Kicking off the afternoon was Anthony Bukoski, a resident of Superior where he teaches and writes stories. His family emigrated from Poland to Superior and so it should come as no surprise that much of his fiction deals with the Polish-American community of his hometown. He read one of his short stories, the name of which I cannot recall, but it had "butterfly" or "butterflies" in the title and featured a narrator whose grandmother had died. I found it very moving since my own Polish grandmother is dying.
Bukoski also read about three paragraphs from another story which I believe was "Children of Strangers". Like the first story, it had a very gentle tone and it too dealt with old people. Indeed, my favorite line was "In finding the old people, they have found the past." Unfortunately, I cannot recall the context of that sentence in the story; I only have it written down in my notes. Again, my grandmother came to my mind. She is 93 and ailing and a lot of family history will disappear once she passes away. Perhaps 36 is too young for a person to start looking to the past and taking an interest in one's family history, but I became interested in keeping one eye on what came before 10-12 years ago and it's too late to change now.
Fred Neuschel spoke next. His book, Lives and Legends of the Christmas Tree Ships, uses the sinking of the Rouse Simmons in 1912 as a launching pad for investigating the lives and communities of those who grew the Christmas trees and sailed the Great Lakes to deliver them to markets in Chicago and elsewhere. Neuschel described the book as examining the "men who died in the shipwrecks and what they did between wrecks".
His book fit into the festival's theme because the men who sailed those ships were mostly German and Irish immigrants who'd come to America, in Neuschel's words, "seeking a harbor of refuge." Sailing those schooners gave these men an identity and a sense of solidarity which endowed them with strength & pride to resist being mere commodities in a labor market they cannot control.
Knowing this event was hosted by the PHC, I was a bit surprised that Neuschel was present. It was quite felicitous as I've recently been considering buying a poster of Great Lakes shipwrecks to adorn a wall at my new apartment.
The final speaker of the afternoon was Leonard Kniffel, author of Polish Son in the Motherland. Kniffel began by explaining why he wrote the book. He didn't grow up in a Polish neighborhood. Instead it was his grandmother whom he described as being the "Polishness" in his life as a child. With the death of his mother in 1996, Kniffel found himself without any immediate family but with a desire to look back and understand his family history. Four years later he traveled to Poland in order to find his grandmother's ancestral village. Kniffel ended up spending several months in Poland and described the experience as the most transformative of his life. As long as he was there, he thought, why not try to find his grandfather's ancestral village. And he did.
Kniffel said that he found the Poles he met to be very curious and warm people. He ended his talk with a brief passage from his book.
Now, for reasons beyond my understanding, the presenters were told to keep their talks to 10 minutes. This meant that the Q&A session and reception afterwards were lively discussions.
The first question was to ask Mr. Neuschel to read a bit from his book, which he did. Later someone asked him if his book was 100% non-fiction and, if so, had he has ever written any fiction? Neuschel replied that Lives and Legends of the Christmas Tree Ships was all factual but that there were many myths & legends surrounding the sailors. Although he didn't elaborate, I suppose that there are stories about the ghosts of dead sailors and the like.
This was followed up by a woman who asked Mr. Kniffel if he was in Poland for Christmas and, if so, what were the rituals around it? He replied that he was there for Christmas and that the celebration was exactly how you read about it in books. The highlight of the season was Wigilia, the Christmas Eve dinner. One Wigilia tradition is to leave an empty seat at the table should a stranger come to your door. There was no space at the table that night as Kniffel was given that seat. Another tradition involves a wafer called the opłatek. You offer a piece of the wafer to others at the table and wish them luck and happiness. As he recalled this, Kniffel noted a difference between Polish and American kids. After breaking the wafer, Polish children would go up to adults, look them straight in the eyes, and wish them well. He observed that, for Polish kids, it was a rather earnest affair whereas American kids tend to go through the motions.
Most of the questions directed at Mr. Bukoski were about his craft. It was revealed that much of his fiction is autobiographical in nature. After this, his Polish pride came out as he went on a tangent with the proclamation that it was unforgiveable that the popular consciousness is unaware of the plight of Polish gentiles after World War II. He gave an example of some Poles who settled in Louisiana. They worked on sugar plantations under wretched conditions. Their complaints led to an investigation led by the Truman administration. Mr. Bukoski was also asked how his literary voice has changed since his first book. He replied that he didn't know but thought that he'd gotten better after 30 years of writing.
All three authors attended the reception that the PHC held after the events. It gave folks a chance to get autographs and chat with them on a more personal basis. Each was a real gentleman and seemed genuinely pleased to be talking with readers, answering their questions, and listening to their stories. I even got a bit choked up as I told Mr. Kniffel how touched I was by his story and that I too am Polish by my grandmother, who is, unfortunately, not long of this earth.
For more info on Mr. Kniffel and A Polish Son in the Motherland, check out the book's website.
Fred Neuschel and Lives and Legends of the Christmas Tree Ships both have a webpage to be found here.
Anthony Bukoski is published by Southern Medodist University Press.
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