November 13, 2004, business meeting, Norman Mailer Society, commencing at 9:30 a.m. in Provincetown, Massachusetts. J. Michael Lennon, president, presiding.
Good morning everyone. Welcome to the Business Meeting of the Norman Mailer Society. The first item on the agenda is acceptance of the minutes of the meeting of November 1, 2003. Could I have a motion to approve the minutes, please? James Romano moves – Do I have a second? Bonnie Culver seconds. Thank you very much. Any changes to the minutes or corrections to the minutes? Hearing none, all those in favor of approving the minutes, please say aye.
Group: Aye.
Lennon: Those opposed, same sign. Thank you, the minutes have passed. I’ve got a series of announcements here, but first I want to tell you what’s in your packet. You have a number of items – you’ve got an agenda for this meeting, the business meeting, and you also have the printed program with Norman’s picture in the sailor cap on it. You have the minutes, of course, of last year’s meeting. You have the Society by-laws; you have the Treasurer’s report. You also have some biographies of people who are presenting. There’s a sheet on the Lucid Award and there is a beautiful map of Provincetown with made up by Steve Borkowski and the map shows the locations where we’re going to be meeting today. And there are parking directions, very important because of the rain. The restaurants are in the circled “R” and on the right you have the telephone numbers and the addresses of the restaurants. A lot of us were at the Red Inn last night and then saw our restaurant in the film but all the other restaurants are very good.
People have asked about books by Mr. Mailer. His books will be sold by the Provincetown Repertory Theatre tonight at the Theatre. There will be six or eight of his titles, including *Tough Guys Don’t Dance and The Executioner’s Song –sold there. And there are other books here by various members of the Society. Also, Mr. Larry Schiller’s got some books over there. Mickey Knox, who is a great friend of Norman’s, has his new book there, as well. So if anybody is interested in those, Monica Cardenas will be glad to sell them to you. And across from her, Sabrina McLaughlin is selling T-shirts and hats at $10 apiece. *
*The first announcement is that the Society has achieved non-profit status. This was done through the pro bono work of Mr. Ivan Fischer, who is Norman’s lawyer in New York City. He’s a criminal lawyer but he has many colleagues in the legal business. He took the task and we are now incorporated in the State of New York as a non-profit organization. We are now permitted to take contributions and write letters back saying you have made tax-deductible contribution. Some people made contributions in 2004. If they did, they will receive a letter from the Treasurer indicating that it’s a tax-exempt contribution. It’s not an easy thing to achieve. I know the James Joyce Society took five years and about $8,000 to do it. Ivan Fischer did it without asking for a nickel, and he said he would refuse to take any money. He was very glad to help the Society and I’m very pleased at that development. That’s very important for us as a Society. It is, however, a provisional approval. We get full approval after five years. We have to submit a tax form – for example, we’re going to have to pay taxes on the money from selling hats and T-shirts; its non-related business income. We have to file a tax form every year; he’ll have a tax identification number and all that good stuff. So, we’re official. *
*Last year, there was one mistake in the minutes and that was the amount of the gift that Mr. Lawrence Schiller made to us. He made a gift of $5,000 not $2,000. It says $2,000 in the minutes – that’s incorrect. His $5000 gift from has been matched by another $1500 or $1600 in contributions and that total amount of money will now be put into some kind of an instrument – it will be an endowment for the Robert F. Lucid Award and for other projects that the Board and the membership might approve. So we’re very grateful to Larry Schiller – it was very generous of him. We hope we can build that amount up into a larger sum; indeed, Mr. Schiller has offered to help us do that. He has some ideas about where we may get some more funds to build up that endowment. In the long term, having an endowment for the Society will make a difference. If you know you’ve got a steady stream of income, even if only a thousand dollars a year, it can really make a big difference. Any questions on that – or anything I’ve said so far? Please, just raise your hand. We’re pretty informal, as you know. *
*The third item on the announcements is the Journal of Modern Literature. John Whalen-Bridge from the University of Singapore is Secretary of the Society. He is editing a special issue of the Journal of Modern Literature– we hope it’s going to be out on Norman’s 82nd birthday, on January 31, 2005. It contains essays by a number of people in this room. It focuses on Mailer’s work from The Executioner’s Song forward. Mr. Schiller collaborated on two earlier works with Mr. Mailer – The Faith of Graffiti and Marilyn. So that’s a special issue of that and we will put information on the website on how people can get copies of it. John Whalen-Bridge has been working on this for a long time. Some young Mailer scholars have contributed to it as well as some old hands. *
