Sunday, 8 September 2013

Wood and Memory

 The post that follows is personal.  It is in the tradition of memoir-like and self-revealing blogging; and I am posting it here because this blog started off as a hybrid that was intended to encompass both my professional and private personae.  In the last eighteen months or so it has rather evolved in to a more professional beast, with digital history and policy overwhelming more personal topics.  But this transition was not intended.  In other words, if you are looking for a nice post on 'Big Data', or the politics of Open Access, please look away now.



Wood and Memory

I did not know my uncle very well.  Richard Pozzini ('Dicky') was my mother's much younger brother, and I only knew him for a couple of years when I was ten and eleven, and he was in his late twenties.  At the age of 28, in the late 1960s  he killed himself.   As a child, my brother and sisters and I were protected from the full impact of his death, and it was seldom spoken of.  A couple of years later, Virgil and Gina, Dicky's mother and father, my grandparents, moved into a small apartment above a garage attached to my parent's house in San Francisco, and for the next eight or nine years, I lived in and out of their home.  I never heard my grandfather, Virgil (Nonno), mention Dicky in all those years, nor did Dicky's mother, Gina (Nonni), then, or in the thirty years to her death in 2001, ever voluntarily discuss him without being prompted.  Nor has my mother, Dicky's older sister, talked much about him - few fond memories of a shared childhood.  He was always present, in carved objects and panels, in the models he made as a child, but mainly in the silence he left behind.  
Gina, Florence, Virgil and Richard 'Dicky' Pozzini. c.1949.

But I remember Dicky, and I want to record my memories of him, and just take some time to think about him, and to do something to memorialise a wonderful and creative life that nevertheless ended in despair.

Dicky did many things - he was a farmer, and a cyclist, a photographer, a student of Italian literature, a member of the Peace Corp in Brazil and an artist; but my memories of him are as a student of nature and a maker of things.

A series of a bird sculptures made around 1968 or 69.


He grew up on the smallholding his parents Virgil and Gina bought in the early 1930s, as immigrants trying to recapture the rural lifestyle they had left behind in Northern Italy: fourteen acres of grapes and walnut trees in El Campo, Woodbridge, just outside Lodi in the Central Valley of California.  The area is now famous for its wine, but then it felt like the dry, hot factory floor of California agriculture.  Dicky's parents made a hard scrabble living combining wine making and market gardening with whatever work came to their very skillful hands.  In my memory they seemed to be experimenting with a new crop, a new strategy to make money every year.  Virgil made all their furniture, and Gina made all their clothes.  Dinner was as likely to feature song birds or hare, as meat from a butcher. And while there was always food on the table, it never felt like there was a lot of money in the bank. 

The 'Ranch' was really just a classic California subdivision, with a small bungalow, a tank house, a windmill (which had been replaced by an electric pump by the 1960s), a well and a few out-buildings.  And it was never big enough to support them as an exclusively agricultural concern.  Gina went to work in the fruit (processing peaches and cherries through the hot nights of summer) and Virgil made furniture and fitted kitchens for his better-off neighbours in the workshop.



Dicky grew up driving tractors, and working in the shop, helping with the wine; fishing and hunting the river trout and small birds of the neighbourhood; and just getting on with all the gathering and processing that a small holding required.  It was a life of making and repairing, processing and planning for the next season; and it required huge imagination as well as simple hard work.  One of my earliest memories of Dicky is helping him make sausages in the tank house kitchen (reserved for processing large batches of food).  While I was allowed to turn the handle, he stood over the meat grinder expertly tying off each link as the meat filled the casing.  But it was not all work.  He also took us on adventures to the river, and taught us how to make whistles from a a bit of reed.  He was the first person I ever saw use a cast-net for river fishing. 

But more than anything, from an early age he was a wonderful craftsman.  My brother still has the perfect miniature model cars Dicky made as a child (reflecting designs from the 1910s and 1920s), and my parents have the carvings of birds, and of a bunch of grapes and a rooster that he made.  The panels always hung on the wall in my grandparents' living room.



El Campo was anything but an easy life.  Virgil was a disappointed man who had spent twenty years living in all-male quarters in mining towns, and lodging houses - a victim of that largely male diaspora suffered by the Irish, Italians and Poles in the first decades of the last century.  He was given to alcohol  and socialising; and drank a fair portion of the wine he made.  He always hankered after a return to Italy, but following his marriage in 1929, he never went back.  He could be violent to his wife and children, and has always been held up by my mother as the canker at the heart of that particular knotty world.  She herself was largely protected from him by her own mother, but as a boy Dicky was expected to tough it out.  But, Dicky also had good friends, and a varied life at the heart of a small community.  His childhood certainly did not leave him fearful, or unambitious, frightened of the world, or unable to make friends.

