Review by Tom Powers, Michigan in Books
In the very first sentence of Memories of a Mackinac Island Native, the author writes he “will not attempt to cover a detailed Mackinac Island history.” By the end of the book, I wish he had covered more history and fewer personal memories that included listing every bicycle he ever owned, the musical albums he collected, the names of fellow students in the various schools he attended, or recalling every member of the rock and roll band he played in. On the other hand, his descriptions of how the island’s Main Street changed over the years are fascinating. Where once a dentist’s office and three drug stores could be found on Main Street at the turn of the 20th Century they gave way to high-quality gift shops and galleries. By mid-century ticky-tacky souvenir and fudge shops lined Main Street. I found his detailed recording and history of the development of the ferry service to the island and the names and descriptions of the many ferries that plied the waters of the straits very interesting.
I would like to know how typical his life is compared to other natives of the island. From a young age, he seems to have led the life of a vagabond. He attended schools in St. Ignace, the northern lower peninsula, Florida, and various grades in the Mackinac Island school system. He transferred back to the Mackinac Island High School late in his senior year because he wanted to graduate on the island. For many years, as an adult, he worked on the island during the summer and spent the winters working in Florida. The author has lived on the island year-round since 1982. His first job as a teenager on the island was running the ancient projector in a movie theater. In the following years, he found work as a cook, bartender, maker of judge, and a painter who also closed cottages for the winter and opened them in the spring. He also worked as a street sweeper because it was the best government-paid job on the island at $5.50 an hour. I would have liked to know if that was the job title for the workers who I saw on every visit to the island sweeping up horse apples.
In the acknowledgments preceding the first chapter, the author states that he struggled “with how much should be history, and how much autobiography.” He then goes on to write “If a chapter isn’t your cup of tea …… simply skip it.” Readers will skip very few chapters.
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