Planting the Seed of a Novel

A big part of the reason I started blogging was to get in the habit of writing on a regular basis. I really hope that it will eventually lead toward writing my first book. I'm not sure how long this will take, but I had to start somewhere. That start was initiated in high school. In order to counteract my mathematical inadequacies in school, I chose to put an extra effort toward any writing assignment I was given. My style wasn't always welcomed with high marks, but I always found a way to get my point across, even if it wasn't always in the most traditional or efficient manner. I never put much stock in grading as I rebelled against most conventions, but I tended to receive praise for my writing. I took those compliments to heart and always hoped I would find a career in writing. After trying my hand in a few different academic disciplines in college, I eventually landed in the communications department studying journalism. I can't say I was particularly enthralled by the rigid mechanics of print journalism but I liked the power that it provided. To write is to share; experiences, opinions, history, and propaganda. It is a powerful tool if used correctly. I tried to pass down that skill as an English teacher for three years after commencement. However, I grew frustrated in a short time.The grade level I was teaching needed an instructor to enforce basic grammar and structure; two facets of English that I wasn't yet equipped to teach. I taught my courses with an emphasis on living life as if you are the author of your own story. I hope that idea got through to a few of my students more so than parts of speech, punctuation, and basic syntax (all of which are important, yet little fun in the classroom). I know I had an impact, because a lot of my students took a liking to the subject and made a concerted effort to improve their writing and speaking skills. I developed relationships with all of my students, but took a bigger interest in two types in particular; the ones that played sports in the school yard (they were the ones I could most closely relate to) and the troublemakers (the ones that were given a negative title early in their academic careers and thus targeted by my disciplinarian colleagues before I arrived). I know as a teacher you are supposed to be an impartial presence, but I was inexperienced and perhaps too sensitive to allow these children to go by the wayside. There was one student in particular in the 6th grade my first year at Saint Kevin's that fit both of these descriptions. That boy had one hell of a story to tell, and I hope that he will eventually act as the inspiration of my first novel.

For the sake of this post I will use the literary name I plan to use; Prince Canal. Prince was 13 when I met him and he was quickly entering adolescence. I was warned by his former teachers and current principal that he had issues with authority, a pension for conflict with his peers, and an attitude far more immature than his adult appearance (over 6 feet tall and a size 13 foot). They also told me that he took his education seriously and expected excellence from himself. I got to know Prince quickly after our first meeting and could easily see where his critics developed their view of him. He was arrogant, rebellious, tactless, and immature. In a word he was rude. He acted condescendingly toward his peers and took constructive criticism poorly. He always seemed to be yelling at his classmates, pouting about his teachers, or otherwise taking part in activities he shouldn't have been. On a few occasions he tried "setting me up" with a Puerto Rican girl (they are the sassiest). He also tried to sell me condoms (I did not accept). It was easy to see in his behavior that he was looking for a male to talk to. I also knew that he lived with only his mother, and that his father had been murdered in Haiti before his family emigrated to the United States. At an early age, he was given the responsibility of being the man of the house by helping to raise his baby brother while their mother worked as a hair stylist to provide for her family. I was his first male teacher and only role model. The only others were the teenage thugs he looked up to at the community center on the corner. I took it as my personal mission to be the positive male influence that he needed. I wanted to approach it carefully though, making sure not to "force it", which was the most commonly used term in my classroom for trying to be something you were not.

