Shining Light. Revealing Conversations with Dedicated People.

By Charles McNamara

Shining Light is a collection of 22 revealing conversations, including black and white portraits, with people who share amazing stories about their lives. I have often wondered, “What a fascinating story. How come I’ve never heard of this person or their work?”
“No one ever asked,” they usually reply, shrugging
I think the real answer is they never sought the spotlight. They are completely engaged in their work, not seeking publicity for their efforts.
In all of the 22 interviews published here, I felt I have developed a certain friendship with the other person. That is not simple journalistic fact gathering. And when the other person began to share very personal life details, I was uncomfortable at first, but learned that was why I had been called to this work -- to be a confidant, and with their permission, to share with you, the reader, what they had told me in their story.
You will meet people such as:
John Schaffner - cowboy poet and chuck wagon cook
Will Morton - carousel conservator
Marjorie Lansing Porter - Adirondack ballads collector
Dr. Bonnie Clarke - Japanese Relocation Camp archaeologist
Badger Puthoff - Mountain man re-enactor
Mike Keefe - Pulitzer prize winning editorial cartoonist
And so I would have to agree with Muriel Rukeyser who said, “The universe is made of stories, not atoms." Ms. Rukeyser was an American poet and political activist, best known for her poems about equality, feminism, social justice, and Judaism.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Charles McNamara
• Release date: Aug 27, 2014
• ISBN: 9780692272626

Charles McNamara

Charles McNamara has worked as a newspaper and magazine editor, photographer, freelance writer and motion picture lighting technician. Loves black and white photography especially faces. Loves playing drums, jazz and military band music. Excels at storytelling, interviewing and inventing characters. Oh yes, finding surprising historical detail on the Internet satisfied his natural curiosity. I started taking drum lessons in seventh grade. We were taught “rudiments” which are like scales for other instruments. Learning these rolls and triplets prepared me for band and orchestral music but not for jazz and not for improvisation. I didn’t realize I needed a different perspective, one with rhythm and passion. A friend, who was a jazz musician, gave me The Drums of Passion by Olatunji. He thought it would give me that new perspective. I have never lost this rhythm. Listen and you’ll understand (http://youtu.be/ZYhFyF8dvU4). Public pageantry such as parades, coronations and Catholic processions stir my heart. He has learned that writing and photography require passion and experience. The first is inbred; the second is only gained over time. It takes a lot of practice to get it right and hours of rehearsal to make it blend together. And now you know my inner drummer.

Book preview

SHINING LIGHT

Revealing conversations with dedicated people

BY CHARLES MCNAMARA

Smashwords Edition

ISBN 978-0-692-27262-6

Copyright ©2014 by Charles McNamara

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014914608

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite eBook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

DEDICATION

To Dennis Rhoades who gave me the idea for my on line magazine called Tributary and then hounded me until I turned it into this book. Dennis and I have been close friends for more than 30 years. It is a splendid thing to know someone who enjoys your writing and encourages you to do more of it.

To Don Carson, my journalism professor at the University of Arizona, who told me I was going to be a fine journalist. I pray he is not disappointed. He is now Professor Emeritus of Journalism at the University of Arizona and author of The Life and Times of Morris K. Udall.

INTRODUCTION

Dr. Kenell Touryan explores the harmony of faith and science in Points of Harmony.

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In this book you will meet, through interviews and portraits:

John Schaffner - cowboy poet and chuck wagon cook.

Will Morton - carousel conservator.

Marjorie Lansing Porter - Adirondack ballads collector

Dr. Bonnie Clarke - Japanese Relocation Camp archaeologist

Badger Puthoff - Mountain man re-enactor

My career as a journalist began with writing who-what-where-when-why news stories. But when I did my first interview I was fully engaged in the conversations that developed. While I was scribbling down the facts, I watched facial expressions, and got braver about asking deeper, more personal questions. It was a professional form of social interaction that I very much enjoyed. I was learning about the person and their character rather than just getting answers to my questions. So I stopped making notes as fast as I could and brought my tape recorder so I could listen more and join in the conversation.

In all of the 22 interviews published here, I felt I have developed a certain friendship with the other person. That is not simple journalistic fact gathering. And when the other person began to share very personal life details, I was uncomfortable at first, but learned that was why I had been called to this work -- to be a confidant, and with their permission, to share with you, the reader, what they had told me in their story.

I have been publishing these interviews for the past three years on my website called Tributary. One Flows Into Another. My inspiration for how to write the introductory paragraphs for each interview usually comes from the portraits I make of each person. I record every conversation and make side notes as I listen to what they are saying. However, I have discovered that by listening to their eyes in the portraits I hear another aspect of what they were trying to say.

A friend of mine, who is also a publisher, told me once, I am enjoying your Tributary articles very much. I believe they are accomplishing your goal of celebrating the everyday, common and down-to-earth. After reading each one, I come away with the feeling of appreciation for each person, their passions and their contributions. This could even be a way to bridge ‘misunderstandings’ between various groups, just like telling your story almost always opens up doors of understanding among people. It removes the stereotypes and replaces them with real, complex and vulnerable people, Cheryl Touryan, Publisher, Indian Hills, Colo.

