The Marilou Suszko Interview

by Rick Brown

Ms. Marilou Suszko is the author of Farms & Foods of Ohio: From Garden Gate to Dinner Plate. She has contributed to publications such as The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Our Ohio and Catholic Chronicle. It is my pleasure to present my conversation with her below. R.B.

Naked Sunfish - Are you a native of Ohio? If so, what area? Did you grow up on a farm? Tell us a little about your upbringing.

Marilou - I was born and raised in Lakewood, Ohio, a west side suburb of Cleveland. While I didn't grow up on a farm, I did grow up in a working class neighborhood where families lived frugally. Everyone had a one car garage and a vegetable garden, and maybe a pigeon coop. What you didn't use for your family, you shared with the neighbor who in turned shared a bonus bounty with you. My uncle Frank had a grain farm in Pittsfield. That's where our family reunions were held and possibly might have been the spark that began a long time curiosity and love affair with farming. I love everything about the process of farming, except the work. Which is why I am an intense gardener, but not a farmer. I serve the occupation of farming better by writing about the farmers, the methods, the flavors—somebody has to tell their story, so I picked me.

Naked Sunfish - When did you find yourself wanting to become a writer?

Marilou - When I realized that I could actually do this and get paid!

N.S. - And how long ago did you realize you could make money at writing? What did you write early on?

Marilou - Wait a minute!? You can make money at writing? Where did you get that idea? (lol) Writing comes naturally to me...that’s not to say I don’t sweat it and that the words just flow like water over Niagara falls. I wrote for the university newspaper and enjoyed a little stint with the local NPR station. When I graduated, I worked for an advertising agency for a few years which led to working in advertising for a large school supplier. From there I was an editor for food related business to business publications. I’ve also written for the salon, plastics, concrete, and toy industry. I’ve been around the writing block, as they say. But where I really came into my own was when I started writing for the restaurant industry which lead to consumer newspapers, magazine and finally to the book.

N. S. - So this is something you studied for? Where did you attend school?

Marilou - University of Toledo...BA in journalism & communications Baldwin Wallace, Berea, additional work toward a masters in business...never finished, never intend to.

N.S. - I know you do food reviews for newspapers and magazines. So how did you get started with Farms & Foods of Ohio: From Garden Gate to Dinner Plate. What was the process? The logistics alone must have taken intense planning.

Marilou - Actually, I don’t do food reviews...I am just a feature writer, a lowly feature writer. I’ve always written about food and have always had a hankering to garden and farm, albeit I do this on a small scale (raised garden beds that total all of 1/12 of an acre if not less). The publisher was looking for someone in OH to take on this project. It is part of a national series of state books. Ohio is the 3rd in the series. I got the part and took off traveling a few years ago beginning in March at a maple syrup farm and ending in October at a nut farm. Over 6500 miles in all. Planning? Well there was some of that but quite often I just went with where the wind blew and ended up meeting some great farmer and spending time on some interesting farms. I found the farmers in my book by asking for referrals from OEFFA, IFO, sales reps from seed companies, government agencies, and of farmers themselves. They are always willing to point you in the direction of someone doing something as good as they are.

N.S. - How long did it take for you to compile the book?

Marilou - I spent a growing season's worth of travel (beginning in march with the maple syrup harvest and ending in October at a nut harvest), a year writing, and about another 6 months of editing, design, fine tuning, etc.

N.S. - Many of the excerpts about Ohio's farmers are very insightful I especially like the simplicity of the Amish approach and those who learned as they went. How has your new knowledge changed your approach to your own personal gardening?

Marilou - Good question. I wouldn't say my approach, which has always centered around an organic and natural approach to gardening (note I say "gardening," not farming) has changed any. I experiment a lot with different varieties of vegetables and herbs every year, and always look for a great story or history behind the variety. But the book and all the travels associated with it make me slow down, appreciate and savor every moment I spend scratching at the dirt or filling my basket with the first ripe tomatoes of the season. It now seems that every moment I spend in my garden evokes plenty of memories about the places I've been and the people I meet. What a bonus!

