Newsletters
Fall - Winter, 2002 Newsletter
Volume 8 Issue 2
Northeast Archives-Sponsored
Project Lands at Yale
When Stephen Cole first phoned the Northeast Archives in the winter
of 1988, to urge us to support a modest documentary of the closing
of Penobscot Poultry, Co., in Belfast, Maine, he had little idea, I
suspect, what he was getting us all into. Penobscot Poultry-Maine’s
last broiler processing firm located in Waldo County, the heart of
chicken processing country-was about to close down, and Steve
thought the Northeast Archives should do something about it.
"I Was Content and Not Content": The Story of Linda Lord and the
Closing of Penobscot Poultry (Southern Illinois University Press,
2000) grew out of that modest documentation project. What evolved
was a multi-year initiative, funded by grants from the Maine
Humanities Council. Cedric Chatterley photographed and conducted
follow-up interviews with Linda at work in the "blood tunnel," at
home and in her community, and on her job search. I joined Cedric to
co-curate an exhibit based on the interviews and photographs. The
resulting exhibit, titled "One Year Later: The Closing of Penobscot
Poultry and the Transition of a Veteran Employee," appeared at six
sites in the state; we hosted forums at each location and learned
about the impact of plant closure in Maine’s communities.
Linda became a friend over time to us all. We followed her life
developments after she left Penobscot. Cedric remained in touch; I
often phoned with questions while researching aspects of the chicken
industry, and did a final phone interview with her in 1994. Steve’s
visit with Linda in 1996 became the book’s epilogue. Linda’s mother
had passed, followed by her father years later. Then last year a
series of hardships came her way: a fire swept through her father’s
farmhouse in Brooks, where she’d been living for over a decade. Then
finally a stroke in March of 2002, severe enough to cause
hospitalization and rehabilitation.
When I phoned Linda to tell her that the organizers of the Yale
Chicken Conference wanted her to take part, I learned she was in
hospital. We were all devastated by the news. Linda wanted to go to
Yale. Her doctors expressed concern at such a long journey at this
point in her recovery. But her family knew it meant everything to
Linda to be together with us all. It took three months to secure
permissions for her to attend the conference. Cedric and Steve
rallied to drive her down, along with a nurse, Wendy Bruton, hired
by Linda’s family. And on Friday, May 17, just hours before we were
to present, Linda rolled into Sage Hall, a stone building with
vaulted ceilings, on Yale’s campus.
Travelling by wheelchair, Linda visibly improved over the course of
the weekend. Her story captured many of the conference goers. Sparks
flared at our presentation (as they had at the original Belfast
opening in February 23, 1989), when one audience member confronted
Linda about her work at the plant. Linda had the opportunity to meet
Jim Lewis, an Episcopal priest who has used the book in his
preaching, teaching, and organizing of poultry workers on the
Delmarva Peninsula. We left Sunday afternoon euphoric: Cedric and
Steve and Wendy, accompanying Linda home to Maine; and Lance,
Sandalia and myself driving west to visit family in the region.
Linda had made it to Yale. We had all survived the journey. But
mostly, as Linda often reminds us, we had all become and remained
friends.
I Was Content and Not Content.
Currently in print at $37.00 is available to Maine Folklife Center
members at $25.00 plus shipping and handling ($4.50).
To order send check or money order to:
SIU Press,
P.O. Box 3697,
Carbondale, IL 62901
or phone 1-800-346-2680.
Ask for Angela; and
please use source code MFL2 on your order, whether by phone or mail.
Note: A portion of the proceeds will go toward the Maine Folklife
Center.
- Alicia J.
Rouverol
Petaluma, California
September 2002
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