The present time of Munroe's story would have been about 1945, so this is about a period maybe 20 years before, in rural Ontario. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
…. A strange desperate sort of haste…. a special facility "When my mother was growing up, she and her whole family would go to dances. These would be held in the schoolhouse, or sometimes in a farmhouse with a big enough front room. Young and old would be in attendance. Someone would play the piano – the household piano or the one in the school – and someone would have brought a violin. The square dancing had complicated patterns or steps, which a person known for a special facility would call out at the top of his voice (it was always a man) and in a strange desperate sort of haste which was of no use at all unless you knew the dance already. As everybody did, having learned them all by the time they were ten or twelve years old. " -- Opening paragraph of Voices, autobiographical story by Nobel Prize-winner Alice Munro, in her most recent book Dear Life, published 2012 by Vintage International. `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` Richard Hopkins Tallahassee, FL 850-894-9212 (home) 850-544-7614 (cell) [email protected]
