A Surprising Treat

When I started the Mark's World blog more than four years ago, I am not sure I had any real expectations.

For me, it really was a convenient way to keep connected with folks I cared about during a period of change. I also used Mark's World to learn about HTML, and gain a skill or two, like embedding code or some other nifty function.

It was also a way for me to keep writing. Mark's World gave me the ability to share everything from a household adventure to a snippet from the book I am (always) writing on the fast fading days of newspapers.

The book's working title, if I might digress, has evolved over the years as I struggled to find a tangible center to a story about inaction, greed and the other vexing reality, media audience convergence. It started out as "Why Your Newspaper Sucks." Then I toyed with "Why Your Newspaper Died." Now I am partial to "Why You Should Care That Your Sucky Newspaper Died."

Working these days for an ownership that really cares has really tempered my zeal for this project. Plus I often come home tired.

Anyway, as any blog author will attest, feedback has been fleeting. Occasionally readers share an "Attaboy!" or a "What You Don't Know About The Internet Would Fill A Library, Whatever A 'Library' Is!" More often, my stories of our occasional travel misadventures would cause people to write something like "As God Is My Witness, I'll Never Travel With You!" That is paraphrased from an actual e-mail from my actual sister.

Well, nearly 17,000 visits later, I am almost embarrassed to reveal that my writing here has resulted in an honor that eclipses anything I could have ever imagined. And I have a pretty crazy imagination.

Way back in November, 2005, Mary and I drove from our then-Illinois home to Corning, N.Y. to visit her Mom for Thanksgiving. We had time on our hands and decided to see the world, using Ohio as the mid-way point for both directions of the trip. On the way there, we would spend some time in Columbus, Ohio visiting Thurber House, the home of my literary hero, James Thurber.


THE THURBER HOUSE

On the way back, we would stop at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

Well, travel misadventures ensued in Columbus and after the police sorted things out, I posted my inspired attempt at a Thurberesque blog from the relative safety of our room at the Renaissance Hotel:

Alarms and Diversions: A Visit to the Thurber House

Fast forward four years. We are now Ohio residents. A few weeks ago I received an e-mail from the Thurber House seeking entries for a writing contest in conjunction with the summer kick-off to the annual series of literary picnics:

"Local authors, of any age, are invited to submit entries to the 2009 Thurber Treat writing contest. For this year’s contest, in celebration of the 25th anniversary of Thurber House, tell us about an unforgettable experience or memory you have had over the past quarter century involving Thurber House, perhaps as a camper, an academy participant, or someone who has enjoyed visiting the house and attending our events."

"The three winning authors will be guests of Thurber House for dinner at the Wednesday, June 10 Literary Picnic, and will read their sage or silly entries."


THE THURBER GENIUS

Did someone say "silly" story? I told Mary about it and she urged me to dust off the blogged story and adapt it for the contest. Which I did, while managing to keep the word "surly" misspelled, mind you.

Today I received a call from Anne Touvell at the Thurber House and my little entry about an insignificant police event on Jefferson Street won!

Mark's World is one of the 2009 Thurber Treat contest winners!

I was stunned and I really could not think of a coherent thought to express my gratitude. I believe I did wonder aloud whether I was the only entrant...

Well, we were heading west next week anyway. Brad Keefauver and I are marking the 25 years since we first befriended each other during the wild Tazewell Publishing Co. days when I lived in Peoria (it really is just an excuse for me to visit and torture him with bad movies). Then my great nephew Kaleb is the guest of honor for his first birthday with a big party at Angela and Fred's house in Ottawa.

So, we will now leave Wednesday afternoon and spend the evening with the good folks of the Thurber House.

To be included in a program at the home where James Thurber conjured "My Life and Hard Times" and to be associated with people who are heroes for keeping his legacy alive is really one of the great and most surprising honors in my life. From the moment I was introduced to him in a freshman American Lit class at Bradley University, I was enamored by his genius not only as a wordsmith but also as one of the 20th Century's most provocative humorists.

In the Bradley Bookstore, I found a copy of "Thurber Country," which has been at or near my bedside no matter where I have lived for the past 30-plus years. It is in bad shape, having survived, among other disasters, a bedroom flood in my college basement apartment during senior year. I also have a first edition on the book shelf but this one has character and well-worn pages. And I have never been so far down that "A Friend of the Earth" hasn't made me smile.

Still this is as daunting as it is incredible. I am not sure how a reading of my own work will go, but I guess I've got a week to practice...

For more on the Thurber House and the Summer Literary Picnics, go here:

The Thurber House

For more on James Thurber, go here:

James Thurber at Wikipedia

More later,


Mark