And so I would have to agree with Muriel Rukeyser who said, The universe is made of stories, not atoms. Ms. Rukeyser was an American poet and political activist, best known for her poems about equality, feminism, social justice, and Judaism.

Charles McNamara, Littleton, Colorado

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Lisa Anderson introduces us to "friendlationships" in the Pursuing Marriage interview

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Dedication

Introduction

An indelible stain

Preserving the family store for four generations

There are no medals for kindness

Points of harmony

The deadliest job in America

Harp shooter

Shikata Ga Nai

An Irish storyteller

We’re in this together

America’s carousel conservator

The lone man

Mountain man Badger Puthoff

Capitol building tour guide

The ballads collector of Lake Champlain

Cowboy rhymes with thyme

Mount Evans fixture

Jesus in my knapsack

Practicing retirement

Pursuing marriage

Rehabilitation is gone

School lunch for 35,000

Gas, coffee and quinoa: A life changing pit stop

AUTHOR INFORMATION

About the author

Other books by Charles McNamara

Connect with Charles McNamara

An Indelible Stain

Mike Keefe, The Denver Post’s editorial cartoonist, won the Pulitzer Prize in 2011

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Mike Keefe was born November 6, 1946 in Santa Rosa, California. He had two sisters and a brother. They lived in the San Francisco Bay area until Keefe was in second grade when they moved to St. Louis, MO, where Keefe graduated from Ritenour High School in 1964.

His brother died at age two and a half, devastating his mom and forcing his father, Ray Keefe, to find ways to care for her while earning a living. Running out of resources, he took the family back to California to be closer to other family. It didn’t work. The Keefe family fell apart. Mike, at age 17, was on his own and started wandering. Mike’s two sisters were put in foster homes. He lost contact with his family for years. His father cared for his wife until she died in 1971. Ray died in 1980.

Keefe hitchhiked across America for a couple of years, worked for a year at the Chevrolet plant in Leeds, a suburb of Kansas City, and then was drafted into the Marine Corps. After his discharge, using the GI Bill, he went to the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) and earned a Bachelor’s, Master’s and completed the coursework for a PhD in mathematics.

Of all the turmoil during the early1970s, the killing of four unarmed students at Kent State University in Ohio by the Ohio National Guard affected Keefe the most. The guardsmen fired 67 rounds in 13 seconds, killing four students and wounding nine others.

During this time, while studying at UMKC, Keefe started drawing cartoons for the University News. He became friends with Bill Sanders, cartoonist at The Milwaukee Journal. Sanders heard that Pat Oliphant, editorial cartoonist for The Denver Post, had taken a new job. He wrote a referral letter about Keefe to the Post who hired him in 1975. At that point he had drawn about 50 cartoons.

Since then, Keefe has won many awards including the Fischetti Editorial Cartoon Award, National Headliners Club, Society of Professional Journalists and Best of the West contests. He was a John S. Knight Fellow at Stanford University (studied short story writing) and is a past president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. He was a juror for the 1997 and 1998 Pulitzer Prizes in Journalism. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 2011.

He retired in late 2011 from The Denver Post after 36 years.

TRIBUTARY

Will you continue cartooning or try something new?

KEEFE

I’m still doing one, or more, cartoons a week for syndication (featured in more than 800 papers through Cagle.com) and the Post is running these. I’m enjoying the break. I want to try some experimental stuff. It’s time to stretch out and try something with the art of the cartoon in a fine art sense.

In 1979 my wife, Anita, and I, vacationed in Colmar, France. I was totally charmed by the town and drew the town square including a church and steeple. What I didn't know at the time was that my dad's unit, the12th Armored Division had liberated Colmar in World War II. I started doing early research on the unit and learned about Colmar. I recalled a newspaper clipping from my dad's trunk about him volunteering to take out a sniper in a church steeple. As he was coming down he was fired upon by his own men. It turns out the incident occurred in a nearby town. So, I had been very close to where he had been and didn't know it.

So now I am devoting a lot of time to writing a book, which is kind of about the 12th Armored Division but really it is turning into more about my relationship with my dad. I’m discovering who he was. He didn’t know me and I didn’t know him really. So, I’m trying to rediscover him. I have a lot of regrets I’m trying to address. I’ve been thinking about this for many years. I would always run out of time to delve into all this but now I have the time.

TRIBUTARY

How are the pieces of the puzzle coming together?

KEEFE

I've discovered that my dad rode a motorcycle across America in 1935 with his friend Jack Auxier. Jack recorded a tape about the two of them in 1982, two years after dad died. I have a transcript of the tape. It's full of great detail, a real period piece. 
I found a roster of Troop A, 92nd Recon Battalion of the 12th Armored and recognized the name Cecil Jones as someone dad had mentioned when I was a kid. I tracked Jones down to a small town in Oklahoma and called him. That's when he told me that he and my dad had been the best of friends, how my dad was a