Of Highways and the Underground Railroad
I’m at the Leacock Summer Festival in Orillia, Ontario. I’ll be hearing and visiting with authors for the next few days, and will blog as I go along.
You’ve probably speculated, as I have, on the idea of driving across North America — just dawdling along, stopping when you feel like it, and doing whatever comes to mind. All the while collecting memories, taking pictures, and of course keeping a journal.
Two people who’ve done just this are Wayne Grady and his partner Merilyn Simonds. They’re writing a book on their trip – “The Long Way Home.”
I got a preview at last night’s session of the Festival, when Wayne and Merilyn spoke of their adventure and read from their upcoming book. It’s scheduled for publication in September, 2010. It should rank up there with Travels With Charley and Blue Highways.
Their road trip begins at the border crossing of White Rock, B.C. Their intention is to drive wherever across the United States their mood takes them, ending up on the east coast before turning north and back to their home in Athens, Ontario.
Wayne led off their reading, explaining that each is writing his own section of the book. He took us through a farcical Customs clearance and on down past Seattle, all the while speculating on the differences in the sexual drives of men and women. He wondered if they shouldn’t find a romantic motel overlooking the Pacific. A thoroughly funny account.
Merilyn’s literary contribution is of quite a different nature, which will add to the charm of the book. Her reading tells of their travel through the Arizona desert to the Grand Canyon, and visiting the Mormon-populated northern strip of the state. She delivers a geography lesson and gives us telling insights into the religion that brought thousands of faithful polygamists into the “promised land” of Utah and the “democratic theocracy” of Brigham Young
Both are gifted writers. Between them, Wayne and Merilyn have published around a score of books over the past 20 years.
Nature and the environment feature in Wayne’s work. His most notable titles are probably The Great Lakes (Greystone, 2007) and The Tree, with David Suzuki (Greystone, 2006).
Merilyn’s most recent work is Night (Greystone, 2009), an exploration of nocturnal forces. She’s best known for her novels, including The Lion in the Room Next Door.
The first reader at last night’s session was Karolyn Smardz-Frost, the York University archeologist who is the author of the much-acclaimed I’ve Got a Home in Gloryland: The Lost Tale of the Underground Railroad (Thomas Allen, 2006).
This is a wonderful true story of Thornton and Lucie Blackburn, a young slave couple who escape from Kentucky in 1831 and find a home in Toronto. It’s also the story of how the author and her students unearthed their home in a downtown school yard, and her search to learn more about the lives of its occupants.
Ms. Smardz-Frost put her account into a modern context by explaining that a decision by the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada allowing the Blackburns to stay in this country, resonates today in Canada’s refusal to extradite in cases involving the death penalty.
The L-G of that day decided, in the case of the Blackburns, that they should not be sent back to face punishment “more stringent” than that which they would face in Canada. Because slavery had been outlawed here, they were innocent of any crime by Canadian standards.
The Blackburns lived on, to start the first taxi service in Toronto, and to play a vital role in development of the Underground Railroad.
My only disappointment last night was the small crowd hearing these authors. The Leacock Festival has to learn to become a destination attraction. The authors deserve it.
