Frank McCourt, A Teacher’s Brush with The Teacher Man

Things are a little grayer all over the world today with the passing of author Frank McCourt, on Sunday, July 19, 2009.  Angela’s Ashes, published in 1996, and the first in a series of memoirs written by McCourt, probably did more than anything in the past two decades to create the heightened desire in writers to preserve and craft their own personal stories. During his years as a classroom teacher in the New York public school system, he “always told his writing students that they were their own best material.” Toward the end of his teaching career and into retirement, he took his own best advice and penned Angela’s Ashes and two subsequent memoirs: ‘Tis: A Memoir, and Teacher Man.

The people who read and enjoyed his books were common folks just like most of us. Some were better off but knew someone–perhaps a neighbor, or their child’s teacher, or their grandparents—who had come from a hard-scrabble upbringing and had a story to tell. Suddenly, everyone wanted to capture their own lives on the page, whether to publish like McCourt had, or to simply create a legacy in words to leave behind for their progeny.

McCourt achieved one of publishing’s highest accolades when he won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography. But he never lost his humble bearings.

I met him, shook his hand and had an opportunity to speak to Mr. McCourt briefly during the 2001 Florida Suncoast Writers Conference. A gentle teacher man, the same age as my father, he had just presented the opening keynote at the conference. He took my hand, turned it over, and said, “I bet you’re a teacher.” I was taken aback, for indeed I was. In fact, I had just started teaching memoir writing courses the semester before at the University of South Florida.

Because of the resurgence in personal storytelling McCourt had spawned, I’d switched from teaching business writing to creative nonfiction writing classes so I could read stories, like McCourt’s, for a living, and help writers write, and perhaps publish, the books of their dreams.

And I shared that with him. He never broke eye contact, and I locked on him, too, reveling in this brief moment with a mentor, a literary icon.

In his characteristic Irish-laden brogue, he thanked me for carrying on something he started “as kind of a bother.”

He winked, then said, “You know, I sometimes still prefer teaching.  Writing is kinda fun, but on the bad days, it can get you down, ya know?”

I agree, both writing and teaching have their flip sides: good days and bad days, great days and blah days.   Whether we’re the student or teaching from the other side of the desk, both are integral parts of the journey to publishing.  The writer’s life is (or ought to be) a lifelong act of learning and figuring things out, as Frank McCourt’s memoirs attest.

What remains a mystery to me is how the iconic Teacher Man figured out I was a teacher by simply taking my hand in his.

Related articles:

In tribute to Frank McCourt, Whose Irish Childhood Illuminated His Prose, Dead at 78

Frank McCourt from photographer David Shankbone’s perspective

Who Gave You Your Name?

Who will know your story if you don’t begin to write it now?

I’m such a fan of writing prompts.  For me, they are the juice that gets me going.  Like a morning cup of joe, they clear the pipes and defog the eyes.

Write for ten minutes on each of these prompts. Use a separate page for each. Put pen to page and just write. First thoughts, no censoring.  Now go…

• Who gave you your name?
• How did they choose that name for you?
• Did you have a family nickname?
• Who gave you the nickname?
• How did you feel about being called that special name?

Now, take what you have written. Reread. Write for 30 minutes on each of the above over the next few days, or weeks, and develop a short vignette.

June Writing Prompt for Memoir – Your Bedroom

Whenever a group of memoir writers get together, and when we talk about home, the subject always seems to turn toward stories that took place in “our rooms.”  No doubt, our earliest bedrooms made a lasting impression on us because they provided a safe haven.  Or did they?  What went on in your room?  Put pen to page and just write. First thoughts, no censoring. Now go…

• Describe your childhood bedroom. What was the view from your window?

• List one special memory about each of your brothers and sisters (or friends).

Now, take what you have written. Reread. Write for 30 minutes on each of the above over the next few days, or weeks, and develop a short vignette.