*Book sales, I’ve already mentioned. T-shirts and hats, I’ve already mentioned. The luncheon today will be in the Tiffany Room, just right down the hall on the left. *
Congressman Neil Abercrombie will be speaking on Mailer’s political vision. That luncheon will start at 12:30. There will be time after the address for questions. We have a nice lunch catered by a woman who is the chef at The Commons, which is a great restaurant in town. Her name is Chach and she’s got several fine dishes for us. Some shrimp and some scallops and a lot of other things. There’s also vegetarian meals – it’s going to be great. The cocktail party will be at the Pilgrim Monument and you all know where that is. It’s very easy to find, all you have to do is look up. And that cocktail party will be from 4:30 to 6:00 and you will need your name tag to get in. Your name tag will also be needed to get into the reception at the Mailers’ home tonight. At the Monument reception, there will be an exhibit of Mailer materials, mainly focused on Tough Guys Don’t Dance, because it’s the 20th anniversary of that novel, but also on The Executioner’s Song. Mr. Mailer has written a lot of his books in this town. That’s all the announcements I have. Do you have any more, David?
*David: Just to reinforce the point about the name tags: It will be very important that wherever you go today to please take your name tag. Our students will be helping clear people through. The Rep Theatre has sold some tickets for the Mailers’ reading to the public already, a very limited number. We want to make sure our membership is in there first. But, to assist the girls in clearing people please have your name tags available to show this evening at the Rep Theatre. *
Lennon: Mrs. Mailer was the artistic director of the Provincetown Repertory Theatre for two years and she is on the board of the Provincetown Repertory Theatre. Norman and Norris have done several benefits for the Theatre, with Gore Vidal, with George Plimpton, with members of their family. They did Long Day’s Journey into Night last year. Earlier they did Don Juan in Hell and Ernest, Scott and Zelda. Each year the Mailers have really helped them a great deal and this is another attempt to help the Rep continue its work. This is the first theatre in Provincetown since Eugene O’Neill’s fell into the waves some time ago. We’re very proud of it; it’s a beautiful building and they raised two and a half million bucks to do it. So the Mailers are very much involved in that effort and I think you’ll love the theatre, it’s a great place.
Question: Will the books that will be sold this evening benefit the Theatre?
Lennon: Yes, the books sold there this evening will be to benefit the Repertory Theatre – Mr. Mailer’s books. Okay, now we’ll go to the Treasurer’s report, David Light.
Light: Well, good morning. It’s always great to putting a face to the name. Being Treasurer of the Society I’m for a second year has its challenges. Probably more challenging than being a principal of a high school today. Certainly, communication is very important and I have stumbled along the way in some instances. What Mike has said about the attainment of non-profit status means that if you made a contribution to the Lucid Fund earlier this year, it is a charitable contribution. I was waiting until we did get that status so I could send you an official letter that would document it. I am trying, through my excel spreadsheet, to have a record all your emails. If you don’t have an email addresses, that’s okay. For those people who I do have email addresses for, I send out U.S. mail notices of receiving payment for your dues, or in this case, the conference fees. I may have stumbled along the way, but if you have any suggestions for better communication, please send them to me. And then if I can’t answer them, I pass them on to Mike. So, please during the conference today, if you have any suggestions, I’m certainly willing to listen. The Treasurer’s Report you should have in your packet. It’s a very simple Treasurer’s Report: it details money we received and money we spent. We had a balance that we forwarded to this year of $11,158.37 and primarily our receipts go into two categories – the membership’s conference registration and the Lucid Fund contributions as well. And once again, I myself would like to acknowledge, with deep gratitude, Mr. Schiller for his $5,000 donation to this account. At some point we’re going to have some discussion in terms of what we would like to do with this money, in terms of turning it into an endowment. So, we have total receipts, as you can see, of over $27,000. The expenses I also try to categorize for this fiscal year. Pretty much, it’s either postage or printing. As far as conference expenses, some bills have been paid for already. But there will be others outstanding, which I will report on next year. We sitting pretty good right now with a balance of about $16,500. That’s pretty healthy. Like I said, we have some more bills to pay and that will be reflected in our next business meeting report. Mr. President.
