The International Book Fair in Lawrence
As I proudly said on my radio program, the tenth International Book Fair celebrated in Lawrence this past weekend is something to cherish. Authors from all over the United States and Latin America come to our city selling their books and presenting their research and knowledge to a hungry audience.
The weekend has been expanding each year to include new talents and topics. For example, on Friday night, five teachers from Lawrence High School were honored for the work they do with our young people at St. Mary’s Hall. There was Chamber music with an orchestra directly from the Dominican Republic and singer Susana Silva was superb!
That night, 12 poets presented brief versions of their work and each one was followed by a musical interpretation of the previous poem, masterfully played by the orchestra and cleverly adapted to music by Susana Silva.
Last year they honored the contributions of Robert Frost to the literary world. This time, Helena Minton, member of the Robert Frost Foundation from North Andover who has written two books of poetry was invited to read from her works. Also, Kimberly Adami, another member of the Foundation. The intent was trying to find a way for the two organizations to cooperate. It was a great effort but I think that those poetry sessions should be made more bilingual because she had to sit through only Spanish readings.
The only fundraiser to afford all of these events free of charge to the public was a dinner at the Relief’s In in Lawrence. Since this year the fair was dedicated to Mexico, the entertainment was provided by Veronica Robles and her Mariachi Band. They are always terrific and Saturday night she gave the audience more than what they expected.
This evening, Father Joel Almono, organizer of this magnificent affair honored some people who are supporters of anything helping this community grow. They were Benny and Mory Espaillat, well-known developers, owners of several properties in Lawrence and also Zapatos Aquí in Methuen, a building he renovated to its old glory. They are very active in the arts scene and are contributors to many causes.
Also, Jessica Andors, executive director of Lawrence CommunityWorks, a non-profit that has grown tremendously in the past 20 years building housing and renovating buildings.
The Fair ended on Sunday with the famous Dominican singer Camboy Estevez who offered a concert at the Lawrence Senior Center with his romantic music.
This event has been so successful that Northern Essex Community College has agreed to set up space for the Jose Balbuena International Book Fair Gallery. Mr. Balbuena owned the first book store in Lawrence and his Saturday morning gatherings were famous. Everyone interested in good reading, education, international affairs, etc. attended these meetings in his small shop.
Mr. Balbuena’s dream was the creation of an international book fair therefore organizing the very first one in 2005. When he passed of cancer in 2007, it was a great loss to our community and the fair continued in his honor.
But what would my column be without my personal opinion? Well, I understand the effort and expense connected with something of this magnitude but there are some things that should not suffer as a result of lack of staff, funds or time. If any of those are present, it’s time to cut back, simplify and look for perfection.
Every year I mentioned the poor quality of the program book. This is a very colorful manual of the events that will be taking place during the weekend and biographical information about the invited authors, honorees and organizers. These literary people will be taking it back home probably ridiculing the City of Lawrence and its culture-lacking residents based on the quality of this publication. The typographical and grammatical errors are many in just about every page of text. Mistakes were made in the names of some authors, on three stories the ending was cut off and on one of the ads, Henry’s Jewelry had the wrong telephone number for the second consecutive year. I only ask for someone to proofread it before going to print. This program book demonstrates who we are as a community and it is a disgrace.
I already mentioned above the lack of English spoken there. That will be fine if they were going to remain a Spanish-language body. If they are looking for any type of association with the Robert Frost Foundation, at least that portion should be welcoming to them.
I also have my reservations regarding the award presented to Jessica Andors. Father Almono introduced her as an entrepreneur which she is not. She is the executive director of a very successful non-profit and is only doing her job. She is not investing and risking her own money as entrepreneurs or developers do so I believe that she was out of place. I don’t think people should receive awards for just doing their job well; that’s why they are getting paid.
Let’s not forget the Mexican gourmet dinner offered at the Relief’s In on Saturday night. Since this year’s fair was dedicated to the country of Mexico, a Boston restaurant was hired for this night. I was turned off by the word “gourmet” when I sat at my table and found plastic utensils wrapped a cheap paper napkin held tightly together by scotch tape. It was very difficult taking them out and most people ended up ripping the paper napkin. Last year I criticized the use of bottle water on the table while it was also being called a “gala dinner” but this year it was not their fault since the Relief’s In only offers bottled water and wine in plastic cups.
The nopal soup was terrific! Sort of like the hot and sour soup in Chinese restaurants but less spicy. Then, the main course: a small piece of chicken with a tasteless white sauce and one broccoli floret with its stem. My portion of meat left me thinking that this must have been a square-breasted animal. It was a block of meat, extremely hard to cut, to the point that I feared breaking my plastic fork and knife, so I didn’t finish it. By the way, it was all served on square plastic disposable plates.
Chimichangas and tacos would have sufficed.
There was also a very heavy Dominican impact on this year’s fair. Out of ten invited authors, 9 were Dominicans and 1 Guatemalan. Of the five teachers honored Friday night, 4 are Dominicans and 1 is Ecuadorian. I was told that the way they were selected was by asking Lawrence High School students who their favorite teachers are ignoring the elementary schools.
I would be tempted to select among the entire school system, not just the high school, preferably those retired teachers and administrators who gave 20 or 30 years to our youth and a longer track record. Some names that come to mind are Francisco Narganes, from Spain, assistant principal at the Bruce School who died in a car accident. His wife Maria Narganes, from Cuba, served well over 20 years as principal of the Tarbox School before retiring. Also from Cuba was retired teacher Caridad Silvera.
Or Sylvia Mejia, veteran Spanish teacher, author of a poetry book and Jose Garcia, history teacher at Lawrence High School, both Dominicans. Also, Vange Diaz and Haydee Cuadrado from Puerto Rico, they have taught for the same amount of time at the elementary level. Those are just a few that I remember but there were many working in the school system during the most difficult years.
They should be more inclusive if the public is to continue interested.
Job opening: City Engineer
Pass the word, the City Engineer job is open and it should be posted soon.
Agronomist Theodore Rosario went around saying goodbye to his coworkers and announced that he is no longer the City Engineer. He’ll become the Project and Planning Supervisor, a position that went unfilled for many years. The salary listed on the job description is $50,000 to $65,000 which is a lot less than what he was earning. I am sure the mayor will find an excuse to give him a stipend to compensate for that.
People are wondering the reason for the goodbye because the Planning Supervisor works out of the same DPW office at City Hall. Is Theo being sent someplace else?
Now, if you know of a civil engineer (with the proper academic degree, license and 3 years’ experience working under another civil engineer) who might be interested in working for Lawrence as City Engineer, please have them contact the Personnel Department before the mayor gives it away to another unqualified friend.
