An Encounter with Dorothy Day by Douglas Lavine
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It was the fall of 1972, and my 22-year-old self had a problem. I was a student at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism in search of a subject for the master’s thesis I was required to write. My first idea, to explore the booming genre of fantasy writing, failed to inspire my faculty advisor, Frederick T. C. Yu, dean of the school. It failed, truth be told, to inspire me too. For
How fortunate for you and the readers of TAC that you rediscovered your tapes interviewing Dorothy Day. Revisiting them after almost 50 years must have been a wonderful reminder of the opportunity you had to speak with the founder of the Catholic Worker as well as a woman destined for sainthood.
What I found so refreshing in reading your article was the opportunity I had to take a visual pause from the written word, touch the sound bar, close my eyes and listen to you and Dorothy converse on her life and passions.
Thank you for sharing the article, the audio, and a piece of your past.
Lynne Centore
Hi, Lynne: I just saw your comment!!! It has been a busy few months. Thank you so much for writing! Meeting Dorothy Day was a life experience. Can I assume you are related to Michael–perhaps his mother or sister? Thanks and stay safe.
Douglas…
You are a humble man and a seeker of truth. I appreciate your openness, honesty and simplicity. Like Dorothy.
Gene: Thank you so much for your kind comment! I love your pieces in Today’s American Catholic. Stay safe!- Doug Lavine
At the age of 3, in 1933 Dorothy visited our family house on Beldon Hill Road, Wilton, CT. She wanted to consult with my parents, Dr. and Mrs. Frederick W. Rice, about what to do as the ravages of the Great Depression grew in this country ominously. What was asked of her, as a recent convert at this critical time. My life long Roman Catholics advised her to contact some other Catholic, to use her own journalistic skills. and to connect with other socially concerned people with whom they were involved, like Fr. George B. Ford, Hubert and Herbert Agar, Jean and Bob Kennedy and others whom my father knew as his patients or students at NYU Medical School where he served a a Professor for several decades in the 20’s, 30’s and during the WWs I and II era. ( Medeleine N. H. Rice received her doctorate in History from Columbia in 1943, and was on the CCNY Graduate School Faculty where she taught at Hunter College for many decades until her retirement in 1968.
I thought I could never be surprised re D.D. and the Catholic Worker. Mr. Lavine has fulfilled the criteria of good journalism, according to the great Pete Hamill. He has written something that produces the following reactions: “Holy S__t, I didn’t know that” & “Wow. I never thought of it that way.”
Fine, fine piece of work. Glad that it saw the light of day via the National Catholic Reporter. Love their feedback: “Less you, more Dorothy.”
Her reaction to your piece was soooooooooooooooo Dorothy, “More personality cult.”
As a lover of all things and people Hebraic/Yiddish, (hey I’m from Brooklyn) I get a kick out of reading stories about some of the Jewish guys who dreamt about marrying her. Why not? My parents would describe her as being “a catch.”
She gained the respect, admiration and love of the Jewish community for speaking out about the dangers of Hitler and the impending Holocaust when everyone from FDR to the NY Times counseled silence for fear of stirring up anti-semitic hysteria.
She would have none of it! I suggest the following for additional information on some of Dorothy’s mitzah’s in the Jewish community.
AMERICA MAGAZINE
NOVEMBER 9, 2009 ISSUE
Our Brothers, the Jews: A lost manuscript, a continued call for solidarity by Dorothy Day
https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2009/11/09/our-brothers-jews-lost-manuscript-continued-call-solidarity
https://www.catholicworker.org/dorothyday/articles/205.html
Thanks again Mr. Lavine.
Gene R.