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Date: 3/10/2021
LONGMEADOW/SPRINGFIELD – Childhood is a fertile source of inspiration for many writers. In New York Times’ bestselling author Michael Tougias’s new book, “The Waters Between Us,” he gives an autobiographical telling of growing up in the woods along the rivers and streams of Western Massachusetts during the 1960s and 1970s. The book explores Tougias’s relationship with his father, adventures in the woods, and his own emotional journey into adulthood.
RP: What made the era you grew up during, the 1960s and 1970s, unique?
MT: A kid had so much freedom growing up in the 1960s and 70s. In the summer we would be out of the house first thing in the morning, only coming back for lunch and dinner, and then outside well into the dark. I remember my Playboy bicycle with the banana seat was like my horse that could carry me to adventure, so I could roam as far from home as the bike could carry me. Parenting was much more hands-off back then, most of the time my parents had no idea where I was, I was just expected to be back for meals and an hour after dark. Consequently, I spent a lot of time in the woods or along streams and rivers.
But the late 1960s and early 70’s were also a time of turmoil and upheaval, primarily because of the Vietnam War. Although I was a couple years too young to be drafted, I followed the war and, as a result, was suspicious of authority. The year 1968 was especially difficult with the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy – it made me feel that the world was falling apart.
RP: The press release says your relationship with your father was complex. Can you briefly expand upon that?
MT: As a boy and in my early teens I was always getting in trouble. The principal of Williams Middle School told me I broke the school record for consecutive days of detention. Maybe I had Attention Deficit Disorder, or maybe just excess energy, but I went out of my way to find excitement, which also led to problems at school or with the police. My father was none too happy about it, and we didn’t know how to sit down and explain our feelings and frustrations. I remember when I was 16 I was pulled over by the police and I wasn’t even driving the car! I had tied a rope around the bumper of an older friend’s car and skateboarded behind it, going way too fast down one of the main streets. The officer had the lights and siren going and pulled us over, and somehow word got back to my father.
When I was 10 or 11 I remember how I wished my father was more of an outdoorsman than he was. He wasn’t exactly handy, nor was he an outdoorsman, having grown up in Springfield. He didn’t know much about fishing, had never hunted, and couldn’t tell an oak tree from a maple. Yet despite his lack of knowledge, he truly enjoyed the outdoors.
Although my brother, Mark, and I didn’t know it at the time, we were probably fortunate he was not an outdoorsman. There were no speeches that started out, “When I was a boy, we caught dozens of three-pounders.”Consequently, Mark and I never knew what we were missing compared to the “good old days.” And we never had to listen to any “expertizing.” We figured things out on our own. The few times I did catch a big fish and take it home, Dad’s typical comment was “Wow, what is it?”
RP: New England, specifically Springfield and Longmeadow, are featured heavily in your book. What about those locations did you find engaging back then, and looking back now, as an adult?
MT: My favorite place was “The Meadows” – Stebbins Wildlife Sanctuary – along the banks of the Connecticut River. Using our bicycles, I would meet friends there and we would spend the day fishing and exploring. But the meadows was missing something I craved from an early age and that was mountains. Consequently, I had a dream of owning a cabin in Vermont, where my family vacationed one week each year. I tried to convince my father to buy a tiny cabin but his work schedule meant he’d never have enough time to enjoy it. However, I held onto that dream, and when I was 18 I started pestering my father to give me a small loan so I could buy a cabin. They shocked me when I was 22 and gave me the loan for the cabin I dreamt about. I write about that cabin in my book “There’s A Porcupine In My Outhouse.” I’m now 65 and I still have that remote cabin and think of my parents whenever I’m up there looking out over the ridge.
RP: What are you working on now?
MT: I’ve come full circle in my writing. When I was a kid I read every adventure book I could find: titles like ‘Two Against the North’ and ‘Cache Lake Country.’ In my 40s and 50s, I wrote several true survival at sea books such as “A Storm Too Soon.” In the past few years, I’ve been adapting those adult books into books for a younger audience, middle readers – ages 8-14, and have my own series “The True Rescue Series” with MacMillan Publishing. I’m currently working on the sixth book for that series. I love writing for kids—my mantra is the same I use for adults: Keep it fast-paced.
Tougias is the author and co-author of 34 books, including “The Finest Hours,” now a major motion picture starring Chris Pine and Casey Affleck. “The Waters Between Us” is available wherever books are sold. Visit www.michaeltougias.com for more information on the author.