*Lennon: I’d like to ask if someone would make a motion to approve the Treasurer’s Report. Congressman Abercrombie has moved the motion? Can I have a second to that? Diane Polachek seconds. Thank you. All those in favor of approving the Treasurer’s Report, please say aye. *
Group: Aye.
Lennon: Opposed? Motion passes. We’ve also been notified that we can apply for a tourism grant through the town of Provincetown and perhaps later on through the state of Massachusetts. And we intend to do that to support the work of the Society. The Provincetown Visitors Service Board has assisted us already and we’re very grateful to them for their support. And also the Town Manager, Keith Bergman, who is a member of the Society and is with us today. Before I go to the Nominating Committee, I have a list of thank yous to people who have helped make this conference possible. Keith and Margaret Bergman have helped a great deal. Chuck Griffith, Kimber Billow have helped. So has Steve Borkowski who has done the lion’s share of the work in town. Christopher Busa has also been very helpful and supportive. Eric Anderson from the Inn here has been a great guy to work with and we’re very pleased with him. At the Monument, Jeffrey Morris and Laurel Gaydos have been great. At the Fine Art’s Work Center, the executive director of that, Hunter O’Hannion, has been wonderful. Barbara Lupack, a member of the Society’s Board, is not here today. She couldn’t attend, she really wanted to. And she’s the one that took on the task of finding out how to get T-shirts and hats done and made and it wasn’t a simple process. And the pens, as well. She did all that and we’re very grateful to her. Back at my university, there are three people that helped a lot. Cathy Link, Dean Darin Fields and Matt Koch were wonderful. Our chef today is known as Chach but her real name is Viola Brisana—a first-class chef–but everybody calls her Chach. Duane Prickard and Tom Comora are going to be bartenders today. Duane works with Norman; he’s been very helpful. Patrick Fitzpatrick from the P-Town Visitors Service Board has been great. Sue Harrison from the “Provincetown Banner” gave us a wonderful article in the “Banner.” Tom Eagan at the Theatre has been very supportive, as well as Holly Grandberg and Denise Pappas of the PRT Board have helped up a great deal. And of course, all the members of the Board, I want to thank them. Barry and David and Bob Lucid and Phil Bufithis and all the other members of the Board, I’m very grateful for everything you’ve done. And finally the four young ladies at the front, Sabrina, Monica, Tara and Kerri, thank you very much for your work. Kerri and Tara have done this before, they’re veterans and they put a good face forward for the Society. If there’s anybody I’ve forgotten, I apologize. I think I’ve got everybody down on this list, but if I haven’t, I want to thank everybody for their assistance. Now I’ll turn it over to Barry Leeds, chair of the Nominating Committee.
Leeds: Thanks, Mike, I have two motions to make. The first is I move that the twelve of the current Board of Directors be appointed to staggered terms of one, two and three years. Actually, we did have this worked out last year but we didn’t propose it in this way. And so I hope that this will be a mere formality and that you’ll agree to it. We would like to propose one-year terms ending at the next meeting in 2005 for the following four people: Robert Begiebing, Phil Bufithis, Christopher Busa and Barbara Lounsberry. We would like to propose two-year terms ending the following November, which is to say 2006, for Robert Lucid, Barbara Lupack, John Buffalo Mailer and Barbara Wasserman. And we would like to propose three-year terms ending in November of 2007 for J. Michael Lennon, Barry Leeds, David Light and John Whalen-Bridge. I move this slate. And do I have a second? Thank you, Bob Begiebing seconds. May we call the question? All those in favor, please, aye.
