On The Same Page; Terry Kaye

What if we could all read the same book. Well that's the focus of our program tonight. What if all of our console could read to dance with the white dog by author Terry K.. We're going to be joined by a distinguished group of panelists for a free wheeling discussion to find out how a single piece of literature could affect so many people differently. Or is it really the same amount of fun down the net. The financial The white dog is the story of the man surviving the death of his wife of 57 years.

It's based on the life of my own mother and father after my mother died in 1973 very suddenly of a heart attack my father who was 80 at the time was left alone in this country home where they had reared 12 children a mysterious white dog appeared not long after the death of my mother and provided a great deal of comfort for my father during his last years of life. This is a story that in the final analysis however is the story of the dignity of age and you're born with. Mate hands welcome we are coming to you tonight from downtown Conway that bookstore at mana Bank place. We are participating in the Arkansas State Libraries if all Arkansas read the same book program and tonight we're discussing with our panelists to dance with the white dog by Terry K.. Let me introduce our panelists to you to my right here is Steele HAYES He is a retired Supreme Court justice from the

Arkansas Supreme Court. To my left is Linda Arnold She is director of field services for the University of Central Arkansas. Back to my right again is Katie Atkinson a sophomore at armorial high school go Tigers. We're happy to have her with this. To my left is Wesley Yule he is a freshman at Hall High School my alma mater in GO WARRIORS Garbo hearn of her current Fine Art is with us in our audience tonight. And Edwin a Wilson who is a clinical social worker and schooled in the world of psychotherapy we're looking forward to hearing all of their comments tonight and by nature of all of you being here. You've read the book to dance with the white dog as have I and I want to start with you still want to get your thoughts on what was it about the book that you found most interesting and most appealing to you. Down to five foot is wrong with the same for obvious reasons. Not quite as close behind

and I think his trip to Madison I believe was Madison to his class reunion was a member of my own experience I used to drive distances pretty readily alone sometimes all night. But I've found that that's just I don't trust myself at this point in life to do that. And so somehow Sam. I guess most people will find out later if you start your truck in third year like Sam. No I want Sam to and the thing I liked most I think was his diary. His journal. It really was a record of family history and so many wise it reminded me of things that I've read written by members of my own family patriarch. That

whole idea of keeping a record of writing things down even minute details things like how much he paid for groceries on a particular day. So that to me was very appealing. It was matter of fact and being that way it was more moving it seemed to me about you Katie. I liked how I was able to keep her presence hidden and how sane people kind of had fun with his children and kept them riled up and got a kick out of it and how they pretended to know that she was there but she really really couldn't steer a truck she'd never to use the new one about us or nearly so because she knows quite well in a word. She was a woman of many words. Gardner How about you what was your favorite aspect of the book. It really took me on an emotional rollercoaster I started out you know I was sad and there with humor. There was romance and I think the most appealing part would be

the way he handled the grief process I think that was really interesting. IT WENT OH OH I guess the therapist to me was not struck by the gender and cultural roles played by the characters. And that as Sam's wife Cora was the caretaker in the nurture and the emotional needs of the family. And Sam was the provider. So it was fun to watch the layers and peel and let Sam reveal some things about him that he had not revealed to even his own family. I want anybody to chime in any time on this but I think one of the overarching messages in the book is how people cope with getting older and how they want to be treated as they get older and since we're all different ages and come from different walks of life I want to hear some commentary on how you know how reading this book kind of changed the way you feel like you want to be treated as you grow older in Lindahl start with you. Well there's something about Sam's good humor. He has

a joking personality that I don't think his girls often understand. His youngest son does. Jones is very much in tune with him but the girls often don't enjoy his humor. It seems to me and that's a shocking. So I guess part of me is thinking back about my father and about my own family and thinking I wish I had been more away are we. We get so wrapped up in worrying and thinking in terms of what what must I do how can I best care for this elderly relative rather than enjoying some of those right times and happy times that are they are. So I guess that's what it made me think I want to I want to somehow be able to still enjoy those like times when they're in agreement as well. I found myself cheering Sam on as he stood his ground and determine that he could make his own base good so he could drive his truck and he could do those things because I think that

