Craig Wilson: “Where did you grow up and how did you get to Minnesota?
Tom H. Cook: I grew up in Pennsauken, New Jersey, a nondescript suburb of Camden, most noted for Walt Whitman and holding up the bridge to Philadelphia. After false starts I made it to Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan, where I earned two degrees but more importantly met JoAnne, who became my wife and much later my editor. We next spent three years in Naples, Florida, but realized we were forty years too early. In 1977, after researching livable cities (pre-internet), we decided to visit Minneapolis. Immediately smitten, we marveled at the lakes and the intangible community feel of the neighborhoods. We felt at home like we never had before. Two children (Rachael and Ben), a career, lifetime friendships, Barton School, South High, snow shoveling, health scares, garage sales, an array of dogs, and The Hill & Lake Press ensued. Twenty-five years went by in a blur.
Where do you get your ideas, particularly after you moved to Los Angeles?
I have spies. Topics come to me often out of my own misfortune, poor planning, or collision with an overly officious bureaucracy. I use myself — not to be egocentric, but in a search for common ground. I have become god at finding kindred spirits, people who get the joke and peer out at the world from the same twisted angle. “Sand Upon the Waters” has been a calling card.
Normal, well-adjusted folks who believe everything is fine are not my audience. My readership may appear successful, but we are secret rebels, treated unfairly by a math teacher, still smarting from being chosen last in school yard basketball, passed over for safety patrol officer, or ribbed unmercifully for having ears that reached full size before the rest of the head. Fast forward, there is still fodder. The world gets stranger and more inexplicable daily. I believe I have stayed relevant and irreverent across the miles. I hope my column space goes to a younger, hipper, snarky iconoclast who lives in the neighborhood.
What does Sand Upon the Waters mean?
Throwing a handful of sand into a lake is momentarily satisfying, but the impact is fleeting. I have enjoyed making small splashes. My column has been an attempt to keep the conversation going.
Mike Wilson has you at 320 columns, making you the most prolific contributor to the HLP.
I started in 1986 and have felt the need to comment on garage sale etiquette, cocktail parties, children, and the fiendishness of off-brand Tupper- ware makers until this year. I told my longtime editor Jean Deatrick that I would stay until she retired, not realizing she had more dramatic encores than a James Brown concert. Jean, thank you and congratulations. Craig Wilson, I appreciate this opportunity to say goodbye.
You will be missed. What are you working on?
This is where I plug my book! To be serious, there are a number of HLP readers who are longtime fans of my column. Some clip and save relevant articles for friends and family. Whether seeking closure, or for some less profound purpose, I have long considered compiling my favorite pieces into a book, but the task seemed daunting. My close friend Tom Cassidy, the Minneapolis artist, spoken word poet and editor (aka Music-master), offered to guide JoAnne and me through the process. JoAnne and Cassidy both have high standards. When I say they are like a shortstop and second base tandem, they both look at me funny.
There were 300-plus columns to sift through. Many were deservedly lost to history or silverfish. JoAnne and I tussled over the rest. About one hundred columns made the cut. Cassidy masterfully sculpted our choices into categories, adding his drawings and our photos. He collaged a whimsical cover and wrote a foreword that is funnier than any of my essays. Without JoAnne and Tom Cassidy there would be no book. I am profoundly grateful to both of them.
This may sound strange, but many people’s first impression is the physical quality of the book. It is hefty, glossy, colorful, and fun to read. JoAnne suggests that readers jump around and read articles in no particular order.
How do we get a copy?
Magers and Quinn is carrying Sand Upon the Waters (SUTW) locally and online. I told Karen, the book buyer for M&Q, that a gaggle of fervent neighbors would storm the store shelves after reading this piece. (She was gracious but skeptical.) SUTW makes a great gift that explains us Minnesotans a bit. It reflects my observations and experiences in the neighborhood over 35 years. It is unique, heartfelt, and not exorbitant at $14.95. If you have a neighbor who complains regularly about my left-wing ramblings, SUTW (the book) makes a nice passive-aggressive present. This is an assortment of columns that I still find funny and occasionally wise. After all, who doesn’t like an assortment?
Final thoughts?
I very much appreciate this opportunity to say good-bye to my readership the way I came in. It has been a delightful adventure. Thank you for all of the notes and encouragement. If you chuckled over or shared one of my columns with someone else, I appreciate it.
My website is a way to stay connected and another option for purchasing my book: sanduponthewaters.com
I will be in town doing a reading with Tom Cassidy at Black Forest Inn (26th and Nicollet) on September 30 and at Eat My Words (214 13th Ave. NE) on October 1.