Group: Aye.
Leeds: Any opposed? Abstentions? Second, as you remember, according to the by-laws, we hope eventually to have as many as 18 board members. We have 12 at present. My second motion is that the following three members be added to the Board. First, for a one-year term, Congressman Neil Abercrombie, Democrat from Hawaii, who will be our luncheon speaker. Secondly, Ivan Fischer, Norman Mailer’s lawyer who, as you already heard from Michael, has been so instrumental in enabling us to get tax-free status, and third, the well-known, Lawrence Schiller, Mailer’s collaborator and patron of the Society. Ivan Fischer for a two-year term and Lawrence Schiller for a three-year term. I move this. May I have a second? Thanks. Sal Cetrano seconds. And all those in favor, aye.
Group: Aye.
*Leeds: Any negatives? Okay. *
Lennon: Very good. Thank you. Thanks, Barry. I guess you’re up again, Barry, for the Robert F. Lucid Award.
Leeds: In business meetings, which are generally pretty boring, I think this is, if not the most exciting, the happiest moment. I was privileged to chair the small committee to make a search for all of the work that was done during 2003 on Mailer. We sought out suggestions from other Society members or any place else we could get them. We had some wonderful contenders and before I announce the winner, I would like to acknowledge the committee which was rather small and did an enormous job. One of our members is not here today – that’s the wonderful Barbara Lounsberry. She’s just terrific – get that read into the Congressional Record. The second is my good friend and colleague, Phil Bufithis. I wish he’d come up and join us here for the presentation. And I guess it’s time then. The Norman Mailer Society, and this of course carries a $250 check, but as far as I’m concerned, far more important, the very large honor of being not only the recipient, the first recipient which I did have inscribed on this handsome plaque. The Norman Mailer Society presents the First Annual Robert F. Lucid Award for Mailer Studies to J. Michael Lennon, 13 November 2004. Michael, congratulations.
[Applause]
*Lennon: This is a surprise. *
Leeds: I just want to say what it was for, and Michael, here is a check for $250 that David just wrote. As far as I’m concerned, believe it or not, the honor is the great thing. And here’s the title of what he did, a really substantial piece of Mailer scholarship. It’s for “Norman Mailer, a Comprehensive Essay with Primary and Secondary Bibliography” published in Scribner’s Great Writers’ Series, 2003”, edited by Jay Parini. That’s a mouthful, but I’ll tell you, it really is a substantial and magnificent addition to the body of Mailer scholarship and we thank Michael for doing it.
Lennon: Thank you. Great surprise, I had no idea. Thank you. Well, I am surprised and grateful. Thank you very much; I’m very honored, especially because of the person who this award is named for who has, of course, been a leader to all of us in our work on Norman Mailer, Bob Lucid, who is sitting right here and I think we should give him a hand.
[Applause]
Lennon: The next item on the agenda is the website and I want to say about the website that it needs more work. We know it needs more work. We are looking for people to help us run it. Originally, we hoped that John Whalen-Bridge was going to be able to do this as the Secretary of the Society. But John has been tied up so much in working on the special issue of The Journal of Modern Literature. And also, he’s in Singapore. And even though we can go things electronically, it’s very difficult some times to get these things done. So, what I’d like to say about the website is that I’m looking for volunteers. I’ve put a few things up, and sometimes they’re late. But there are many things going on, many activities that Society members, that deal with Mailer studies, and we just don’t get them up there in time. If we’re going to really move ahead as a Society, we have to keep track of things, when Norman publishes an essay or an interview somewhere; when he appears, as he did recently on “The Gilmore Girls," we should put that up on the website. It would certainly publicize such appearances ahead of time, but we usually don’t get around to doing it. So I’m just announcing that anyone who is interested in contributing to the website and putting up articles of interest, bibliographies, all sorts of things that you can do on the website, we welcome your help. Links to other sites that deal with Norman Mailer is another possibility. Please contact me and let me know of your interest. I will be very glad to talk to you and see if I can get you involved in working on the website. It ought to be a real spiffy website. Yes, sir, Neil Abercrombie?