question of the right to determine your own future your own destiny is is really an issue there. And I found myself celebrating his set his stance. The character in the book Sammy the family member. Rather from a viewer where a parent feels that he has to be a sick secretive sometimes because the younger the children were overly attentive and sometimes overly controlling. And it seems to me it would have been happy consequence if they could have had a little better understanding same went ahead. It seems to me to conceal the fact that he wanted to go to school reunion a rather understandable call

and the children would have been so prone to misconstrue almost everything he did as the early sign of senility. It was an unhappy consequence essential of course to the narrative of fantasy after regretting that maybe it's that time of life. But it looks like it could have been a little better understanding because it was a loving caring pain. To those of our young people here you're far away off from this point in life that Sam peak was in and to get you guys to think about what it's going to be like and how you want to be treated as you grow older. It did in the very beginning. These were ten cents pretending to sleep in his chair and the children are talking about him like he's not there and it's just you know I started to think are they going to put him right in their home and I don't I don't think it's right to put elderly people

since it doesn't seem right to me because I took care of you when you're younger. So at George the point one of the things that I thought about as I was reading the book to me is I actually attended a funeral the weekend that I was reading the book and that really drove home a bunch of different points to me as I thought about the family member that was that was being buried and how they've been treated they had been in a nursing home for the last four years and so this book really opened up a lot for me. What about some of the characters in the book and I want you to kind of address the character of the white dog which is obviously in the title of the book here. For those who haven't read the book tell him what the white dog comes to symbolize and we're not going give away the ending but I think the white guy was he brought a sense of confort to Sam and the way he came around and the people that he didn't like he didn't like me we knew we didn't like him and I thought that was very

interesting because she was a caretaker but I thought the rug the symbol of you know that his wife was OK and I think that gave him a lot of comfort. Was there a point in the book where you feel like you realize that identified that dog with is his deceased wife or was or a turning point there. I guess when they went to the grave site and then you know mysteriously I thought that was that was kind of the point where I realize that what was going on. What about for the rest of you when did you realize that that's who the character was coming to symbolize. I don't know I kind of thought it all along I think there were there were times when I questioned it but they always comment about the dog in the very beginning that was a guy's dog made me think that I mean I just the same. I guess from the beginning I guess he was near the end for me. One thing that troubled me just a bit

is what Sam would have initially wanted to kill the dog. He he he noted that it was very much like a dog that core had love more than any other animal name frosty. And here he was. His initial plan and then he attempted to have I believe one of the children or son in law I guess came with a rifle. We killed it on that. It was a little difficult for me to get to the interesting thing about that is that I think that would have been his reaction. I think it is a very real reaction because a stray dog at a country like that would have often been run off or or killed and it would have been thought of as merciful not not as a cruel act but rather as something that just had to be done

and it was the man's job to do it. So I think he was taking responsibility as what I thought. I think too there's a point in the book too where he goes from thinking the dog is a mad dog to just a stray that's lost and you know turns into a lovable dog. And then at the point in the book where the dog actually saves his life and he collapse that to me I think was when I fully understood the ramifications of that. Let's talk about another character in the book and that's the character of Wesley That was one of your favorite characters. Did you relate in any way do you know people like me we've never met anybody that is like me we before like what you said about being. That she was in control. That she told the girls what to do. I thought that was wonderful because she took pride in being able to tell them this is the way you're supposed to do this and this is the way you're supposed to do that. Obviously she had been an important part of their lives into men. That's her nature. Kind of took the attention away from Sam and gave

him some time. I guess you could say alone not really in a sense but you know to not be hovered over because the girls were so worried about how she was acting. But when I think it was back in that female role again and she wanted to tell him how to string the beans were to put his salt how to put ice in his class because Cora had always done that. Mama had always done that and she wanted to be sure that everybody followed suit. So gender roles were very very important for that generation I think that somehow they're being a little more diluted today but I think still very prominent there. Let's talk about one of the devices that the author used in the book too and that's the concept of using the journal to keep track of things and I believe it was you into this so that you really like that concept because it was just the little details in life that you know that were recorded and how important and significant those are and you know borate What would you guys think in terms of as you're reading the journals do you guys keep journals yourselves. Is this something that read is this something that resonates with you the mission.

