1 00:00:10,119 --> 00:00:13,240 Speaker 1: I did a Christmas show last year in Saint Paul, 2 00:00:14,640 --> 00:00:20,199 ended with the audience singing Silent Night, three verses acapella, 3 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:27,079 the Infant, Tender and Mild, the quaking Shepherds, the radiant beams, 4 00:00:27,280 --> 00:00:33,520 and minutes later, who should come backstage but my cousin 5 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:39,840 Phyllis and her family, which made me very happy. Her 6 00:00:39,880 --> 00:00:45,240 mother was my Aunt Jean, who was very funny and 7 00:00:45,280 --> 00:00:49,520 she had a big heart. And when I was a 8 00:00:49,560 --> 00:00:54,200 toddler and Dad went into the army, Aunt Jean took 9 00:00:54,240 --> 00:00:59,359 my mother and us three little kids into her big 10 00:00:59,399 --> 00:01:06,159 house in Saint Paul, and I still remember how welcome we were. 11 00:01:07,120 --> 00:01:12,640 I go back home now and then, and people walk 12 00:01:12,760 --> 00:01:16,120 up to me in the hotel Saint Paul who remember 13 00:01:16,239 --> 00:01:21,200 me as a friendly radio voice, and some of them 14 00:01:21,239 --> 00:01:25,840 were apparently quite attached to that voice. I met a 15 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:30,599 young woman the other week who gasped as if I 16 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:33,920 were a ghost, and she said, we listen to you 17 00:01:34,079 --> 00:01:38,519 every Saturday at five o'clock, and I still miss you. 18 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:43,079 I'd feel that way if I ran into a J. Leebling, 19 00:01:43,239 --> 00:01:47,359 I would be stunned and tell him how I loved 20 00:01:47,359 --> 00:01:50,599 his writing. When I was in the eighth grade, at 21 00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:55,079 Anoka High School. I read The Sweet Science and The 22 00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:59,760 Road Back to Paris, but he's been dead since nineteen 23 00:01:59,799 --> 00:02:05,480 sixty three. I miss Saint Paul, which is still my home, 24 00:02:06,480 --> 00:02:10,360 but not because I'm admired there. I love it for 25 00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:14,080 the same reason when wife loves New York. She came 26 00:02:14,719 --> 00:02:19,000 to New York from Minnesota as a teenager to study 27 00:02:19,120 --> 00:02:23,759 violin and become a musician, and so she went through 28 00:02:24,400 --> 00:02:30,719 hard time. She experienced poverty, she stayed true to her vocation, 29 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:36,120 and when she got the blues, she found relief by 30 00:02:36,159 --> 00:02:42,080 taking long walks around Manhattan. She was proud she never 31 00:02:42,680 --> 00:02:47,719 asked for help, and that makes Manhattan her true home, 32 00:02:48,439 --> 00:02:54,240 the place where she gained independence. I did my hard 33 00:02:54,280 --> 00:02:58,599 times in Saint Paul. I was broke there. I lived 34 00:02:58,639 --> 00:03:03,479 for years with no savings or insurance. I once had 35 00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:07,360 to live in my in law's basement for three months 36 00:03:07,879 --> 00:03:15,400 pure humiliation, although they were very hospitable. I got fired 37 00:03:16,039 --> 00:03:21,039 in Saint Paul twice, but I survived, and I bought 38 00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:25,919 my first house on Goodrich Avenue in nineteen eighty two 39 00:03:26,240 --> 00:03:31,680 with money from my first book. I like living in 40 00:03:31,719 --> 00:03:37,159 Manhattan now. I love the fact that my wife loves Manhattan. 41 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:44,919 I like being a pedestrian, being an invisible nobody. I 42 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:49,400 take my face around the town and experience the here 43 00:03:49,520 --> 00:03:51,599 of the here and the there of the there, without 44 00:03:52,159 --> 00:03:57,319 ever needing to impersonate myself. I go forward for communion 45 00:03:57,879 --> 00:04:04,039 at Saint Michael's just one more sheep. I'm a perpetual 46 00:04:04,159 --> 00:04:09,280 tourist here because I had money when I came here. 47 00:04:10,039 --> 00:04:15,039 I never had to struggle. I'm in awe of Jenny's 48 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:22,000 dedication to independence. Her grandparents lived in New Jersey. They 49 00:04:22,040 --> 00:04:27,920 were well to do, and she never asked them for 50 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:34,199 any help. The happiest Christmas that I remember was the 51 00:04:34,279 --> 00:04:37,759 year after we married, and we put on a big 52 00:04:37,839 --> 00:04:44,519 Christmas dinner for a whole bunch of her freelance musician friends. 53 00:04:44,959 --> 00:04:50,160 We made a feast and they were delighted, and it 54 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:56,399 turned into a long evening of hilarity and loose talk 55 00:04:56,639 --> 00:05:01,120 and merriment. And I didn't know them, but I felt 56 00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:08,759 honored by their friendship. And looking back at that marvelous night, 57 00:05:09,759 --> 00:05:13,920 I see it was all due to their having known 58 00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:21,480 poverty at one time. A person will enjoy a feast 59 00:05:21,879 --> 00:05:27,560 more if you've experienced living on the edge. There is 60 00:05:27,639 --> 00:05:33,720 a dullness that comes with the comfortable life. My parents 61 00:05:33,759 --> 00:05:37,399 grew up in the Depression, and they strove to give 62 00:05:37,519 --> 00:05:42,360 us a life free from want. And now I think 63 00:05:42,439 --> 00:05:47,199 I was drawn to the literary life by a craving 64 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:51,560 for danger. I was fired when I was twenty five, 65 00:05:52,240 --> 00:05:55,399 and I set out to be a writer, and I 66 00:05:55,519 --> 00:06:01,800 wound up in my in law's basement. I worry, as 67 00:06:01,800 --> 00:06:05,879 old people do, about the kids I see who are 68 00:06:06,560 --> 00:06:11,480 growing up in the dreadful clutter of American life, the 69 00:06:11,560 --> 00:06:16,399 gizmos and the social media bullying. And can they find 70 00:06:16,519 --> 00:06:21,879 delight as I did in skating on the frozen Mississippi 71 00:06:22,639 --> 00:06:27,959 and discovering a j Leebling and Jenny found listening to 72 00:06:28,480 --> 00:06:34,480 Prokofiev and Brahms. I pray for our kids to be 73 00:06:34,680 --> 00:06:41,680 light hearted. The darkness is out there, and Christmas becomes 74 00:06:42,360 --> 00:06:49,040 utterly beautiful, the circle of love and friendship, the lighted candles, 75 00:06:49,639 --> 00:06:56,079 the anticipation of the child, the radiant beams, and the 76 00:06:56,199 --> 00:06:57,279 redeeming grace.