After high school, Dicky went to Italy cycling through the North - to visit relatives, and I suspect, just to get out of rural America.  By all accounts the trip was a hard one - with little money and less support -  but it must have been enough to spark a desire to study Italian literature, which he did for a couple of years at San Francisco State.   I don't know how long this lasted, though he never finished the degree.  And soon enough, he was off to Brazil with the Peace Corp, and a couple of years later, following a short stay back at the Ranch, returned to Brazil to help set up an agricultural co-operative in the rain forest.

The co-operative eventually failed, and Dicky found himself back in San Francisco in his late twenties, and in need of a living.  With three or four false starts behind him, I suspect returning the US was very hard.  In that particular world, there was not much sympathy for failure. 

I remember driving up to Lodi with him in what must have been one of his first visits to see his parents after returning for good from South America.  We drove the eighty miles or so in the most dilapidated pick-up you can imagine - there was no key, and Dicky had to hot wire it every time we stopped.  Virgil and Gina had given up the Ranch the year before and had moved in to a small house in Lodi; and the afternoon was punctuated with Virgil and Dicky arguing, while Gina and I listened from the kitchen.   I will always remember Virgil saying, 'If I thought you were going to return, we would never have sold the Ranch'.


Dicky and me (aged 10) around 1967 or 68.
                    

I doubt Dicky could ever have gone back to El Campo, but it seemed a powerful accusation to me at the age of nine or ten, still shocked by the loss of a much loved childhood haunt.

Dicky did not talk to me about the argument, and we drove back to San Francisco pretty much in silence (I was a kid).  And in the next month or so, Dicky went about setting up a wood working shop on Valencia Street, and tried to figure out how to make a living.

For the next year or so he was a frequent visitor to my parents house, and a regular presence in our lives.  I remember visiting Muir Woods with him once, and being allowed to use his Rolex camera for a few close ups of plants and insects.  At weekends there were the craft fairs where he sold the small pieces he was making by then.  It was San Francisco in 1968 and 1969, so all the work was psychedelic, loud and colourful.  As kids we were encouraged to make 'God's Eyes' and scented candles. 
I don't remember how long this lasted - probably not more than eighteen months.  My parents heard of Dicky's suicide late on a Sunday night, on our return from a long weekend trip to somewhere I don't remember. He had shot himself.

From here my memories are about how not to deal with a death like Dicky's.  The silence, the mismanaged attempts to protect children from hard adult emotions.  The awkward attempts to explain the truth; and to work through the guilt that wracked my parents' and grandparents' lives for years. 

But that tragedy and experience is not the point of this blog.  Instead, I just wanted to remember a person, Dicky Pozzini.  He was a craftsman and an artist, a socialist, and a generous soul.  Lives are made of people and experience, and Dicky is one of the people who has shaped my life, and whom I  simply want to remember.

These days I am doing as much woodworking as time allows; making stuff, because making stuff is important.  And every time I cut in to a piece of black walnut, with its evocative smell so familiar from my childhood, or let my gouge reveal the curve of bowl on the lathe, I think of Dicky.

Two fish sculptures made by my son, Nick and I in 2011.  The walnut was laid down to cure by Dicky Pozzini in 1968.




21 comments:

balkanization said...

Uncle Dicky, carving, and memory made me think of Guy Clark and his song about his father's "Randall Knife." An article about Guy (with a photo of him in his workshop; gosh, I guess I was younger too when I saw him at the Half Moon, Putney, years ago), ends: "The thing about writing songs is, everything is songwriting. All you have to do is remember." http://www.austinchronicle.com/music/2013-07-19/we-were-from-texas/

WhitmerBrazil said...

I knew Pozinni in Brazil and stayed on the farm he and another exPeace Corps Volunteer had set up in 1967. I have some photos. I was in Rio when Pozinni returned to the US. June 68? I put him in the cab to the airport. He was very depressed. Said our goodbyes, wished him luck and told him I hoped to meet up with him again. A couple years later I was visiting Brazil and ran into his partner in the farm project at the Peace Corps hotel in Rio. He told me Dick had shot himself in San Francisco. Shocked, but not surprised. He was one of those people you just liked being around.

Anonymous said...

It would be quite expedient to follow up everything with regards to above cited provisions and thoughts because those are generally considered and said to be important. biology homework help

Unknown said...