I wish there were and I would have started a dozen finished. But I think it's a commendable thing to do. And I think it's it enriches the life of the person that if I were Stuart know that people what about our younger participant Taylor which is this stimulate you guys to want to keep a journal I have kept a few journals before and it just kind of I grew out of it. But if I were to keep it up I would use it as event for things that troubled me because I think that that I am things that trouble you keep you from enjoying the happiness in your life. And so it would be better to get those things out. I would write down things until they revived and the parts of my life and can be consigned to the wind I magine you

encourage some people at times to write in a different way. It's a very effective tool for creating some new insight about yourself and your own patterns of behavior and communication it really has I think we saw the real Santa and his writing you know we could see the tender side of him and that was his way to express because he had not exposed a lot of himself in the past and this was his way to write down. Sam Sam said this failing saint which he did more and more throughout the book. Let me ask you guys a little bit broader question about why we're here tonight and what the purpose of our discussion has been about and that is under the pretense if all Arkansas read the same book. What do you guys think that if everybody read the same book and had discussions like this what do you think it would do for our state what do you think it would do for our culture and for us in terms of being Arkansans. Well I'm going out to dinner conversations for sure. Very stimulating and I

think would be a tremendous source of greater understanding and knowledge. It's an exciting concept if it could ever come to us. We're making the effort tonight. You are but what are you going to say. And the only way to store courage this surely stimulating literacy and people reading it I think would help us understand each other better if we can have more conversations like this. I'm going to have an opportunity we're going to have an opportunity to visit with the author about this is there a question Are there questions about the book that you would like to pose to the author. Well it struck me the book would be would support either side of the issue there.

And I just wondered if that was intentional or a feeling one way or the other. What would you guys like that if you could offer anything. Problem is no it was based on a real person because of the author's note that he had mentioned. I think I'd like to know the children's reaction to the journal to be in the room when they were dreaming about them so I guess I'd like to know what you'd like us to take away with us last fall from that book quite twice. Why do we got garner from it in his view that he would like us to go on. All right well I appreciate all of you all's comments tonight appreciate you all being here and participate in this discussion and I hope that this doesn't encourage some folks from around the state to read the book to dance with the white dog and to learn a little bit more about it. Thank you all for participating. Thank you thank you.

Terry I want you to tell me what do you what do you want people to walk away with from this book after they've read it. It is it's a very difficult question to answer because I don't think any writer can ever say I want this to happen. What I really want to happen I think most writers feel that this way about their work. I want people to go away thinking about it and coming to the conclusion that they want that satisfies them. I don't I mean books I don't mean stories. I think it's important when you write to try to get the reader to participate in the writing process. And the only way you can do that is to get them to walk away with their conclusion that what the story is about. You wrote this book very quickly very quickly by on your own terms they were. How did it ride itself so easily. Well because it was a story that I knew very well I didn't have to invent this story. All I had to do was fictionalized it to some degree. And so it went it went quickly for me after I wrote the first line in the first line gave me everything that I needed to

know about the book in terms of rhythm and voice and everything else. And also tell me what the book was about in the first line is real simple. He understood what they were thinking and saying old man that he is what's to become of him. That's the entire book in the film online and after that it was simple. Right. Did you base this on your personal thoughts about where you're going in life. Or did you base this on father your father. You know this is taken from the true story of the death of my mother and and my father and what happened with him after my mother died. It is true that a white dog did appear at my father's home. It is true that my father tried to try to run a dogwood wooden one off he was afraid that the dog was rabid and he decided that he should have it killed. He you know he was a man who did not believe in animal suffering and he wanted this dog killed but but nobody could find it. When my brother Mo came

