Word has gotten out about the book to old friends from as early as grammar school.  Guys I haven't communicated with for years (decades in some cases) have reached out via email, and the comments are pretty identical...they absolutely love the reminders of our childhoods growing up in South Orange, and in particular, our own little universe that was the Montrose Grammar School playground.  The modest school grounds is where we played softball, hardball, touch football, stickball, basketball, flipped cards, and just hung out.  We argued over the Yankees and Giants, Mantle and Mays, and all other things related to sports.   The name-dropping has been hilarious; I'm talking about people we haven't seen, in some cases, since the late 1950's, and yet we remember them as if we were with them last week.  We've all remembered Gene Carcia, a playground star and one of the leaders, who tragically died at age 13 when he took his mother's car and crashed into a tree just a few blocks from the playground he thrived in.

All have said they read the book in one day after receiving it.  I think it's proof of what a great childhood setting we had.  All remember Swede so well, as he often would join us in the playground and "compete" with us.  All heartily agree that "gentle giant" is the perfect description for him.

These communications, which are coming from Maine to Florida, are soooo enjoyable to read.  They are great reminders of how good we had it!

Radio interview broadcast

A taped interview of me discussing "SWEDE" will air tomorrow (Thursday, Dec. 3rd), at 11:00 A.M.  Ed Goldberg conducted the interview for Portland's KBOO radio station (90.7 FM).  The session is approximately 1/2 hour, and I think it will be enjoyable to hear.  At the time I felt Ed did a great job conducting the interview, asking questions that I have not heard before about my father, my family, and the book in general.  

If you would like to listen live from out of the area, it will be streaming live from KBOO's website http://www.kboo.org/.  You may want to test the site beforehand to make sure it works!

A Violet Who Would Rather Blossom Unseen...

The book signing/celebration hosted by the Weequahic HS Alumni Association was a true love-fest. There were people of all ages present (a few kids as well as WHS grads from the class of 1936, making them 91 years old).

One of my father's life-long friends, Irwin Traurig, (class of '37, making him one year ahead of Swede), was there, and after my presentation he was one of the attendees who made a comment. Irwin is one of the sweetest, most gentle people I've ever known. He had his high school yearbook, where there is a reference to Irwin "passing along" his characteristic of being "a violet who would rather blossom unseen" to Swede Masin. In other words, both seemed to go out of their way to avoid the spotlight.

Sure sounds like the Swede we knew.

Swede's Contemporaries

One of the most pleasant surprises about writing about my father is the reaction I've gotten from some of Swede's contemporaries.  I have received numerous letters and phone calls from around the country from folks who genuinely loved the book; not only because they loved my father (they clearly did), but also because they enjoyed the trip down memory lane it provides.

I got a real charge a week ago or so when two days in a row I received calls from two different men (strangers to me) who knew Swede back in the day.  I spoke with each for more than a half hour, and coincidentally, both exclaimed toward the end of our conversations "I can't believe I'm speaking to Swede Masin's son!".

I've answered every letter I've received, and I love doing so.  In communicating with these folks I feel I'm communicating a bit with my father, which is a wonderful bonus for me.  It's been remarkably gratifying.

KBOO Interview with Ed Goldberg

Today (Nov. 2nd) I was interviewed by Ed Goldberg for a future broadcast on KBOO (90.7 fm), a local Portland radio station. Ed reviews movies and books, and I really enjoyed today's session with him. It lasted approx. 20 minutes or so, and he fed me lots of questions I hadn't been asked before about the book. It was gratifying for him to say that he found the book to be a very positive one and that he got a kick out of the parts where I trash-talked my siblings. As soon as he lets me know when it will air I will pass along the info. The station's link is:

http://kboo.fm/

Book Signing 11/19 at Annie Bloom's

Annie Bloom's is hosting a book signing event for me on November 19th from 7:30 to 9PM. Would love to see you there.

Please follow this link for event information:

http://www.annieblooms.com/event/robert-g-masin-swede

Annie Bloom's address and phone number is listed below:

Book events

The past few weeks have been a blast, including three great book signing events (one in Portland, two in Jersey), as well as an interview on The Jamie Ross Show featured on MaplewoodOnline.com.  

Perhaps the best part was hearing from and meeting some of my father's contemporaries, all of whom continue to rave about Swede for his gentle nature and extraordinary strength.  I've been getting calls virtually every day from people who seem to love the trip down memory lane that the book provides, which is so gratifying.

One man shared in an email that when he was a 10 year old camper, his counsellor was 18 year old Swede.  "One at a time, he'd have us grab on to his gigantic shoulders and he'd take us for a swim, underwater...just like Tarzan!"

In the past couple of weeks I've seen and/or spoken to three of the all time great athletes that I discuss in the book: Al Attles, Monte Irvin, and Lonnie Wright.  They are so impressive(!), and I think they genuinely enjoyed the book.  (All three remind me of Swede in that they are so unassuming, and they are such friendly, positive guys).  Getting to know them has been one of the highlights of writing the book.

The picture above was taken at my Bar Mitzvah.  If you run into my younger brother Doug (bottom, left) please feel free to tease him about his get-up...which he still wears occasionally.