True Stories

"True Stories" offers a portrait of American history and culture that spans a century. In 1910, a newly-arrived immigrant sees the Statue of Liberty and makes a bold gesture of feminist independence. In 2010, a rural Arkansas cemetery is the site for church funeral with an unexpected hilarious ending. In the years between, a cross-country hitchhiking trip includes an interlude in a Nebraska jail, a Guatemala travelogue tells of a near-disaster drug search, and an adult swimming competition reaches a fateful conclusion. In these and other episodes from the author's life, "True Stories" presents a journey of self-discovery, moving from reckless youthful engagement to a mature compassion. True Stories chapters: 1. Grandma Lilly Tells it Like it Is In 1910, a woman young, a Polish immigrant who becomes the Schwartz family matriarch, arrives in New York and who instills in the author a sense of personal strength and capacity. 2. Pastures of Plenty The story offers a perspective on America from a 1969 cross country hitchhiking summer, including a time in a Haight-Ashbury commune and a marijuana arrest in Nebraska. 3. The Machete A travel memoir set in Guatemala in 1975 offers a reflection on youthful passion and risk taking in a time and place of political violence. 4. Confessions of Distance Swimmer The story describe the author's thirty-year participation in the competitive world of adult swimming and the psychology of amateur athletes' compulsion for winning. (I am an 8-time national champion masters swimmer.) 5. Talking Points Employment at a local Planned Parenthood clinic culminates in a confrontation with an arch-conservation local journalist. 6. The Funeral of Betty Ruth Crawford A 2010 funeral at a small Southern Baptist church in a rural Arkansas town is the setting for a hilarious, unexpected gravesite event.