out from the home that he lived on which is very close to my father's home they couldn't find it for two or three days. And that started the whole thing about the sisters thinking my father was a loose and eating and going a bit crazy of loneliness over the death of my mother. But the whole story about the dog being there the dog finally being accepted by my Father except through it all that's true. Tell me how much you in Baelish the story I guess from some degree day experiences that you'd have. I embellished it to some degree because it needed dramatic tension to it. The trip to the to the school for the reunion. All of that was fiction but it also served a purpose for me. This book is about a man's final rite of passage. It's about the dignity of aging. And I had to have one act where he went off to be independent for the last time. That's what he didn't tell his children and what he went away and did the things that he did. You know at the end of the book you get to sit in on

some interesting discussion about great about the book tell me what you thought of people's reaction I thought it was wonderful I've never had that experience and I love the comments I love the observations and I didn't find anything I disagreed with at all like some of the questions that they asked about the book. I like the fact that the some of the characters are meant so much to me like Neely was a character that that impressed him. And I love the observations of the panel. Well some of the questions that stood out to you that leapt out to you. Well I was particularly interested in why did he take the trip. The issue of going off to Madison only and getting lost. All that sort of thing. Because it was important to me in the book to point out here is a man who's been credibly independent and strong throughout his entire life suddenly experiencing what it is to be weak and lost to some degree. I love that question I love

the thought of it. I was interested in the comments about the journal. My father did keep a journal. And I can tell you that the style of writing in the journals is exactly the style of writing he used in his journals that made up the contents of the jargon. It was a and I used it for couple of reasons. Number one to impart information another to use is transitions going from one scene to another scene. But most of all to reveal the persona the character. Going back just a little bit here but after you finished the book and you had a chance to reflect on it how was that for you and how did you apply it to your life. You know I did. It wasn't cathartic at all because I didn't need to get to go through any any closure in the death of my parents I had no real grieving because I grew up in an extraordinary family. I mean this was a really you know unusual family. You had a lot of brothers great I go I have under 11 the 12 children so I had many siblings and.

Great examples for me when I was growing up my parents were wonderful people. We celebrated them. We didn't grieve for them and we celebrated them because that's what they taught us to do. So I didn't have to have closure more than anything else. I wrote the book because I didn't celebrate them because I wanted to do something to tell my family how grateful I am for having been a member of that family. That's really why was the book a lot of people always try to read more than if they're actually it's a simple I want to read it. And why do you like that. Well I do because it tells me that people bring to the stories some experience that they have had. And that's what all of us want as writers we want again that participation from the reader dispel a couple of them this for me though in terms of some things that you've heard about the book that you want to put to rest for instance the symbolism of the importance of Melian what her character is based on.

Neely I think is probably. A truly real character maybe the most real character in the book. She was based on three people that I knew growing up but particularly the one person that was there when my mother died and stayed on to take care of my father to watch over him and especially to Boss those sisters of mine and maybe I and maybe I wrote that a little heavy because I just wanted to make fun of my sister or to have fun with it. Much as anything else I love the character because she's genuinely a wonderful person. I've been asked a great deal was I trying to direct this whole thing about like dog being God or you know representing the spirit world. Not at all. The dog was white and I've been that's what I used was what was real. I think there was something mystic about it. Yes I do believe that but I wasn't trying to write that it just occurred in the in the

telling of the story. This project here in Arkansas if all of Arkansas could read the same book what do you think of the program. I think it's a wonderful program. Of course I should you know I mean it favors me because it selected my book and that makes me feel wonderful but at the same time I like the idea of the program because it encourages a new concept of reading. And that's that's what we want to do we're going to be I was at you think it's a losing life. Yes. Percent it has it has a very specific focus. And when you get a specific focus in a program like this your formal likely to find success out of it than if you just simply say well let's everybody read a book. We all went through that we were growing up you know we got a little gold stars for reading x number of books in the summertime and things of that nature but I like the fact that this appeals to everyone that's just not a children's program or an adult program but it's a program for all the citizens.

Thank you for your time with very much a pleasure I've been joining them and still to come in about our program or our book to dance with the white dog. He's at our Web site at ETN dot org.