Prince was gifted both academically and athletically, and we both knew that athletics would be his way to the next level. I tried to instill in him discipline first and foremost. I taught him the gift of foresight by telling him there was always consequences to his actions. I constantly referred to his "filter" in an attempt to teach him the skill of thinking before acting. This went on for 3 years, and even carried on after Saint Kevin's closed and we both moved on to Pope John Paul II. During those years I wasn't his classroom teacher, but I always checked on his progress, defended his actions so that his teachers would be patient with him, and welcomed him whenever he needed advice or a lending hand. From the early days of our relationship, I had told him that if he worked hard, continued to improve his behavior, and stayed out of trouble, that I would help him get into a good high school. He always reminded me of this, and when the time came, I was able to help him get into my alma mater, Xaverian. There, I knew that he would be in the right environment to excel. They provided the right formula of discipline + challenging academics + competitive athletics. He entered Xaverian in the autumn of last year, and I haven't heard from him since. I have tried to keep track of his progress via Facebook and asking my old teachers, but he has not reached out for my help. I see this as a positive thing. I feel confident that he is surrounded by people like myself that will have a vested interest in his future. I know he is in good hands. The last I heard was that he had made the junior varsity football team as a freshman (almost never happens at "The X") and that he was able to keep his academics in enough control to stay eligible athletically. I think the change of environment has been good for him. In middle school he sought an after school education at the community center, but now he had the friendly confines of Xaverian and their extensive list of extracurricular activities. I hope that the combination of his street savvy along with his new found disciple will put his arrogance at bay, and create a confident young man ready to face the challenges he will most certainly confront. At this point, his story becomes fictional. I don't know all the factual details about his past before I entered his life, and I don't know exactly what he is going through now, but I certainly have a good idea of what his experience is like. I took an interest in Prince because I saw a lot of myself in him. I'm not a young black man you was left fatherless at a young age. I never had to help raise my baby brother. I never had to walk into a primarily white high school after spending my entire life in a black community. What I do empathize with is coming to terms with talent, and coming to terms with the fact that you can't spend your life fighting against the conventions of our society. I have a very optimistic vision of what his future holds and I hope that when the time comes to write my novel, that he will allow me the opportunity of knowing the details of his story.

This very lengthy introduction was to provide context as to the birth of this idea. Prince's life is a huge part of it because it got me to think; How can you expect a young man, without a positive male influence, to succeed in this country? When I first met Prince he was lost, and his story could have gone in a very violent or tragic discourse if our paths hadn't crossed. Without taking too much credit, I believe that my presence in his life shifted the plot of his story. I feel as if I helped initiate the construction of a successful man. This thought led to another, and I got to thinking; What does it take to be a successful man in this country in the 21st century? What virtues must a man possess to reach his potential? When a successful man looks back on his life, can he pinpoint the events that led to his success? Can he see the influences that knocked him off-course onto a more virtuous path? This is the road map of my novel, "How to be a Man in America", and Prince Canal is the vehicle I will use to navigate.

A Pedagogical Shift

An anonymous comment on my last post reads, "From a typical idealist leftist to a capitalist in a matter of months?!? Where is your conviction!!??!! Say it ain't so, Matt!!!!!! ".

Cheers to your keen eye and quick wit! Now, please allow me to explain...
I met John Olquist in 2007 when I began teaching at Saint Kevins. He organized a mentoring program that encouraged high school students involved in a parish in Sudbury to travel into Dorchester to meet students grades K-8. He worked diligently to set up transportation to and from Uphams Corner and accompanied the mentors twice a week. The mentors always came with enthusiasm toward their work and a respect for the children they were helping. The kids at Saint Kevins loved the volunteeres and they looked forward to the days when they'd come to visit. John would spend his time playing basketball or teaching math. Once summer came, I also found out that John took responsibility of  organizing a summer enrichment program that ran for 5 weeks over the vacation. Again it was a partnership with the community of Sudbury, but was a lot more intensive than the mentor program. He organized field trips, donations, lunches, and gifts for all the underprivileged city kids at the end of the summer. He even opened the doors to his summer home on the Rhode Island coastline to the older children for an overnight trip at the end of the summer. He was an astonishingly positive and generous man that I gained a great respect for while I was working in the Catholic Schools. I actually spent the last 3 summers leading a group and absolutely loved the environment that he created. I am no longer involved in the program but it still runs today.

