The Writer's Life 8/18 - Superstition & a Forgotten Legend

Louisa Ermelino grew up near Little Italy, which these days has shrunk dramatically and exists primarily as a NYC tourist lure. In 2002, her first novel, The Black Madonna, was published. I discovered it recently and thoroughly enjoyed it. The action takes place from the mid 1930's until 1968. The story, told in non-linear fashion, is divided into three parts, the middle taking place in a small town in the old country. The focus is on three male friends and their smothering moms. The tale rings with authenticity. My mom was not nearly as superstitious as the three in the book, but I found none of the doings implausible. The prejudices are not surprising. They exist today to a lesser measure. The depiction of how the characters lived, the cramped quarters, is fascinating. The author created human beings that often conform to a stereotype but are thoroughly genuine. The prose and dialogue are smooth. Italian terms are injected frequently, something I've always loved and have done myself, only in the bastardized form many sons and daughters of immigrants use. My lone quibble is that it is a tad repetitious. There is no plot. This is a portrait of lives and bonds that could have gone on until the deaths of the three men but ends after 252 pages while they are in their mid 30's. The title refers to a mysterious figure one of the mom's venerates, and everyone in the neighborhood knows. 16 readers at Amazon have rated The Black Madonna, forging to a consensus of 4.5 on a scale of five, a bit too high in my estimation. Still, it's a fine read. It's still selling modestly, way more than any of my eight books. It's always a treat to read about Italian-Americans who aren't mafiosi. Ermellino is the reviews editor at Publishers' Weekly in NYC. She has three other books in print, two novels and a short story collection. Kudos, madam.

In today's NY Post, Phil Mushnick reveals the neglect of the incredible accomplishments of a rare talent. I'm embarrassed to say I'd never heard of or had forgotten Milt Campbell, "who in 2012 died at 78 to small notice outside of his hometown of Plainfield, N.J.. He was, by international definition, the greatest American athlete of any hue." In high school he excelled at football, bowling, track and swimming. Also while in high school, he finished second to the legendary decathlete Bob Mathias in the United States Olympic trials — in his first-ever participation in a decathlon! Are you kidding me? He was just a kid who only weeks earlier had learned such an event existed and decided to give it a try. He won the silver medal, finishing behind Mathias. At 18 Campbell, "arguably, more likely indisputably, was the world’s second-greatest athlete. Four years later the Olympic decathlon was billed as an epic struggle between Rafer Johnson and Vasily Kuznetsov. Campbell beat both, winning gold, bettering Mathias’ Olympic record by 50 points." Mathias, Johnson and Bruce Jenner are known to most Americans as champions - but not Campbell. WTF? In 1957 Campbell was drafted by the Cleveland Browns. In 1958 he was cut. Why? The team’s coach and co-founder, Paul Brown, was unhappy, according to Campbell, that Campbell had married a white woman. Campbell went on to to play in the Canadian Football League through 1964. In 1972, at 40, he nearly qualified for the U.S. Olympic judo team. Maddeningly, he continues to be overlooked. He did not make ESPN’s Top 100 Athletes of the 20th Century or its Top 50 Black Athletes survey. Kudos to Mushnick for this amazing and infuriating story.

Also in the Post, an article informs that animals are disappearing from zoos in the socialist paradise of Venezuela. It is believed they are being slaughtered to feed the hungry.

The floating book shop had only one customer today - Crazy Joe, the scourge of radio talk show hosts and now of Facebook, where his inflammatory posts are often blocked, especially those that target Mr. Zuckerberg. I've seen many and several go too far, the same as many of my friends on both sides of the political aisle do there. He has been very generous to me, always paying a lot more than I ask, as he did today for How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie, one of the most influential books of all-time, first published in 1936, currently ranked, incredibly, #22 at Amazon; and 101 Ways to Flirt: How to Get More Dates and Meet Your Mate by Susan Rabin and Barbara Lagowski; and The Pocket Book of Quotations by Henry Davidoff, which was first issued in 1942. Thank, you sir.

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