Book Focuses On Blue Collar Workers, More

“Blue Collar & Proud of It” by Joe Lamacchia, with Bridget Samburg, 2009, HCI, $15.95/$21.95 Canada, 402 pages, includes school list: All of your teenager’s friends are going to college.
Harvard, Howard, a couple to the state university, small private colleges. They’re going to become doctors and teachers, programmers and biologists.
But your child has decided that college isn’t the right choice. She always loved welding. He wants to work construction.
And is that so bad? No, says author Joe Lamacchia. In his new book “Blue Collar & Proud of It” (with Bridget Samburg), he explains why we need blue collar workers, and he shows how to take advantage of the rosy future for blue collar jobs.
Six years ago, tired of seeing so many unhappy kids pushed into college, Lamacchia started his Web site, BlueCollarAndProudOfIt.com. He knows how it is for some kids. His family expected him to go to college, but he knew he wouldn’t have been happy and probably wouldn’t have graduated.
Much of what we need for our modern life was built with the sweat of blue collar workers. Fabricators, electricians, plumbers, carpenters, mechanics, steelworkers and welders are all essential in our world.
“Why don’t we take these tradespeople more seriously?” Lamacchia asks.
In the not-so-distant future, he says, there will be a serious shortage of trained individuals to do these jobs. Canada alone may be faced with an estimated 1 million unfilled blue collar positions within a generation.
Lamacchia blames this lack on the belief that college is the only door to a good, high-paying job.
So what can be done? First, we should understand that college is not a good fit for everybody. Parents shouldn’t ask what college is best for their son or daughter, but what job fits best and will make them happy. High school guidance counselors should be reminded of this, too.
If you’re looking for a job that doesn’t involve sitting behind a desk, know your options. Ask to shadow someone in an industry you think you might like. Check out tech schools and apprentice programs. Join a union and get free training. Stop feeling like you should push yourself to get a Ph.D. And keep in mind that you’re never “too old” to start, and that women are very welcome in these trades.
In an economy where joblessness hovers between “too high” and “oh, no,” it’s nice to read about industries in desperate need of hard workers who want to make a decent living (sometimes more than a doctor, when you factor in school loans).
And if you want proof of good income, there’s Lamacchia, author and owner of a million-dollar landscaping business. In “Blue Collar & Proud of It,” he offers support for the undecided, sound reasoning for parents, and a huge list of schools and programs for anyone who’s considering a blue-collar job or employment in the new “green collar” sector.
If your new grad is not college-bound and you’re not sure what’s next, or if you’re ready for a change-of-pace yourself, this is a great book to read. “Blue Collar & Proud of It” may put your household back in the black.

‘FREEDOM’ REVIEW
“The Sound of Freedom” by Raymond Aresnault, 2009, Bloomsbury Press, $25, 310 pages, includes notes and index: You do it without even thinking about it. You hum around the house, sing to your babies, to your God or to the radio. You catch yourself doing it while you’re relaxing with a hobby. You sing wherever you want to lift up your voice.
In the new book “Sound of Freedom” by Raymond Arsenault, you’ll see that it wasn’t always so easy. Sometimes a song is more than just a song.
Not long after she was out of diapers, Marian Anderson was making up tunes and playing a toy piano. By the time she was 4 years old, people knew she had “a gift.” At age 6, she joined the Union Baptist Church’s junior choir and was soon singing solo. As a teen, her voice contributed monetarily to the household.
Although many outside the African American community recognized Anderson’s incredible talent, there were few places in which she could perform. Jim Crow laws were more prevalent in the South, but the northern United States, including Anderson’s hometown of Philadelphia, was racially segregated, too. Most concert halls were off-limits to her.
Perhaps because of racism but surely for the opportunity, Anderson followed in the footsteps of many black Americans in the 1920s and briefly emigrated to Europe. Audiences in Germany, London and Scandinavia were dazzled by her talent and her “exotic” looks.
By 1935, Anderson was ready to resume her American career. Shortly thereafter, she was invited by Eleanor Roosevelt to perform in the White House. There, says Arsenault, “… two modest but strong-willed women became … linked in a chain of events that altered the course of American history.” Four years later, when Anderson’s managers attempted to secure the Daughters of the American Revolution’s Constitution Hall for a performance, they were informed of a “whites only” policy. A Washington school board likewise turned down the possibility of a concert.
Americans were outraged, and Roosevelt boldly withdrew from the DAR, a move that was loaded with political implications. Ten days before Easter Sunday 1939, Anderson’s managers scrambled to organize a free concert at the Lincoln Memorial. Unsure of the attendance, they hoped for a few thousand fans.
Seventy-five thousand people showed up. As historical books go, you won’t find a richer examination of this event than “The Sound of Freedom.” But that richness is a mixed bag.
Author Arsenault does a superb job conveying a sense of time and social attitudes in this book, and I was caught up in the drama of the events that occurred in 1938-39. But before that, his recounting of Anderson’s career was mind-numbing.
The people who helped and encouraged her will be familiar to die-hard music fans (particularly fans of classical song and German lieders) but may cause casual readers to want to stop reading.
But don’t. Stick with this book despite the (occasional) dry parts, and you’ll be rewarded with an uplifting, amazing story that certainly had implications on the Civil Rights movement many years later.
For that alone, “The Sound of Freedom” is a book to sing about.

TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER has been reading since she was 3 years old and never goes anywhere without a book. She lives on a hill in Wisconsin with two dogs and 11,000 books.