Back to campus

I'm off to Moscow today for a book signing at the University of Idaho bookstore. It's Mom's weekend, and registration takes place at the bookstore during the signing, which begins at 3 p.m. So, if I'm lucky maybe I can trip a few people and convince them to buy a book or two.

Actually, I refuse to use those tactics at book signings. Maybe I should. I remember years ago sitting next to another author at the Book and Game in Coeur d'Alene's Silver Lake Mall. He sold a lot more books than I did, but don't even ask me what the book titles were. They were forgettable but not his behavior.

Though he never quite tripped any unsuspecting folks walking by our table, he did accost every unsuspecting sucker he could, luring them toward his pile and spewing forth such an obnoxious hard sell, most of his victims bought a book just to get away from that table. It was embarrassing, and it was a long two hours sitting there next to him.

Book events, from an author's perspective, are worth a book in themselves. One sees a little bit of everything in the realm of human behavior. Lots of people walking past your table do everything in their power to avoid eye contact, while others will come up, pick up the book, look over the cover, grill you with questions getting your hopes up for a sale, put the book back in the pile and walk off, wishing you a nice day.

I know from prior conversations that I'm going to see a couple of familiar faces today. In fact, it's very possible I'll see our next-door neighbors. Stan and Geneva have a lovely granddaughter graduating this spring, so they're planning to finish their fishing trip and show up for the weekend festivities. Like Bill says, it's amazing when your next-door neighbors will drive 128 miles to say hello. Well, they do have a few other plans on their agenda besides a visit to my signing.

It's always fun to go back to Moscow, where I spent four years getting myself educated. Oops, that's a half truth, and I might get a low rating like Hillary on my trust-meter. I should say that I spent part of four years getting educated academically and a great deal of time playing pinochle. I got really good at pinochle while residing in the Wallace Complex, in fact, so good that if we were in mid-game when class time came up, I stayed with the cards. Too many times, in fact.

I also recall a lot of early-afternoon absences during freshman year, thanks to "As the World Turns." I was hardly alone while sitting in the packed Carter Hall TV room from 12:30-1:30 p.m. as we skipped that 1:10 class to watch the ever-tantalizing tales of the Hughes family. Was that couple's name "Bob and Lisa?" That's been a long, long time ago, and I know that I eventually dropped that particular soap in favor of following Tad, Greg and Jenny on "All My Children" in the '80s.

Years spent at Moscow were not always fun for me cuz I didn't have much money and spent a lot of my time trying to earn money through the Work-Study program at the Radio-Television Center. The Federal government program did the trick, though, through my senior year, when its funding abruptly ended, and I had to borrow that last $800 for second semester from my folks. Paid every penny back, too.

I graduated in 1969, hardly at the top of academic lists, but proud that for the first time in my life I had achieved a major goal completely through my own self-discipline. The large cadre of parents, neighbors, teachers, other local mentors no longer watched over me, urging and encouraging me onward. If I was gonna get that college degree, it was going to be through my own diligence----and the realization of that goal made all the difference---even if it wasn't pretty by academic standards.

There is much on the University of Idaho campus which provides me a "homecoming" of sorts every time I visit. It definitely reminds me of a time in life when my self image took a major hit or two, simply because of my own doing or lack thereof. Still, I learned pinochle, learned about the people of the world, and learned a lot about myself. Yes, I did learn from the professors too---many truths about life and many generalities about all there was yet to learn.

We were works-in-progress then, and I believe, almost 40 years later, we continue to be. I'm looking forward to seeing a new generation of soon-to-be graduates stroll through the bookstore with their moms this afternoon.

Whether they walk past and avoid eye contact or actually stop at my table to buy a book, I know I'll come home smiling because the event will serve as my own temporary trip back to a time of life and a place where my small world expanded just a wee bit.