Allen Ruff
Writing about his hometown of New Haven, Conn, novelist Allen Ruffinvites the reader into a world that existed
beyond the confines of Yale's protective ivy enclosures.
His new book, Save Me, Julie Kogon, features a charming,
yet bittersweet view into that scene, a glimpse
at the underbelly of a Jewish urban scene that has all but disappeared.
[Review]
Exchange of viewsDraped in an American flag, Ryan Holz, a senior majoring in history and political science, advocates for support of American troops in Iraq as he debates with Allen Ruff, a Madison resident and peace activist, during an anti-war protest held at Library Mall on March 27.
[April 8, 2003]
THE
New American Dream Interview
ALLEN RUFF, 59, lives in Madison, Wisconsin.
He works at Rainbow Bookstore Cooperative.
"Originally from New Haven, Connecticut, I came to Madison for a ten day visit ... 35 years ago. I'm a historian, and writer, a social and political activist, just out with my first novel, /Save Me, Julie Kogon/."
Allen also hosts two radio programs on Madison's WORT, 89.9fm: "Third World View" & "A Public Affair"
Third World View:
The oldest news show at WORT, Third World View covers issues relating to the “Third World” (very broadly-defined) from a critical, anti-imperialist perspective. Third World View newscasts include a half-hour round-up of the week’s international news, followed by a 20-30 minute feature, often a speech or in-depth interview. Third World View airs every Sunday 5-6pm.
More about Allen Ruff:
http://allenruff.blogspot.com/
http://www.rainbowbookstore.org/
____________
The New American Dream Trivia Question:
To win something be the seventeenth socialist in Sheboygan to correctly answer the following.
Allen Ruff would rather be ....
a. Back in New Haven, researching his tell-all Skull & Bones blockbuster
b. Dane County Farmers Market King For A Day
c. Eating some cheese, drinking some Door County wine, catching some rays, on the fifty-yard line at Lambeau
d. Lead old guy for The Gomers
e. Shouting "Well, Whada Ya Know?" to the adoring masses
f. A Grumpy Old Man, in Minnesota
Actual Answer:
g. Opposing imperialism and talking about the need, indeed the necessity of socialism
____________
NAD: Allen, hello, thank you for taking the time for this.
I'm just wondering out loud if a kid growing up in Madison might come to think every city in the world has twenty-four-hour-a-day home mulch delivery service.
Why did you stay, in Madison?
ALLEN RUFF:
The sense of community (back when) and an ambiance of left political culture (still relatively vibrant but nothing what it was) that I found here.
The great teachers here, especially the late great Harvey Goldberg in the UW history department, attracted me initially.
Then life took its course; what I now refer to on occasion as the "Shit Happens School of History".
(We know, of course, that it never "just happens". Ah, yes, the question of human agency and choices.)
Plus I be came "involved" — relationships and politics and political relationships.
NAD: What's so great about Madison, in your opinion?
ALLEN RUFF:
Compared to the rest of this country?
It's still relatively a livable city (if you have the wherewithall) with a progressive (though jaded) past, a great history, lots of good folks and viable community-based activism and institutions.
While not a large city, it still draws from a more global and cosmopolitan culture, so it isn't as provincial or isolated as one might expect.
NAD: How is your book doing?
ALLEN RUFF:
The book has done remarkably well, if not in gigantic sales (I'll never be on "Oprah"), then through the wide and diverse readership that has comented quite favorably to it.
NAD: What's it about?
ALLEN RUFF:
I sometimes describe it as a highly fictionalized recounting of my father's funeral; that is, a funeral rites-of-passage novel about the passing of an "ol' man" and, — through flashbacks, dreams, and retellings — the stories of those who showed up for the funeral and why they bothered to come.
NAD: Why did you decide to write it?
ALLEN RUFF:
I had to.
NAD: Do you have another one in the hopper?
ALLEN RUFF:
Yes, at least as it swirls and takes form in my cranium.
NAD: Would you like to choose one of these to answer, elaborate on?
I don't ask this to make fun. I ask because I really seek the answers.
— Are UFOs real?
— Did we land on the moon in 1968?
— Did Bush knock down the towers?
— Was Paul Wellstone's death an accident?
— The Oklahoma City bombing? Wasn't that just another U.S. government terrorist exercise?
Or not.
— Waco. We burned kids, right? You can see flames shooting out of the tanks.
Or not.
— Is Bigfoot real?
— Is there a God?
ALLEN RUFF:
Nah.
NAD: How is the bookstore doing?
Do people in Madison read? More than ... others?
ALLEN RUFF:
Small independent bookstore are "under the gun,", beseiged by the increasing concentration of the book market and publishing world.
The "big box" chains like Borders and B&N, and the proliferation of online sales by the likes of Amazon, etc., with their privileged position and volume sales capacity to offer discounts.
Madison is a highly literate town. So they say.
The proliferation of cell phone virtual culture, etc. and the fact that whole generations are coming up with an ever diminishing number of "book people" suggests an approaching era akin to that of Fahrenheit 451 where books will no longer exist.
Far in the future, I hope.
NAD: Do you think American culture — as shown by lack of reading perhaps — is on the downswing, or perhaps just evolving?