*Neil: Thank you very much. Maybe I can make a contribution now. But Mike, in all honesty, you’re dreaming if you think you’re going to get a volunteer to run the website. And I don’t say that to discourage anybody, it’s just that having the responsibility for keeping one up is a large job. It sounds great and it sounds easy running a website. But that’s not the way it works. It really takes somebody who’s going to be dedicated. I just think the Board maybe ought to think about whether or not we can raise a little money, not to hire somebody full-time. There are people that love to do this sort of thing because of the challenge. And there is so much work, which your award, by the way, emphasizes, there is so much out there, if you can get it on the website, it will extend the capacity for people out there who might become interested in what Norman has done. To actually to be able to get a hold of them, be able to spread the word. There are people out there that are anxious to do that. What we probably need to do is look around for someone who is already interested as a student, perhaps, or even a professional with a little spare time and wants a challenge. And pay them a small stipend for their time, commensurate with the efforts they’re willing to put in. You ought to think about it, it doesn’t have to be a lot of money. Believe me, there are people out there who would love the challenge. But you’ve got to get people who really know what they’re doing. *
Lennon: That’s a very good suggestion. We have a young man, who helped us get the website started, and he only charges $10 an hour and I think the total bill was $190. But he’s got another job and it’s hard to find him and pin him down and so I think what the Congressman suggests is a very good idea. We can certainly afford to pay someone a modest amount of money to help us do the website. And that’s the person who would be sort of the coordinator of the website, who’d actually get the material up there. Somebody with the technical skills to do it. The actual server is at Wilkes University but it doesn’t have to be. That’s just because I’m there. It can be in any other place. We also need content as well. We need people to send us news clippings and ideas and information on those who are going to publish an essay or a book that has some bearing on Mailer. There are so many biographies of literary figures being published. My brother just sent me the biography of James Dickey that came out a couple years ago. And it has wonderful stuff on Mailer in it. We need somebody to write a synopsis up of what’s of interest in such works to the members of the Society and put it up on the website. Larry Schiller, would you like to say something?
Schiller: Who is handling the site now?
Lennon: Currently, the site is being hosted by Wilkes University. They’ve been very nice about it. The young man who has helps out, his name is David Franks, he has – we’ve been paying $10 an hour. But it isn’t necessarily a permanent place, although I don’t think Wilkes University is going to go away. Yes, Larry.
Schiller: Does the University maintain it for free?
*Lennon: Yes. They’re not charging us anything for that. *
Lennon: Yes, Neil?
Neil: If you’ll look around for some help, I’ll put the first $500 in.
Lennon: Okay, thank you very much.
Neil: I think everybody right away will understand what we’re trying to do and the beneficiary will be everybody who is remotely interested. And I think what Larry said is true, we’re going to find an enormous amount of interest out there.
Lennon: Thank you very much. That’s very generous of Neil, and please send all your information to me, any ideas and so forth. I think we have to move in the directions outlined. Phil?
*Phil: I think that it’s perhaps a two-person operation if you have a Society member as the overseer to work closely with a graduate student interested in Mailer studies for, say, a three-year term. When that graduate student goes on, start up another graduate student so you have an academic presence that would have the familiarity and expertise with the kind of information you’re disseminating along with the technical help. *
*Lennon: Yes, absolutely. *
Lennon: Well, I’m going to call on Larry Schiller and Neil and Phil Sipiora since they have all ventured opinions on this to advise us and help us as we move forward on this. So, thank you very much for that. That’s very helpful.
Schiller: No more comments!
Lennon: No more comments. Now, I’d like to turn to Larry Schiller who has an idea about student support. Larry, maybe you’d better come up to the podium and talk about your idea.
