Literally Waltham: September 2020

Welcome to a special edition of "Literally Waltham." This month, I am proud to introduce Waltham's own Bill Kennedy, author of "A Corkscrew Please." I recently had the pleasure of conversing with him over coffee and biscotti. Following is an interview of one of Waltham's best.

JL: Where are you from?

Bill Kennedy: Born in New York City, Queens Borough.

JL: Can you tell us a little about yourself?

Bill Kennedy: Educated Primarily in Montreal, Quebec, Rapid City, South Dakota, and the University of Massachusetts at Boston. My family genealogy goes back to Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, Canada over 150 years ago. I served 3 years 4 months Active Duty in the US Air Force, like Hollywood actor Chuck Norris stationed in Korea 1959-60 during the so-called ‘Cold War’. Widower of the late Janet A. Read of Waltham, Massachusetts whom I met during the New England Blizzard of 1978. After Operation Desert Shield/Storm in Kuwait, then I retired from the US Army Technician program at Fort Devens, MA in 2000.

JL: Tell us your latest writing news.

Bill Kennedy: Currently writing a second Anthology titled, “Always in Between.”

JL: When and why did you begin writing?

Bill Kennedy: Poetry in while in Rapid City High School, South Dakota inspired in October 4, 1957, by the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite. This damaged American confidence in its technological superiority, creating a wave of anxiety known as the Sputnik crisis. In response, President Dwight D. Eisenhower launched the Space Race. My ‘Life and Eternity’ poetry receiving Special mention by National High School Poetry Association - Young America sings 1958; in Los Angeles, California. Then again later recognized for my poetry ‘Korea in my Eyes’ by The Korea Republic Daily, [English Newspaper] Seoul, Korea, 7 February 1960.

JL: What inspired you to write your first book?

Bill Kennedy: My wife who later succumbed to Alzheimer's in 2003 and many of my travel background experiences.

JL: How did you come up with the title?

Bill Kennedy: The Island of Montreal, Québec is like a symbolic cork in a wine bottle of the St. Lawrence River bordered in the North with a canal named for Queen Elizabeth II of Canada and a canal in the South named for US President Dwight D. Eisenhower the river leads to the Great lakes of North America’s commerce.

JL: Do you have a specific writing style?

Bill Kennedy: Linking personal episodes to my inspirational thinking outside the so called, routine “box.”

JL: Is there anything about your style or genre that you find particularly challenging?

Bill Kennedy: Yes, following up on historical facts as there is some of my material that is government classified and not open to the public at large.

JL: How much of the book is realistic and are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life?

Bill Kennedy: Much of my writing is autobiographical with a tad of fiction to protect names of people.

JL: Is there a message in your book that you want readers to grasp?

Bill Kennedy: Yes, pay attention to those once upon a time Children’s Fairy Tales, that you can draw upon those tales later in life, for adult living to avoid making the same aging classic mistakes. Aesop’s Favorite Fables ignites young imaginations and teaches them virtue, kindness, integrity, problem-solving, happiness, and what it means to be human.

JL: Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest?

Bill Kennedy: Some of Waltham’s Ms. Jesse Lucci’s poetry.

JL: Thank you. Who is your favorite writer, and what is it about their work that really strikes you?

Bill Kennedy: Mondo Cane (meaning Doggish World, which is a mild Italian profanity; also known in the United States as Tales of the Bizarre: Rites, Rituals and Superstitions) is a 1962 Italian mondo documentary film written and directed by Paolo Cavara, Franco Prosperi and Gualtiero Jacopetti.

JL: Name one entity that supported your commitment to become a published author.

Bill Kennedy: US Air Force Family Support Office at Hanscom Air Force Base, Bedford, Massachusetts which I acknowledged in "A Corkscrew, Please!"

JL: What book are you reading now?

Bill Kennedy: Rereading the personal history of macabre goth author, Edgar Allan Poe.

JL: Do you remember the first book you read?

Bill Kennedy: Call of the Wild, by Jack London and the King James Bible’s Old Testament.

JL: Any advice for other writers?

Bill Kennedy: Once the author’s pen is laid down, each writer should be comfortable with his/her material.

JL: Anything specific you want to tell your readers?

Bill Kennedy: Yes, Link some symbolism to daily living into one’s allocated time and space.