Dear Friend’s and Follower’s,
Revised Post from FRED
COMING TO LIFE IN 1900
In 1900 I rose from the ground in a residential and industrial neighborhood on the west side of Buffalo, New York, and became aware of becoming a modest four-story apartment building after my cornerstone was securely in place. While I was being built, I often noticed a young woman with a child in her arms watching me. The construction crew would wave and sometimes talk to her. It was quite confusing at first because, although I wasn’t human, I felt a warmth toward them and felt alive.
I can’t tell you the exact moment this awareness began, or the date I was completed, but it was shortly afterward that tales of my tenants were born. My first tenants were the mother and son who watched me being built. Through them, I learned to listen, observe and feel what it was like to be human.
I’ve been privileged to be an eyewitness to many generations of families who lived within my walls and came from all walks of life from all over the world. Each was on a journey through life, with all its twists and turns of fate and fortune.
For decades I tried to connect with someone who would hear my plea, and write my legacy. In 2006 I caught the attention of Fran, my author, as she drove past my building. My voice reached out to her with a promise to meet my tenants, hear them speak, see them and experience the challenges they faced during this historical period.
Readers of this historical, multi-period novel about my life, FRED: Buffalo Building of Dreams, will learn how intertwined my tenants were over a span of 120 years. This mosaic of humanity often made this old building that I am, wish I was human. Having lived as long as I have, my history actually takes place in the real-time lives of the immigrants, refugees, internal migrants and descendants of enslaved people of Africa who called me ‘home.’
I’ve had my share of fear and disappointments, too. My greatest fear has always been of being destroyed or demolished before evidence of my existence could be documented. I was a novice about life. Each passing decade provided new insights about the way wars, poverty, Depressions, political upheavals and famines took a toll on so many of my tenants. I learned that survival was their common goal. Their stories were often heartbreaking, but through them, I experienced the real meaning of courage and determination. I felt a profound sadness during their worst times, and felt happy during their good times.
Having my stories published in 2021 gave me great satisfaction. Anyone reading this novel will enter the lives of a variety of people and be able to identify with their hopes, dreams and ambitions, as well as discover what their legacies reveal for the current and future generations of Americans.
Since the publication of my novel, FRED: Buffalo Building of Dreams, I’ve recently enlisted the talents of my two co-authors, Frances Schmidt and James Costa, to help write the stories I’ve been waiting for decades to tell. These stories involve those unforgettable tenants who occupied my apartments in the late 1930’s and early 1940s. My new novel will be titled, FRED’S TIMELESS TENANT TALES: Buffalo’s West Side Stories.
Best,
FRED
FOREVER VIOLET
My novel FOREVER VIOLET : From Stony Hill to Broadway tells a relatable Coming of Age novel for people of all ages. My tales are filled with obstacle’s,barriers, and roadblocks to the future I was determined to achieve. Often I had to adapt to an unexpected plan A, B ,or C never letting go of the power of hope as protection against life’s unpredictability’s.
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Best,
Violet