Documenting the Past

Cindy Veach                                      Rachel Hall

By:  Billy Scanlon

I walk into the Martin Luther King Jr. Room located on the second floor of Ellison Campus Center on November 16, 2017. This is my first time being here. I am immediately greeted by large, framed portraits of remarkable historical figures including King, President Barack Obama, and the Obama family. I sit in the last row because the majority of seats are filled even though the event does not start for another fifteen minutes. To my right there are books by both featured authors being sold by employees from the campus book store. On my left is a pleasant arrangement of cookies, brownies, and coffee for audience members to enjoy during the readings. The readings have yet to begin, but I can already appreciate the atmosphere that has been created by the organizers of this event. I am not sure what to expect of the event, but I am nonetheless intrigued.

The event I attended was titled Writing the Past and featured creative historical writing from two worldly and impressive authors, Rachel Hall and Cindy Veach. Listening to both authors read aloud from their work was a unique and enjoyable experience. I found myself thoroughly engaged in the stories and poems they shared. Both women explained that their art forms were influenced by the past, specifically their family’s personal history. Their writing transported me to the time periods in which their history-inspired writing was set.

The event began with some opening remarks before Rachel Hall took to the podium. She read from her novel Heirlooms, in which she details the stories of generations of a Jewish family living in France during World War II. The excerpt that Hall read illustrated a close-knit family living in a small French Village. I was blown away by the extraordinary imagery and descriptive, emotional detail that Hall incorporates into her writing. The story was written in the third person, but was detailed enough to allow audience members to feel as though they were personally sharing a meal with the characters its characters. Hall crafted the family dynamics of the characters in a very relatable way. In the excerpt read, Sylvie, the main character, is welcoming her in-laws as they arrive for dinner. Their interactions appear to be quite typical at first. Her husband’s parents are met with warm regards and there is slight tension existing between Sylvie and her mother-in-law. This normalcy continued for several pages until it was revealed that Sylvie had a miscarriage. As soon as this part was read aloud and the audience was able to connect the dots as to what had happened to Sylvie, the mood of the room collectively saddened. I found myself invested in the characters and feeling extreme sympathy for Sylvie and her family. I am certain that I would have felt this same sympathy by reading the novel myself. However, there was something about hearing the book read aloud in a small, intimate setting that made Hall’s writing that much more emotional.

Cindy Veach read next from Gloved Against Blood, a collection of her poems. Veach’s poems detailed the everyday life of generations of young girls working in the Lowell Mills. Some of the poems she chose to share with the audience include: “Great Red Wall,” “Drawn,” “Theft,” and “How it Resists.” All of these poems were similar in the sense that they all revealed the physical and emotional toll that working in the mills at such a young age had on these girls. For example, “Theft” details the thoughts of one girl who spends her days longingly gazing out the mill window wishing that she could spend less time working or at least be able to keep her earnings. Veach wrote the majority of the poems in the voices of these girls. I found this fascinating and intriguing because this is simply not something you see every day. Not only was the historical context interesting to experience, but it was also refreshing to revisit this aspect of history from the perspective of the mill girls, as opposed to reading a bleak excerpt about them in a United States History textbook. Veach’s poems also taught me a lot more about the mills. For example, throughout my education growing up, I was never taught that enslaved African Americans worked in these mills. I thought this was an important historical note to make.

Both Hall and Veach provided a welcoming and informative atmosphere for Salem State faculty and students. Both writers place importance on history and crafted their written art in an attempt to preserve the history that they feel should never be forgotten. This experience was eye-opening, made me want to read both Heirlooms and Gloved Against Blood, and also made me want to learn more about what the historical fiction genre has to offer.