ALLEN RUFF:
The narrowing of vision, knowledge; the homogenization of culture and the increasing control of the media into fewer and fewer hands does not bode well for an authentically democratic society.
Now, does it?
NAD: Do you have hope in Obama?
Why?
Why not?
ALLEN RUFF:
Not very much.
He's now the President, constrained and confined by the structures and institutions around him.
Besides, he's not about to break with the long-held bipartisan consensus regarding the US role and "mission" in the world.
He certainly did not show any signs of any paradigmatic shift, during his inaugural speech or in his campaign speeches and positions, away from an American "exceptionalism" which has wreaked havoc across the planet.
NAD: Does your favorite coffee cup have words on it? What are they?
ALLEN RUFF:
Nope.
NAD: What did you absolutely have to get done by noon today? Today?
ALLEN RUFF:
Nothing. Besides, its way past noon.
NAD: How about by Christmas 2009?
ALLEN RUFF:
What's Xmas?
____________
About
THE New American Dream Feature Interviews
If you search the archives below, you will find, in a sort of order [last to first], interviews with:
Len Osanic, Black Op Radio
Levi Asher, a writer and literary critic in New York City
Geov Parrish, Seattle journalist, activist
Bill Polonsky, Yukon 9/11 Truth
Daphne Webb, Denver writer, activist, green wedding planner
Michael Boldin, a populist blooms in L.A.
Greg Mitchell, editor of Editor & Publisher magazine
Will Braun, editor of Geez Magazine,
Ben Heine, political artist in Belgium
Matt Sullivan, editor of The Rock Creek Free Press
Sam Smith, editor of The Progressive Review
Jarek Kupsc, 9/11 Truth filmmaker, "The Reflecting Pool"
Bill O'Driscoll, arts editor, Pittsburgh City Paper
Gerry McCarthy, editor of The Social Edge
Jim Cullen, editor of The Progressive Populist magazine
Bartcop, old-school blogger from Tulsa
Lee Rayburn, radio show host from Madison, Wisconsin
Aimee England, bookseller in Michigan
Al Markowitz, poet for the working woman & man
Timbre Wolf, a Tulsa peace minstrel goes to Hawaii
Steven Stothard, a radical grows in Indiana
Dale Clark, an artist in the desert
Jacqui Devenuau, Green Party organizer in Maine
Don Harkins, co-editor of The Idaho Observer
Stewart Bradley, independent film producer
Rick Smith, Cleveland area radio host
William P. Meyers, independent book publisher, political activist
Ian Woods, Canadian publisher, 9/11 Truth activist
Richard D. Brinkman, Edmonton, Canada 9/11 Truth
Lynn Berg, New York City actor
Alejandro Rojas, of MUFON, the Mutual UFO Network
Brian Kasoro, publisher of The Liberator magazine
Brother Raymond, walked from Denver to D.C., for truth
Korey Rowe, one of the producers of Loose Change
Dave Zweifel, editor of The Madison Capital Times
Cathleen Howard, expatriate, from Tucson to Mexico, to pursue her dreams
Sander Hicks, Brooklyn radical entrepreneur, writer, publisher
Joe Bageant, America's blue-collar author
Frida Berrigan, a lifetime of faith, hope and love
Denise Diaz, brewing up a revolution, at The Ritual Cafe in Des Moines
Deanna Taylor, Green Party activist, teacher, in Salt Lake City
Rossie Indira-Vltchek, writer, filmmaker in Jarkarta, Indonesia
Nora Barrows-Friedman, Pacifica reporter in Gaza
Delaney Bruce, Friends of Peltier
Keith McHenry, co-founder of Food Not Bombs
Michael Sprong, South Dakota Catholic Worker
Brian Terrell, Des Moines Catholic Worker
Bob Graf, One of the Milwaukee 14
Loren Coleman, Bigfoot researcher
Monty Borror, Sci-Fi artist from Virginia
David Ray, Great American Poet
Jack Blood, radio show host, in Austin, Texas
Danny Schechter, A Real Reporter
Bob Kincaid, host, Head-On Radio Show
Tony Packes, Animal Farm Radio Host, Keeping An Eye on Big Brother
Richard Flamer, Working With the Poor in Chiapas
David Ray Griffin, 9/11 Truth activist author
Barry Crimmins, U.S. comedian, author, social activist
Bret Hayworth, political reporter for the Sioux City [IA] Journal
Lisa Casey, publisher of website All Hat No Cattle
Joe & Elaine Mayer, activist couple in Rochester, Minnesota
Fr. Darrell Rupiper, U.S. priest revolutionary
Whitney Trettien, MIT student, Green Party activist
Meria Heller, radio show host
Phil Hey, professor, poet
John Crawford, book publisher
Steve Moon, Iowa Bigfoot researcher
Carol Brouillet, California social activist, 9/11 Truth
Russell Brutsche, Santa Cruz artist
Kevin Barrett, professor, radio show host, 9/11 Truth activist
A'Jamal Rashad Byndon, social activist in Omaha
Chris Rooney, Vancouver, Canada Catholic Worker, website publisher
Marc Estrin, political novelist, from the left
Peter Dale Scott, poet, professor, author, activist
Anthony Rayson, anarchist zine publisher, works with prisoners
Alice Cherbonnier, editor of The Baltimore Chronicle, an independent newspaper
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