Hey there! I know this is kinda off topic but I’d figured I’d ask. Would you be interested in exchanging links or maybe guest authoring a blog post or vice-versa? My blog goes over a lot of the same topics as yours and I believe we could greatly benefit from each other. If you happen to be interested feel free to shoot me an e-mail. I look forward to hearing from you! Great blog by the way!
______________________
Bornstein School of memory training

srikanthsri said...


shareit apk download
shareit downloads
download shareit
download shareit apk
The SHAREit app allows the transfer of content, including games, between people connected via its ‘offline’ social network.

Eric Bana said...

This vintage-school reminiscence sport consists of 16 pairs of adorable animals on huge, easy to address wood tiles. they are made from pure wood and now not treated. Our wood reminiscence recreation is a brand new addition to our carefully selected series toys in your little cherished ones. The memory sport functions all of our favorites | Reasonable Assignment Help.

Alina Juiz said...

Entertain your kids with this Best Write My Essay Service Cheap wooden memory recreation with the wild animals of the Safari collection. shop on-line with rapid international transport! test your toddler's reminiscence and visible talents with this memory healthy set that functions lovable animals and bugs.

emilyislaa05 said...

This set is such an awesome manner to display your wedding photos- it’s sincerely our most popular wedding set, and we will see why you guys find it irresistible so much! Our Affordable Reliable Essay Writing Service strong wooden blocks take your wall art to the next degree. No reasonably-priced plastic. Those toddlers are handcrafted, strong and of one of these high satisfactory. You actually can’t discover whatever like them accessible!

Ideal Assignment Help said...

IdealAssignmentHelp could be a bespoke online academic writing service offering assignment help of students who studies in Australian colleges and universities. Our in-house team of Ph.D. subject-specific experts provides inimitable assignment help through their knowledge and virtuosity in planning and finalizing academic papers.We provide most reliable and proficient service to help you work on those intricate assignments.

belly sons said...

i-LEND is an online marketplace connecting borrowers and lenders for loans. Although i-LEND verifies credentials of registered users on the site, it does not guarantee any loan offers by lenders nor does it guarantee any repayments by borrowers. Users make offers/loan requests at their own discretion with the understanding of the risks involved in such transactions including loss of entire capital and/or no guarantee of recovery. Please read our Legal agreements to understand more. Read more- Peer to Peer Lending India

reviewstella said...

Amazing and informative post check amazon product related post ...
best short throw projector
short throw projector
projector
Best Short Throw Projector in Amazon
Top 15 Best Short Throw Projector in Amazon

Pixel-Lovers said...

anniversary wishes for parents

anniversary wishes for wife

anniversary wishes for husband

wedding anniversary wishes for husband

wedding anniversary wishes for wife

Unknown said...

Thank you for sharing such a wonderful story, such products are really quite stylish and at the same time soulful, I am also fond of applied art, so I often entrust my scientific work to a proven service https://primeessay.org/free/Research/open-ended-no-load-mutual-fund-companies.html .

Dakota Leest said...

This is a woderful story, quite sensitive and personal. I found a cool essay database where I read the best stories and articles. I wish you continue writing. You are a very skilled.

Unknown said...

A group called Satta king is an established one which has experienced satta players and they prefer to offer guidance to other people creating formula numbers and deviating people for trusting them. Most of the time Black Satta King is not trustworthy as they create false attractions and prevent the players from actually winning the game. Many of them have created online sources promising the upcoming satta players to follow certain tricks. Rarely some of them are reliable and one should also take guidance from experienced trustworthy sources whom they know before taking decision for the game.

luckys said...

scrabble word finder

Awesome article and well written . I appreciate your article. will share it on my social pages.

Happy pet said...

Students who subscribe to professional writing services are guaranteed high-quality assignments. Therefore, a student who always uses assignment writing services has a good chance of scoring highly in their exams.At order an assignment Assignmentdone offer writing guidelines that help students to improve their writing skills.

Dkimlaw said...

Abogado de Accidente de Carro en Huntington Park

Derek Advert said...

In this article, we will talk about the 3 Best Clashes Between Australia Vs Newzealand Cricket Teams.

Timothee Lambert said...

"If you're looking for a blog that combines expertise with a passion for storytelling, this is it! Each post is a journey of discovery."
7now promo code

Edvin Berg said...

"I appreciate how this blog combines information with a personal touch. It's like having a conversation with a knowledgeable friend."
safelite promo code $100 2022