Carolyn Cooke’s short story collection, The Bostons (Houghton Mifflin), was a winner of the 2002-2004 PEN/ Bingham Award, a finalist for the PEN/L.L. Winship Award, and a runner-up for the PEN/Hemingway, and was named one of the best books of the year by the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. Her fiction has appeared in AGNI, The Gettysburg Review, The Idaho Review, New England Review, The Paris Review, Ploughshares, StoryQuarterly and in two volumes each of Best American Short Stories and Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards. Her nonfiction and reviews have appeared in Contemporary Literary Criticism and The Nation. A recipient of fellowships from Bread Loaf, the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Arts Council, the Ucross Foundation and the Corporation of Yaddo, she currently teaches in the MFA writing program at the California Institute of Integral Studies. Her first novel, Daughters of the Revolution, is forthcoming from Knopf.
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Hello Caroline,
Do you remember me? I guess in respect to where we’ve gone from our last moment together, in California, at your place, with you and Randall, it has been long enough for us to forget, although you being a writer, you probably don’t forget, but spend most of your time remembering (writing?).
Our Blog subjects couldn’t be more different (ParisTampaBlog.com) but in an idle moment you might read one or more of my some 482 posts and want to respond. Just recently I’ve been exchanging emails with Tony Caimi who, along with your father, was one of my Harvard roommates. And he directed me to a short piece written by your mother for our, I believe, 55th reunion directory. It was mostly about you, John’s daughter, and I was glad to hear about how well you are doing.
Philip
Dear Philip,
Wonderful to hear your voice – here and on your blog, which I will bookmark and continue to read my way through. (I have subscribed, too, by e-mail to your site.) I love your re-vision of the Waring Mission statement twenty years later, the chance to re-read some of your thinking over the years about education – and the general elegance of your blog.
How could I ever forget you?
Do you know that since we saw you last, our Pacific Community Charter School (California Charter #192, founded 1999) has expanded from K-8 to K-12, twice received the highest (six year) accreditation by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, and now has over 100 students and faculty? A few years ago three seniors of a class of five were admitted to Stanford (all graduated with honors), we’ve had a California youth poet laureate, a kid who earned a pilot’s license as a for-credit “passage,” a fireman, students who spent time in Italy, India, Brazil, Argentina, and Egypt (our son, Zack, who you may remember as a Waring baby, is currently on a Junior – college – year in Cairo on a full Ambassadorial Scholarship). You and Josee visited here just as this school was taking shape, and I have always known that Randall and I would never have become so deeply involved in this project if we had not seen and known and tried to emulate your and Josée’s spirit and energy. You proved to be dangerous role models. I’m so happy to be in touch – and to have this wonderful access to your writing.
My new novel, Daughters of the Revolution, is forthcoming this June from Knopf. There are definitely aspects of my father and family history that you will recognize – and there is also a head of a private (boy’s) school near the center of the book (based on Nobles, not Waring). But it’s your world too, and I hope you might be interested. We often see Alex Burger and Charlotte – and have been in touch with many, many alums over the years, both on east and west coasts, and think of Waring often as a formative, essential, happy time in our lives. (It was, it was!)
I hope we can keep in touch.
Best,
Carolyn
redtag@mcn.org