You’re all invited to the debut of my new Spoken Documentary at the Concord City Auditorium on Sunday, March 1, from 3 to 5 p.m. It’s free. The Friends of the Audi and Community Players present a series of new works called "Page to Stage," usually staged readings. I’m up next! You can call 225-2164 for more information.
In “Crosscut” I pass on some of the stories I collected in Berlin during the spring of 2007, stories of logging, the mills, and life in the North Country. John Rule is going to be running a projector, so the audience can see old pictures of the mills and Berlin, provided by the Beyond Brown Paper Project and Erik Kaminsky, a fine local photographer. I took pictures of the people interviewed so you’ll be able to see who I’m talking about. Afterwards, the audience makes suggestions and we have a discussion. Should be fun. Here’s a sample from the program:
Ola Oleson spoke with pride about his father, Alton. “My father’s first job in Bog Brook was loading logs that were bigger around than they were long – huge spruce and pine. In Kennebago, opening up Crowley Brook – this was in the 1950s – they found the King’s stamp on some of the pines.” The King’s stamp meant they were mast trees, claimed for the king of England and his sailing ships, so the marks on those trees dated to before the Revolutionary War.
“Another one of my father’s jobs was picking rear. If the boom separated and logs went in the wallows, he had to fetch ’em back. He was rugged. They were all rugged.” In College Grant they found the Norwegian hand carved in a stone, thumb and forefinger extended – the sign that somebody had died on that spot. The Norwegians came first,” Ola told me. “Squareheads – like me! The French came later!”
“Lord,” Ola’s mother, Norma, said, “the woods were full of them!”
Here’s a picture of Norma and Ola at their home in Norwegian Village.
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