Peter Coyote, author, actor and activist, will discuss his life, his work and his latest memoir, “The Rainman’s Third Cure: An Irregular Education,” today at Fayetteville Public Library as part of the library’s author series.
Coyote has appeared in films such as “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial” and “Erin Brockovich” and provided voice work for many Ken Burns projects, including “The Roosevelts” and “The National Parks.” Last month he appeared in an episode of “Blue Bloods,” a television drama centered on a family of New York police officers.
Coyote has been in town all week working with students at the University of Arkansas and Fayetteville High School and agreed to answer five questions for What’s Up!
Q. Your talk at Fayetteville Public Library will focus on your “re-estimation of the 1960s.” Explain what that means.
A. Well, since the Reagan administration there’s been a concerted effort to frame the Sixties counter-culture as a “loser,” “self-indulgent” drug-wracked failure. After the Berkeley riots and troubles, no administration wanted another generation of active, engaged, fomenting students, and so my peers and I were cast as losers and the next generation was sent into Wall Street or the computer industry, to get rich and indulge themselves with consumer toys. But while we may not have won most of our political goals: did not end war; imperialism, racism, capitalism, private property, etc, there is no place in the United States today where you will not find a women’s movement, an environmental movement protecting some critical creek or aspect of endangered species. You will not find a place where alternative spiritual practices — Vipassana, Buddhism, etc., are not being practiced, nor a place where alternative medical practices are not thriving. … There is no place without organic food and farmers’ markets or slow-food venues. Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people are now being more openly accepted, and for the first time in my lifetime, newscasters and “experts” on television are African-Americans. Given Baltimore and the recent spate of white on black police murders, we are not perfect, but I can sense a positive change and it needs to be discussed.
Q.”The Rainman’s Third Cure: An Irregular Education” is your second memoir. Why are you drawn to memoir writing and why is it important for you to write your life’s story?
A. My first book, “Sleeping Where I Fall,” was written to make sense of the ’60s. I didn’t want to be like an old frat boy stuck in the highlights of my youth. I wanted to appraise it carefully and move on; I wanted to give an insider’s view of what those social experiments were like from a committed, partisan perspective and I think I did that. The second one was written as an old and mature man. I’m 73 today and learned some things from that crazy life, and it felt like a good idea to shine the spotlight on some errors, misperceptions and mistakes.
Q. What memoir-writing advice do you give to an average person, someone who has lived a quiet life?
A. Life doesn’t have to be stimulating and highly active and full of colorful tales. It does need to be tenderly felt and accurately perceived. I would have aspiring writers practice describing a single important event that occurred to them and practice writing and rewriting it until they feel that the Universe has ingested the lessons they wanted to transmit to others. Employ the five senses, give the body hooks on which to hang understanding.
Q. Social media is filled with snippets of people’s everyday lives, which become part of a person’s story. What role does social media have in the memoir-writing process? Can it be a jumping off point?
A. The only problem with social media is that they tend to be superficial narratives — what I ate today, the color of my shoes. I would save and incubate that energy, let it deepen, let the story develop its own imagery and symbols. When you’re just snapping off the top, that’s “typing.” When you’ve edited and refined your typing, worked over each word to choose the most pungent expressive choice, and incident that’s deep with meaning, then you’re approaching writing.
Q. Tell me a little about the work you are doing this week with students at the University of Arkansas and Fayetteville High School.
A. I’m having a great time here, mostly listening deeply, until I sense the real question that may be behind the question, the thing they really want or perhaps need to know. I’m very impressed by the quality of the teachers and the courage of the students to face such a conflicted and challenging time.
— KELLY BARNETT
FYI
The Art of Memoir Writing Workshop With Peter Coyote
WHEN — 9 a.m. Saturday WHERE — Fayetteville Public Library COST — Free INFO — Register at faylib.org or call the library at 856-7250
FAQ
FPL Author Series: Peter Coyote
WHEN — 7 p.m. today WHERE — Fayetteville Public Library COST — Free INFO — faylib.org