It’s winter here now. Bitter cold, 60-miles east of Toronto. Things have slowed down a bit ’cause of Christmas and all the other seasonal adjustments that go with building and rebuilding.
I got to thinking the other day about a piece I read about six or seven years ago in Harper’s Magazine called ‘Winter’s Work’ by a laid-off college professor who, out of sheer economic desperation, finds and takes work in a field unrelated to anything he’s ever known -rough custom framing in the wilds of New Hampshire (I think it was New Hampshire anyway). It was a great piece of writing. You felt for every skinned knuckle the poor frozen ex-prof sufferered.
Did anyone else here read it? If so, do you have a copy handy or can you maybe offer a quote or two to might share with this Forum. I can’t find anything about it on the web. It’s as if it has disappeared forever -even from Harper’s archives.
It’s winter here, as I said. And every skinned knuckle reminds me of that laid-off professor who never learned so much as he did in his first bitterly cold custom framing winter.
Replies
When I was a wee lad we would go the library and look up stuff like that in the Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature. They now have an online edition, and even a 30 day free trial, but too much of the site is in miniscule text, so I didn't try to read all the details. Here's the URL.
http://www.hwwilson.com/Databases/Readersg.htm
Sorry that I can't help you, but if you do find a copy please be sure and share it. Sounds like a great story and I, for one, would love to read it. Thanks, Brian.
Id like to spill some beer for you guys that do it, Ive been in Maine all my life, I know winter. I dont have to work in those conditions often, but I dont forget the people that do.
-zen
I'm fairly sure that when I read it, it was a published book. If you have a decent library nearby, they ought to be able to track it down for you--even without a title or author--if they're willing to put some effort into it.
HTH
Thon
I've read it but for the life of me couldn't tell ya where or when ...
Jeff
Buck Construction
Artistry in Carpentry
Pgh, PA
Yes, it was a great piece... I looked at a few Harper's I've had laying about, but no luck. Could it have been in Harrowsmith Magazine? Or FHB?
You could try the book "Toil." It's written around a similar premise.
The first 30 or so pages were pretty good. That's as far as I got before I put it down for awhile. ...Not much time for reading lately.
It may or may not be the same guy, but I read a book by a fellow laid off as an English professor from Colgate, he moved back to Maine and started working in construction. Like the others, I can't remember the title or author.
It was pretty scary and depressing. He went through some very serious mental adjustments, and his reactions to his situation weren't always very noble. It struck me as something of a "There but for the grace of God go I" story.
I hope someone comes up with his name.
Al Mollitor, Sharon MA
I read the article. A nice piece of work . And I also believe it is a book . If you find out the name would you let me know ?
Thanks Mike E. Foxboro
Google found led me to the following:
Don J. Snyder (August 1950 - )
In 1989, he was hired for a tenure-track English and creative writing position at Colgate University (Hamilton, NY). When he failed to get tenure in 1992, he and his family -- wife Colleen, daughters Erin, Nell, and Cara (in utero), and son Jack -- moved back to Maine and went on food stamps and he took jobs as a greenskeeper, construction laborer, house painter, and cottage caretaker for summer people. His big writing and financial break came with the Harper's magazine publication in Nov. 1995 of an excerpt from his journal, which expanded to become The Cliff Walk: A Memoir of a Job Lost and a Life Found, published in 1997.
The above is excerpted from http://www.waterborolibrary.org/maineaut/s.htm
My sincere thanks to natb and evryone else who took time to investigate this (worthwhile) little mystery!Like most people who do renos and small building, I deplore the idea of wasting time. All I had to do to find the answer to my question was ask in the right place -Breaktime. But noooooo....I had to clumsily flail around the net for months on end, didn't I? Story of my life....Thanks again. I look forward to re-reading Don Snyder's excellent piece of work.
Funny, I just posted a reply in "book suggestions" and this was the book I recommended.
The Cliff Walk: A Job Lost And A Life Found. Here's the amazon link:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/0316803480/002-8633642-0152817?%5Fencoding=UTF8&n=507846