The opus is not going. I lie prostrate on the floor, with nothing between me and the bare boards but Pioneer Presses and Minneapolis Tribunes, and moan. I am going over the falls this time, and without a barrel.
No word from Donald McDonald, either.
Jim
JOE O’CONNELL
Nihil Obstat
The J. F. Powers Company
“The Old Cum Permissu Superiorum Line”
Suite 7, Vossberg Building
St Cloud, Minnesota
February 22, 1960
Dear Joe,
In confirmation of our conversation of last night, I enclose a copy — my master copy — of the letter. I trust that you’ll not feel left out. I don’t know how your name happened to be left off the list, but I have asked that it be added, and I think it’s safe to say that should there be other letters to writers and reviewers, you’ll get yours. (Do not try to correspond with me at the above address. For some reason letters so addressed are returned to senders: just another handicap for the small businessman to overcome.)
Jim
February 4, 1960
Dear Mr Lund,6
You scarcely qualify as a writer in the limited sense I give the word, but I often read your column, and today, after noting what you say in it—“Incidentally, some gimmick will be decided upon soon on how to pick a name for the team … and it will probably wind up in a contest of some kind”—I decided to send you a copy of my letter to my fellow Minnesota writers and to ask you to do all you can to suppress such news until we — we Minnesota writers — can consolidate our forces and name our team according to the plan outlined in my letter. Get Joe Hennessy to lay off. If what you say in today’s column appears as one of Hennessy’s Tips of the Morning in the next few days, I will know that I was too late.
Sincerely,
J. F. Powers
[Enclosure]
January 30, 1960
412 First Avenue South
St Cloud, Minnesota
Dear Fellow Writer,
As you must know by now, our area will field a team in the National Football League in 1961. Some there were who said it couldn’t happen here (and some there are who say we’ll never acquire a baseball franchise in one of the major leagues), but be that as it may, we will have a team representing us in the National Football League in 1961.
Fellow writer, this team of ours must have a name, and I think it is up to us writers to see that the name chosen is a worthy one. Doubtless there will be those (secularism being what it is) who will rise up and say, “Why should these
This, then, as I see it, is a splendid opportunity to let the people know of our continuing presence among them, and, what is much more, to do our job. In the matter of naming our team, we should see ourselves as surgeons performing a delicate, dangerous operation — and so, let us hope, the people will see us and draw back at the very thought of wielding the scalpel themselves, i.e., of naming our team.
I have some excellent names in mind for our team — the Paul Bunyans, or Buns, the Blue Oxen, or Blues, the Twins, Swedes, Vikings, Eskimos, or Zeros — and perhaps you’ll be able to think of others as suitable — but that must come later. Here is what must be done first. We must announce that we are united and prepared, in our special capacity, to think of a name for our team; then, from time to time, word should leak out that we are pondering away in our studies and on our long walks; then that we are gathered in solemn enclave in some likely place — Schiek’s Café or Izatys Lodge, up north; then, finally, would come the chosen name. In response to popular demand, we would run out into the field with the players at the start of the first game, or crawl out, as the case might be.
Before any of this can begin to happen, however, we must unite — under one name and one letterhead. What say you, fellow writer? I’d be glad to hear.
J. F. Powers
HARVEY EGAN
April 12, 1960
Dear Fr Egan,
Thanks for the clipping on Del in London: I’d missed that one.7 If he keeps on, I’ll write his biography. The next snipe hunt he puts on, we must attend. I think he would have been great anyway, but the St Paul sportswriters have done their part. Joe Hennessy writes that Del’s in peak form, training as never before, and then Joe goes to Vero Beach and does the same kind of job on the Saints: Looks like Slugger Howard will be assigned to St Paul and will make the club a threat; Howard to Spokane. […]
On the sunny side of the street: Donald McDonald back in the picture with new date for taping (May) to which I have naturally consented. Bring plenty of tape, I told him. I intend to attack everybody but Pope John.8 […]
Jim
JOE O’CONNELL
ST CLEMENTS HILL RETREAT HOUSE9
ON BEAUTIFUL HOLY SPIRIT LAKE
NEAR DUESTERHAUS, MINNESOTA
Date: June 14, 1960
Dear Mr. O’Connell,
It is our intention to sponsor a Spiritual Writers’ Conference at the Hill this summer. Doubtless you have heard of writers’ conferences, but unless I miss my guess, you will not have heard of one like ours — A SPIRITUAL WRITERS’ CONFERENCE. This means exactly what it says: we will cater to writers engaged in work of a spiritual nature and to those who are thinking of entering this rewarding field.
Naturally, I am writing to you in your professional capacity. It is my hope that you will be a member of our staff and will take charge of “Reviewing.” You will also be expected to give one public lecture or chalk talk. You may be interested to know that I am writing to other well-known writers (among them Emerson and Arleen Hynes, Leonard and Betty Doyle, J. F. and B. Wahl Powers), and I have every reason to believe they will accept. I understand that your wife is not a writer, or I’d invite her too.
Since this is to be a spiritual operation in every sense of the word, I will not bother you with material details save to say that you will, of course, be provided with a place to sleep and will be fed at our expense during your stay at the Hill. Our fare is plain, but outsiders tell us it’s good and nourishing. We have our own bees.
The dates set for the Conference are August 7–12. (Please try not to arrive before Aug. 7.) I trust you’ll give this invitation every consideration. We want you with us, Mr. O’Connell. The world needs reviewers of your stripe. I might add that a stock of published work by the staff will be on sale during the Conference and the public will be strongly urged to buy. Expecting to hear from you in the very near future, I am,