Wesleyan students will find Anthony Valerio behind a computer in ST Lab, pounding out his latest piece of literature. Those who take the time to meet the Brooks Brothers-bespectacled author will find he’s onto something new– a genre-bending biography about his former friend and part-time collaborator, Shel Silverstein. If published, Sojourn with Shel Silverstein will be Valerio’s third sell in two years, arriving just on the heels of his memoir, Toni Cade Bambara’s One Sicilian Night (2007), and his romantic thriller The Little Sailor (2008). Shortly before Spring Break, Outside In sat down at Pi Cafe to put him on the record.
Outside In: What’s your full name?
Anthony Valerio: Come on, are we really going to get that simple?
O: Ok well the point is this column is suppose to help introduce you to the Wesleyan community.
V: Anthony Valerio. You can check out me out on my website at anthonyvalerio.com.
O: You mind me asking when you were born?
V: 1940. I want to lie about that. I don’t want to be so old. But I was born during the outbreak of the Second World War. It was very formative because other than 9/11, well… we had to do drills, air drills, and there were large spotlights at night looking for planes.
O: And where was this?
V: Brooklyn, New York. Yeah, there was a real war effort when I was young. Children were aware of the war. Parents were involved in the war effort. Children were often placed in day orphanages while their parents went to work. They were like modern day care centers but the people running them had no real training. They could have been maniacs– punish you, put you isolation. It was very formative.
O: It’s amazing you remember this from such a young age.
V: Well an artist, at least writers, are spectators. By the way, it is possible for your cronies to call on me. If anyone has any questions about publishing, commercial money, just drop me an email and I’ll do what I can.
O: You mentioned that when we first met in ST Lab.
V: Yeah, everyone’s got a story. What I know is what I just told you. You’re kind of beginning to bridge school life with the real world. When I went to Columbia it was the real world from the beginning! Lots of social activism at the time. You are fortunate to have an excellent new president, Michael Roth — put that down — who coordinates life and events with the community and Middletown. I have always participated in such events.
O: So what’s your connection to Wesleyan?
V: How am I connected? Met someone on the faculty.
O: Who?
V: Let’s come back to that… and umm, for the longest time I made my career in Manhattan. What’s important is when you want to keep yourself busy, you go where you want to live. An artist at the time when I came up went to Manhattan. That’s where it was happening. So I had a place in Manhattan and for a long time was going back and forth between Middletown and New York. Eventually I came because my personal life. I had made a life for myself in Middletown, both outside of Wesleyan and working for Wesleyan. I taught in the GLSP program, did daily readings, some book signings — primarily because they don’t pay me and my parents aren’t paying the bills! And that’s how I came.
O: How long ago did you finally give up the place in Manhattan?
V: 13 years ago. Now I have a house in Middletown. I have an interesting thing to say about the house. I am attempting to make a work of art out of my personal life and my house.
O: How?
V: Fill it with beauty.
O: I see. Ok, well when I first met you in ST Lab you told me you were writing well there. Why is that?
V: That’s a good question. I used to think that every book brought along a new set of people, including a lover. I also used to think it brought along with it the comfort of a place, sometimes cafes — Kerouac wrote On the Road at the Peacock Cafe in Manhattan. There is no way to predict what place [will bring comfort]. Science Center Lab, for this particular work, I tried it. I hadn’t been in the new lab — they just redesigned the lab — and I liked new things. My job on my website is to keep it new and fresh. You know there are people out there who want to establish a life and keep it — same job, same life, same partner — that’s death to me. The light [in ST Lab] is right. There is a uniformity to it. I’m not crazy about everyone facing the same way. But the computer screens… I mean, I met you and then someone else sat down and said hello. I’ve already made my career so now I’m always looking to be helpful. What would happen if you had it all? Then what would you do? That’s an interesting question. If I were to give you a blank check, a key to the Play Boy mansion, 4000 people waiting to work for you, and Bill Gates gave you all the money you needed, what would you do?
O: I’m not really sure. What were you saying about the computer screens in ST Lab?
V: Well there is a whole nuts and bolts aspect of writing. I’ve already written some of the raw material of what I’m working on. I was trained in long hand. But there is an airiness to it that is compatible to what I am working on.
O: And what are you working on?
V: Well I’ve experimented with biography. I’m working on a piece centered around my work and friendship with Shel Silverstein. I edited a book of his and we were personal friends and the piece is about a day we spent together in Greenwich Village.
O: How far along are you?
V: Pretty far along. Near the end now. Now I’m beginning to figure out what I am going to do with it. An artist has to know what is commercial and not commercial. I don’t know where I am going to publish it. Then I am going to work on a longer piece — a book — in Science Lab. I’m working on a piece about a legend who was human. Our paths happened to cross and I had a skill he needed. When you develop a set of skills, you never know how they’ll be used. I never presumed I knew what was going to happen to my life. In other words, at the core of what we’re talking about, is my personal musings, what I thought about when I fell asleep and woke up, were always most important. And then of course I was always developing my craft.
O: And somehow you ended up here!
V: Yup, full time now. Bought a house, gave up my place in Manhattan, and there is a good chance I could die in Middletown.
O: So, do you mind if I ask how you met the love interest who brought you here?
V: I was reading from a new book up in Massechusetts. She was there. We formed a friendship, started going out. But how do I fit in here? You hope as an artist you develop a certain resiliency. For most artists the academy is very conservative. Fortunately I started doing workshops here in the Graduate Liberal Studies and Continuing Ed program which is no longer. I taught at NYU, City University of New York, writing workshops, summer writing conferences. But I’m really here because my love interest brought me here. No school, no parents, no accident of birth. When I got here I started taking photographs. People liked my photographs. I started writing, publishing. I’ve been very prolific here, published a lot of stuff. In a way there is more of a community here for someome like me than in Manhattan. Manhattan can be a monster. I had no community in Manhattan. Or Manhattan is a community of monsters. It’s also very very difficult. That’s why you hear about the 30,000 musicians working as waiters. If I had a nickel for for every failed writer, well…
O: You’d be a rich man. So what’s next after this book? By the way what are calling this book?
V: Well, I guess the question is what do I do next as far being useful in this town. Volunteer my time… The book doesn’t have a title yet, but its working title is Sojourn with Shel Silverstein. I’m going to get more coffee for you — stay here.
(refills my coffee cup, much to the dismay of Rich, the manager at Pi Cafe)
O: Thanks.
V: That’s mine too. You drink out of that end, I’ll drink out of this one.
O: Of course. So I was wondering if you’ve gotten to know very many Wesleyan students lately.
V: Well a few people have said hello, but hey, look, I’m not exactly a household image. It always surprises me is if someone knows my work and knows who I am. On the other hand, I have on occasion passed faculty members on the street who pretend they don’t know me. I have two new publications out and there are a couple of books I have out that did very well. It’s not that I have a poor opinion of myself, I’ve just never presumed anything. Fame is, for me, all relative.
O: Well I’ve got to run to class, but I appreciate you taking the time to talk with me.
V: I’m serious about this: if someone has a question about real life, agents, publishers, I’ll be happy to talk with them. I’m always asking myself what’s lacking, what’s missing, what can I do to provide. I really feel I could be useful.