell somehow, and now others will read it. That's pretty much the best you can hope for when writing fiction.
Most of the plot is pure fiction, even if the overall concept was real to me. The father and daughter form a musical act together, which is something I've never done. It's this musical act that made the story qualify for Jenny's 15th edition, which was a themed edition: "Rock 'n Roll and Rebellion." I hardly qualify as a rebel. When I watch Les Miserables, I identify a lot more with Jean Valjean than the young revolutionaries. Since most revolutions fail, I think the best course of action for most people if they want to make the world a better place is to try to prosper in the system that's there, then show kindness to those who need it. Valjean didn't overthrow the French government, but he did make life better for Cozette and Marius, and maybe, at least until Javert messed everything up, for the people who worked in his factory.
I'm probably going to go read at the launch for this edition, where, presumably, I'll be surrounded by young people who still dream of revolution. The musical gives the revolutionaries the last word, with the final song of the score being the dream of a world when we walk in the Garden of the Lord, when "the chain will be broken and all men will have their reward."
I wish the next batch of revolutionaries well. I hope they're the ones who give us the world as it should be. For me, I've had enough trouble just figuring my way out in the world that is. This story that will come out is really only important to me because it reminds me of the person who inspired it, who is the best work I've had a hand in making and one of the few things in the world that makes sense to me.
Great story! It's funny, I was reading it just after working on "A Big True" from BASS, the sitar-playing father and the Googling daughter, and thought, too bad they couldn't work it out like this. I love that it's music - albeit different kinds of music - that brings them together. It could be cooking, or art, or dogs, or nuclear physics, just having some element to focus on makes it all so much easier.
ReplyDeleteI kept trying to "hear" the music, but I'm not familiar enough with either bluegrass or hiphop to make it happen. Fortunately, there's Gangstagrass (thanks, internet).
But I'm puzzled about your tweet - your daughter is 25? I thought your kids were still kids. Ah well, half the time I have no idea what's going on.
As for the LesMis revolutionaries - maybe they got the last word, but they were all dead.
Mrs. Heretic was a high school teacher when her student came to live with us. She was already almost grown. So my real daughter was much older than the girl in the story was. Also, I don't play any instruments. Also, I don't know either bluegrass or R&B very well. The story took a lot of research. The good thing is that choosing to change so many details from real life meant I could make it whatever it needed to be.
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