Schiller: Thank you very much again for nominating me to the Board. I didn’t come here with that in mind. I come to the conference as somebody who has a very, very small background in literature and writing but I’ve come because I believe that what I see out here in the audience is not what I would like to see. I came last year and I came this year because of something that happened down in Florida some thirty years ago. I belonged at that time in the National Press Photographers Association and every year a lot of us went to Florida. It was a big conference and the photographers came from all over the United States, all over the world. It started with 50, 60 people and grew and grew and grew. I was there about the 5th of 6th year for the first time. And I didn’t see anybody in the audience under 25 years of age. And I was very, very upset because I said, what are we doing here if we cannot bring young people to learn the craft, to learn what we’re doing and to expand ourselves and keep, in essence, the names and the people alive that started photography and so forth. So, I suggested that we go out into the photographic community and find supporters that every year would bring at least 10 photographers, high school photographers, college photographers, to the association so they could experience by osmosis those people that had lived through, in essence, modern journalism. Those people that have lived through the life of Norman Mailer, is what I’m saying. For us to be here and then to move on in our lives, and not have somebody younger experience what we’ve experienced by conversation, by the hesitation and the pause, which sometimes even means more than the words that are spoken is something that makes me feel uncomfortable. I think we should go out, and I’m certainly willing to be the locomotive to start it. And every year starting next year, start to bring 10 students from across the country so they can experience what we have experienced. In Florida, believe it or not, the first year, the young man that came from the college wound up being the chief photographer of Time Magazine, nine years later. There was a young lady the third year who wound up being a picture editor at the new type of Life Magazine, not the old type. So there is great talent out there and that’s what we want to expose ourselves to in whatever way we can help that talent. I think we can go out into the community. I think I personally would go and set up a meeting with the head of Barnes and Noble, not to promote Norman Mailer. To promote the students. Not to go in and try to sell commercial people on Norman Mailer. Because the minute they see that, they’re going to say, oh now I’ve got to promote this author and this author. No. I want to go out there and say, here is another way of bringing students to literature, to writing, to non-fiction writing. Whatever. I have a niece, and she’s taking journalism at a college in Laguna Hills. A two-year community college. She didn’t know who Norman Mailer was and it really just blew my mind. I could not believe that they’re teaching her journalism and Norman Mailer – who even though he writes great fiction, has written great journalism. Now, I’m not here to try to correct that, but in some ways, the students that would come would go back and talk to other students who may not know of the body of work, or even the type of journalism that Mailer was involved in. So, I want to go out and promote students being brought forward, not only to the Norman Mailer Society, we start here for our benefit, but the sales pitch that I want to bring is that we’re, by osmosis, we’re going to bring young people to works that eventually, I hate to say it, will sell books. So, all of that having been said, I’m prepared in my time to work with whatever members the Board feels would be good, to lay out a comprehensive plan before we take the first step and then go out and test the water. And hopefully next year, we will not only have some students here but bring a report to the Society that would be beneficial for many years to come.
Leeds: Can I say something about this? First of all, this subject sounds somewhat paradoxical or contradictory because at one and the same time, I applaud what Larry said and I would bend every effort to help in such a motive. But, at the same time, I would beg to differ because those of us who are on the front lines with the younger generation, for example, Mike and I teach Mailer courses every year of our lives and we do have people, not only – there are those of us in the white-haired category - at one point, I used to think that we’d get old, we’d retire and die and eventually the legacy would die with us until some Arthur Mizner of the 21st century came along and rediscovered Norman’s works. At one point several years ago, I even said that to him and he was not in total disagreement. But in recent years, all of us, certainly I have been very cheered by the fact that we have a second cadre of really jumping – that’s an official scholarly term – Mailer scholars in their 40s, not in their 60s, like John Whalen-Bridge and others. But most exciting I have personal knowledge of, Michael has personal knowledge of, many of us have second- and third- and fourth-hand knowledge of people in their 20s, many of them, many, many of them, young women like Tara Carlin and Kerri Provost who, I won’t put on the spot to make them say something, but I would invite them to say something about this. And this is merely the tip of the iceberg because I have a class full of dedicated Mailer students and years of them going back for the past decade or so, who remain in touch, who are writing and make theses with me on Mailer’s works – one of whom went on to doctoral work which my institution doesn’t offer, but in Mailer studies. And have given me this enormous resurgence and renaissance of hope that the legacy will be passed on, that the man who will not fall but be caught and born again. And I would ask, if I’m not embarrassing you, would you, Tara or would you Kerri, say something about what you’re seeing among your peers.