N.S. - Any plans for a second book? A sequel perhaps?

Marilou - It's a possibility. There is certainly no shortage of material throughout the fair state of Ohio.

N.S. Well, we'd certainly look forward to that. Thanks for taking the time to chat with us.

Marilou - Thank you, Rick...I always love a good chat about food and farmers.

Farms & Foods of Ohio: From Garden Gate to Dinner Plate can be found at the following places:
www.amazon.com
www.back40books.com
as well as your local Borders and Barnes and Nobles.

Untitled
by Eric Langolff & Jessy Kendall

CD Review by Karl Gruber

Years ago I wrote many, many album and concert reviews for some local Central Ohio music rags, but it’s been a while. I know that one of the things that music reviewers get vilified for is not having exact, well researched information on the artist or band they are reviewing, and I can certainly understand that. However, this time around as I talk about Bruce Springsteen’s latest CD, Magic, I’m just going to go with the flow of my feelings and auditory observations of this latest musical production from the man simply known as The Boss.

I’ve seen this guy and his E Street Band four times in concert, once per decade starting in the 1970’s. Anyone who has been to a Bruce Springsteen concert knows that you pretty much come out of the venue soaked in just as much sweat as Bruce produced up on stage. I mean the guy knows how to work it, and this extends to his newest CD. First of all, I have to state that because I considered Bruce’s 2002 CD release, The Rising, to be one of my all-time favorite rock albums ever, I am simply going to have to make some comparisons. The Rising can almost be described as a Gospel/Rock CD, where Bruce seems to be on a spiritual seeking mission, with the light of a positive new dawn in the offing. Truthfully, I have flowed through every track of this CD day after day, mile after freeway mile of my daily driving to and fro, and then humming and quietly singing each tune to myself throughout the workday. Like a good Bordeaux, The Rising will get better with age.

This new CD, Magic, flows from a different area of Springsteen’s brain, and most certainly from his heart. I’ll be truthful, I have always had a hard time making out the lyrics of his tunes as I listen to any of his CD’s, so I was very grateful to have the lyrics on a printed booklet as part of the current music package. This new release most definitely combines a calculated, fairly slick pop-possible radio air play production with his usual deeply personal, introspective look at the world. The first cut on the CD, Radio Nowhere is a curt commentary on the current state of America’s Over-the-air radio stations (Being a 20 year veteran of the broadcasting industry as a DJ, I can say authoritatively why some of us call ClearChannel the “Anti Christ of Broadcasting!”) The real irony here is that Radio Nowhere is such a good, upbeat song, it stands a great chance of getting some radio airplay! But as one goes through lyric after lyric of the CD’s songs it becomes obvious that Springsteen retains his magic of making each song an intertwining of his personal life, but also social commentary.

Magic makes it very obvious to the listener that America’s current path of once again heading down the never ending path of war, violence, power, and greed continue to irk him, in a deep, personal way. Yet with this in mind, he throws in a cut like Girls In Their Summer Clothes with it’s light-hearted sound about a lost love, and wistful observations of girls passing by. On top of all this, even after all the years of recording and concerts gone by, the classic sound of the E Street Band continues to provide it’s steady, rock solid sound throughout every tune.

The Big Man, Clarence Clemons, still blasts his familiar tenor sax at all the right points (has any musician ever made so much of three notes!?) The bottom line for me is The Rising did and always will strike a chord in my soul and will always find a place in my CD player and iPod, but Magic, even with it’s deep social commentary of our continually At War world, is more whimsical sounding with a calculated pop orientation. It too will find a place in my CD/iPod player mostly when I am in the mood for something a bit more light-hearted, kind of like the breeze and freshness of a pretty girl when she walks by me in her summer clothes.