Now, let's go back a few years. John grew up as a humble city kid in Brooklyn. He came from solid roots and was provided a good education. He went on to get a business degree from Bentley College and worked for the corporate machine for a number of years. He made money, started a family, and eventually grew tired of the corporate world. He decided that he wanted out, and tried his hand at teaching. He spent exactly one year teaching in a public school in Framingham. The experience was enough for him to realize teaching was not for him, and that the politics of working for a school were not much different than the office.He grew a tremendous respect for teaching, but didn't want to rely on it as his career. He opted out, went back to the corporate world, and tasted some good fortune with his endeavors in the stock market. A few years later he started his own financial planning LLC in Sudbury, continued to support his family, and had enough spare time to help out in Dorchester. He realized after working as a public servant that in order to help out, you need to approach it a calculated way. What took him 1 year to understand took me 3. I am far too deep into debt not to spend some time playing a capitalist. If I want to really help the community I grew to love, I first need to take care of myself financially. The three years I spent teaching were a fantastic experience I would never take back, but the stress caused by the work was not worth the small return on such a large investment of time and energy.

So, to sum things up. Yes, I may currently employed as a capitalist, but I am certainly proud of what I'm doing.  I have not lost my ideals, I simply took a more calculated approach. It would be irresponsible not to...

Looking Forward to the Next Step

It seems as if in the flurry of carpet, rugs, Quickbooks, search engine optimization, web design, forming a corporation, developing a payroll, and hiring installers, I have lost track of writing. My last post was on May 6th, and in the meanwhile major moves have transpired in stabilizing my father's business. A one man installation company is now The Carpet Workroom & Reclamation Center, INC. We have 4 full time employees, 2 sub-contractors, and a new store that is home to brand new concept of carpet and rug buying. The speed of this process has been mind blowing, but the skills I have learned will stay with me for as long as I am chasing down a dollar, which will probably be a very long while.

The biggest challenge came to me recently in the form of a sales squall. It dawned on me while I was trying to schedule a week of recent wall-to-wall installations; we were completely overwhelmed with work and entirely understaffed. One of the major reasons  I cut my Costa Rican trip short to work alongside my father in his profession was to help him transition from installer into the less strenuous but more lucrative role of workroom manager. However, as I was scheduling these jobs, it occurred to me I was exploiting his talents the same way an agent would exploit an actor or athlete. This was not the reason I was hired. This situation forced me to take a step back and realize we had plateaued, it was time to hire someone to take over the role of installer. Here, I met two challanges. The first is something every business deals with at one point or another; finding employees who share your enthusiasm and whom you can trust as an extension of your business is extremely difficult. The second has to do with habit. My father has installed carpet for the last 32 years of his life, the vast majority of his existence on this planet. Of course in his mind, and every one else's for that matter, he is the best at what he does. In order to shift roles in his business, he would need to break the 32-year-old habits he had developed, and allow someone else to take over his coveted craft. This is the point we are at now. The transition has not been entirely smoothed out, but it has begun. I firmly believe that once we complete this evolution, we will able to make the next step toward our growth.

The most ironic part of this experience is the path in which I took to get to this point. I spent more than 2 semesters in Fordham's College of Business Administration. I transferred back into its liberal arts program becasuse of an accounting class that gave me more anxiety than what it was worth. I felt then that there would never be a time in my life where the skill of accounting would be needed. I was terribly wrong. I have spent the last month receiving lessons on Quickbooks, a basic accounting software that everyone seems to need help with. In keeping track of credits and debits and following our financial situation, I can finally see the value in such a skill. I only minored in business at Fordham, but the 8 months since starting at the Carpet Workroom, I feel as if I completed what I had started in 2004. I don't know if I can say I belive in fate, but I can certainly laugh at the irony present in the events that got me to where I am now.

Now that we took a moment to lubricate the gears and adjust the machine we have developed, it is time to look at the future. Our website, http://www.thecarpetworkroom.net/ has been launched, and now it is time to optimize its exposure on the Internet. We have barely paid for advertising, opting instead to capitalize on the free press we received from Channel 5, The Boston Globe Magazine, and most recently the Canton Citizen. I think our best bet is to first build our online presence. From there we need to continue building the infrastructure to allow our machine to continue running smoothly; another vehicle, a more pronounced recycling system, and more accounts to add to our inventory and potential order selection are at the top of the list. One thing is for certain, we are on the cusp of something big, and a new set of opportunities is sure to present itself if we continue on this path.