Female: [cannot hear]
Lennon: Well I think both Larry and Barry are correct, and Tara, there are a lot of people out there interested in Norman Mailer and they don’t know about us. And we need to reach them. And there are also a lot of people out there, I have to agree with Larry, who don’t know who Norman Mailer is. I think there are two groups out there and we need to reach them both. Larry’s focusing on the journalistic side of it. And Barry is not focusing on that side of it, and I think that that’s part of the division on this. I think they’re both correct. In the world of journalism, 25, 30 years ago, everybody – Norman Mailer’s name was on everybody’s lips. That’s not true today. A lot of young journalists don’t know who he is. I think probably he has more followers in the literary community than – the journalistic community, the people who are in their 50s and 60s now and remember The Armies of the Night and Miami and the Siege of Chicago and books like that. They are, of course, still very much Mailer partisans. But the younger generation, I don’t know that they know as much about it. So I do support Larry’s idea and at the same time, give Barry a pat on the back for all the work he has done in spreading the name of Norman Mailer. We do have some students here, Larry, and I think I’ve got 4 or 5 students who were in my Mailer seminar last year, are here. And when Joe gets up out of bed, he’ll be another one, another Mailer guy that’s coming. And I’m hoping we’re going to have some more when we get into the rest of the meeting proper. So, Larry, thank you very much. We will, obviously, follow up on what you want to do and find a way to bring student here. First, in the back, Allen Ahearn?
Ahearn: [cannot hear]
Lennon: Yes, that’s a very good idea. We have an award for scholarship in Mailer. We do not have an award for journalism, and that could be one possibility. Larry actually mentioned that to me at one point. And going to a two-day conference and two-and-a-half day conference is something else we may want to do as we grow. Getting a one and a quarter, one day and a movie at night conference takes a certain amount of effort, but we are growing, we have a lot of interest. And I think that would be a great idea to do that. Phil Bufithis?
Bufithis: We faced the same problem in the Hemingway and Fitzgerald societies. About five years ago we became very active in recruiting Ph.D. students. What I would suggest is have panels and presentations to bring students here, we have money in my institution that will help defray the costs.
Lennon: That’s something else we have to consider. Laura Dunham?
Dunham: [cannot hear]
Lennon: Yes, one more then we have to move on. Larry?
Schiller: [cannot hear]
Lennon: I don’t think there’s any doubt we know that we’ve got to have more and different kinds of panels than we’ve had last year and this year. We’ve had some very interesting panels, as you know, last year but we need to get some young scholars involved. So, thank you all for your thoughts on that and we will certainly move in that direction. Now, the next to last item on the agenda is about the meeting place for next year. We met in Brooklyn last year. The first meeting, the organization meeting, was at an American Literature Association conference in Cambridge. That was really an organizational meeting; there were 8 or 9 people there. They’re all here today, as well. Most of them. Then last year in Brooklyn and this year in Provincetown. Anybody have any suggestions on what we might do next year? Yes, Barry.
Leeds: You and I have discussed this before so I don’t mean to be disingenuous about it, but we’re so, I’m so ecstatic to have it here in Provincetown and the frequenting places that we saw in the movie last night and to be go over to Mr. and Mrs. Mailer’s house tonight – how’s this going to sound 10 years from now that – it’s like I visited Hemingway in Key West and he had us into his house with malt scotch – that, as Michael has said to me, for as long as Mr. Mailer’s alive –which I hope is another 25 years – I think we should seize the wonderful, platinum opportunity to continue to have it here in Provincetown. If not every year, certainly alternate years. And I would go for every year for the next few years. And all of what is drawing here by the Society but also by the fact that it is a good place to come to and an easy place to get to. So I would move that it be in Provincetown next year.
Lennon: Bob Begiebing.
