LFS: The Storyteller

©2013 by LeeZard In reality, my journey begins tomorrow when the rubber literally meets the road and I begin THE Road Trip. My literary journey began today in Everett, WA, however, with my first set of interviews. For those of you who’ve missed the agonizing run-up to THE Road Trip, I am driving around the country to gather people’s stories about how their lives were affected by The Great Recession. You can follow my journey here on the blog and, ultimately, in the book that will follow. The journey began today because I squeezed onto the schedule of Mayor Ray Stephanson at ten this morning. I made a couple of stops before my meeting and gathered some other stories.  First, an observation; if you tell someone you are writing a book, more often than not they not only open up to you, they are both friendly and encouraging. That might change down the road but that’s they way it is in Everett. The City of Everett (pop. 103,000) sits in Seattle’s shadow 25 miles to...

©2013 by LeeZard I can’t believe it; I am hitting the road in less than a week. I can’t give the exact date yet because I am waiting to hear if I can get an interview with the mayor of Everett (WA). I carefully selected Everett as my first “official” stop for interviews because of its history. In fact, I’ve already written the first few paragraphs of Chapter I for the book that will result from this trip: The City of Everett (pop. 103,000) sits in Seattle’s shadow 25 miles to the north. This old mill town is a fitting place to start my journey. Early in its history Everett rode the economic ups and downs of the railroad, mining and timber industries. In 1916 the city endured one of the early labor movement’s most violent confrontations, The Everett Massacre, between members of the Industrial Workers of the World (The Wobblies) and local authorities aligned with the business community. It came during a shingles workers strike ...