(This originally appeared in the Aug. 12 issue of The Nashville Graphic in Michael’s “The Soapbox” column.)
My mama and I were both voracious readers when I was growing up. However, we never got to meet many writers — just two that I can recall.
One was Roy Wilder Jr. of Spring Hope, a local character who found some national success with his book, You All Spoken Here.
And then there was longtime News and Observer columnist Dennis Rogers.
Mama and I got up early one Saturday morning back in the early 1980s to go to Belk’s at Parkwood Mall in Wilson. Rogers was going to be there signing the latest of his books, which were collections of his columns. I believe it was Second Harvest.
It seemed like the rest of Wilson was there in the unlikeliest of places for a book signing. But Rogers took time to talk to everyone in line, signed our book and made a crack about how tiny my mama was — she still laughs about it to this day.
He’d been retired a long time, but he wrote for the newspaper for 31 years. He passed away last weekend after a lengthy illness.
No matter how tough times were, we always had that newspaper and The Nashville Graphic at our home. A lot of folks were that way back when “the Raleigh paper” had bureaus in eastern North Carolina and good coverage.
Everyone in our household read his column and talked about it every day. In the first several years, Rogers spent a lot of time on the road and he’d blow into a small town, find an interesting person or place or event and make it come to life at the bottom of the front of the Life section (I think it was originally called Carolina).
He said the only instruction his editor gave him about the column was “Make it about people. And stay east of I-95.”
I had to learn words and often consulted a map so I could look up the datelines. My North Carolina geography grew over time.
I didn’t know it at the time, but Rogers was teaching me to be an aspiring writer. It was when I first realized something I tell my writing students now — that everyone has a story, they just need a writer to tell it.
Rogers was from Wilson County and often wrote about growing up doing farm work and not having much money. His readership understood and connected and it lent his work an authenticity that you can’t buy.
I did some sports work for the N&O when I was in college and later, when I got an award for the Soapbox, Rogers was at the event. I went to speak to him and told him he’d helped me to learn to read when I was younger. His wife got a big kick out of that.
I’d compare it to when a kid gets a signed ball from his favorite player at a ballgame.
A few years ago when my first book, Memory Cards, came out — which is about growing up in eastern North Carolina — I reached out to Rogers to see if he’d be willing to read the book and give me a quote.
I was ecstatic when he agreed, but then speechless when he sent this comment:
“Michael Brantley has the eyes of a camera and the soul of a poet. Memory Cards is a gentle and memory-jogging visit to a time and a place just down the road that is fading all too quickly. Along the way, he’ll make you smile, nod, try to swallow that lump in your throat and say more than once ‘Damn, I wish I’d written that.’ Savor this book.”
It put a lump in my throat and I savored the praise like that 11-year-old did standing in line at Belk’s.
When I took my current job teaching journalism and writing at Barton College, I reached out to Rogers. I asked if he’d be willing to come speak to some of my students, tell some stories and give some advice.
He replied that his health wasn’t good and he’d given up public speaking. This was only a few months ago.
Here’s the thing: I can’t claim I was buddies or even friends with Dennis Rogers, but I still felt like I knew him. After reading stories online and talking to others, I was not alone in that thinking.
He was respected and well-liked and more than a decade after he retired, people still remembered him and spoke highly of his work. A writer can’t ask or hope for more than that.
Another excellent piece, Michael. Dennis Rogers was a Tar Heel original, and I know he must have been pleased to have you following in his footsteps.
You are too kind.
…and this feeling you have for Dennis Rogers’s writings is exactly how I feel about YOU, and your writings…although the ages are reversed, you being younger than your admirer. I have also “bought in” to what you are “selling”, (in no way am I trying to imitate The Rock), and the memories that you have shared have indeed brought me to “the today” that reminds me that “I am there” in the past, present, and future all at the same time…you are the new treasure…b
Flattered and honored by your comments…mighty good for my ego, which will get a full impact bodycheck with the start of class next week!
Great eulogy to one of my favorite writers. Dennis was a treasure as was Mr. Roy who I got to know when I was doing service work for Bass Bros. Larry always wanted to know why it took me so long to finish a service call at Mr. Roy’s. And you are in the same class as these two artists. Keep it up my friend. I am proud to know you.
Thank you, sir, that is high praise. I wish I’d spent more time with Roy … he always came by the paper at the busiest times and I figured I’d catch him another day … same thing when he’d ask me to come tell lies with him and the other characters in Bissett’s store.