*Begiebing: I would just like to add to that that I agree with everything that Barry’s saying – but if we do expand quite a bit, we might have to think about how we’re going to expand within these limited facilities. But I think on the agenda, which is the other issue here, Larry Schiller was talking about craft as well. So I think that one aim in to attract young people here is to have panels not only in the craft of journalism but also writers. I think that is part of the agenda to bring some diversity in here. Scholars and journalists and writers. *
Lennon: Yes, I want to talk about the agenda and I want to get suggestions from the membership on agenda. We certainly want to get journalists involved. We did have Gay Talese last year and he was pretty good. And some other journalists as well. Carol Polsgrove came from the mid-west, out from Iowa and she was very good. She wrote the history of Esquire magazine. But I agree, we need scholars, we need journalists, we need Mailer fans, and we need a variety of different kinds of things. And I would welcome any suggestions from people who want to give papers, who want to put together panels. Eventually, I will ask members of the Society’s Board to be the program committee for next year, to devise the program instead of the way we’ve done it this year. I hope we can get the Society’s Board to step up to the plate – and members of the Society, not just the Board – members who are willing to run the program next year. Because I think it’s just a sign of growth so that the things that I’m doing as the president and David and Barry and the other officers are doing, we shouldn’t be trying to do it all. We should spread that work around. But, we do have a motion here, from Barry, is there a second to that motion? Yes? Okay, we’ve seconded the motion to have the meeting in Provincetown next year. Stuart?
Stuart: I have to say I’m sorry, Provincetown is a delightful place, it’s terrific, I enjoy the opportunity – it’s not an easy place to get to. I think meetings should be held in major cities like Miami, Chicago, New York, Washington [cannot hear]
Lennon: Okay. Larry?
Schiller: [cannot hear – but remarks deal with major universities]
Lennon: That’s a wonderful idea and all we need is somebody from a major university in a major city who’s in the Norman Mailer Society to step up to the plate. Because let me tell you, I’m from Wilkes-Barre, PA and it isn’t easy to get there either. It’s just as tough to get there as it is to get to Provincetown. Neil Abercrombie?
Abercrombie: Does the site have to be settled today?
*Lennon: The site does not have to be settled today. *
Abercrombie: Because the conversation here [cannot hear] I realize it’s hard on Norman, but on the other hand, Norman may not want to have everybody over to his house every year, either.
*Lennon: Well, let me tell you. That’s not been a problem. Norman likes people trooping over his house, so … he really enjoys it. He enjoyed it last year in Brooklyn and he had everybody to his house and he insisted – we had several other sites, Christopher Busa volunteered his house and Norman and Norris insisted that the party be at their house. And Norris said, this is going to cheer Norman up, it’s going to be good for him. *
Abercrombie: Well, I ’m happy about that.
Lennon: So, that’s the dilemma, is that we have the raison d’être of the whole Society is still alive and kicking and likes to have parties. It’s a great, wonderful thing for members to be able to go and meet Norman. On the other hand, in the long run, I don’t think there’s any doubt about the fact that we have to be in a big city and we have to get some major universities involved. There’s no doubt about that.
*Abercrombie: How about this then? Again, if the members are willing to let the Board work on it, maybe we should think about doing it one more time here as we try to prepare for other sites. I was just thinking to myself, I can go to Mrs. Billings and the head of the Library of Congress, for example, and see if we can’t hold it in Washington, maybe hold it in the Library of Congress. *
Lennon: What we need to do is appoint a committee … Carrie Prevost?
Kerri: [cannot hear]
Lennon: That’s correct, it’s very difficult. Larry?
Schiller: [cannot hear]
*Lennon: Okay, Larry has some ideas on how to handle that. *
Schiller: [cannot hear]
Lennon: That’s what we’ll do then – we’ll postpone the decision. The Board will take it under advisement. Anyone who has any ideas, suggestions, wishes to help, needs to email me or email David Light. Okay. I think we’re going to have to move on or we’re not going to – we’re already 15 minutes over in this very exciting business meeting. [laughter] So thank you all very much for that. Let’s take a 10 minute break and then we’ll come back for the first formal session of the program. Thank you very much.
[End of business meeting]