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 FRED’S VIEW OF POSITIVITY I’ve learned that positivity is especially hard to muster in the worst of times.  Like falling rain on a stormy day, it varies in intensity.  Sometimes positivity peeks out of our troubled mind like a ray of hope when it is least expected. I was built in 1900 and was filled with pride.  Gradually over the next 120 plus years I learned that many of my immigrant tenants’ lives were filled with pain and suffering.  After years of listening carefully, I discovered that being positive is not something we are born with.  It is something that must be cultivated and nourished like anything that requires our careful attention. Over the decades I had no choice but to accept whatever happened inside and outside my building.  Several times I almost lost hope for a positive outcome, even for myself.  I was one owner away from being demolished.  I thought I would never be able to tell my stories, but it was my tenants who taught me how to fight my fear of the future.  They learned to struggle to be positive in their home countries until they decided to come to America for a life of freedom.   Of course, they soon discovered America’s streets were not paved with gold, but positivity kept them moving forward despite the difficulties they encountered in their new land.  But they were free!  For years my pleas for help were never heard by drivers passing by on Niagara Street in the city of Buffalo, N.Y.  My mental telepathy never worked until one rainy morning in 2006 when I made my usual plea:  “Please tell my story before it’s too late and evidence of my existence is gone forever.” As fate would have it, Fran, my author heard my voice and turned her head toward me.  I knew she heard me and I felt positive she would come back someday.  It took six more years before she pulled up in front of my building and opened the passenger window and said, “I’m here at last, FRED, and I’ll tell your story.” I’m honored to still be here standing tall on Buffalo West Side, and I hope my story will help you to believe in the power of positivity, as I did so long ago. Best, FRED

Dear Friends and Followers:                                                             MY IMMIGRANTS’ HOPE In my award-winning historical novel, FRED:  Buffalo Building of Dreams, I introduced you to my tenants who came to America from all over the world.  To escape fear, wars, poverty and persecution, they braved the unknown and left their countries penniless but with hope for freedom and a better life in America.  For the past one hundred twenty years, I’ve learned of their struggles, secrets, and stories of personal loss in their pursuit of freedom for themselves and families.  I’ve seen them work hard to become full-fledged citizens, free to take advantage of the opportunities afforded them here. After they arrived and became my tenants, it was the first time most of them would live in a residential and industrial neighborhood where they could live and work.  It was the beginning of a dream to save money to support a family, buy a house, educate their children and even start a business of their own.  This was the America they envisioned when they left the poverty and hardship of their former countries. Best, FRED FRED’S sequel titled, FRED’s Timeless Tenant Tales: Buffalo West Side Stories, will be published in 2025.  We’ll keep you posted Frances Schmidt          & Jim Costa 

                                                       HOPE and ENDURANCE Before my award-winning novel, Forever Violet:   From Stony Hill to Broadway, was published, I relived my life as a young girl who endured a difficult childhood in the middle of the Great Depression.  At that time, ‘hope’ wasn’t something I actually felt or even thought about.  All I knew was the unhappiness I experienced growing up in a home with an alcoholic father and a mentally ill mother.  To escape my troubles and find a measure of peace, I would go to the park and lie down in a field of violets, where I would gaze up to the sky.  It was there, embraced by nature, that I suddenly began to hope for a better life.  At the same time, deep inside of me, I realized there was more to life, that it was possible for me to enjoy and share the beauty of life.  Every year the violets are killed by frost and crushed by snow, but each spring they are reborn with the return of the sun.  In a sense, I too was reborn by the hope kindled in my heart by the violets surrounding me.  Since my story’s been published, I realize that it was hope that freed me from the bondage of poverty and abuse, and faith in myself that helped me achieve success in life.  May my life be an example and an inspiration to those who are experiencing difficulties in their lives and may they know, too, that hope and endurance are the keys to personal freedom and success. Best, Violet

Dear Followers and Friends, My post is simple this month.  I’m sharing words of advice given to me and written by one of my co-authors, Frances Schmidt.  I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did. Best, Violet                                                                          DOG LESSONS                                                             (How To Cope With change)                                                              Bark when you feel like it…                                                             Cuddle with a friend…                                                             Never waste crumbs…                                                             Sometimes lie down and do nothing…                                                             Look before you leap…                                                             Run free in the rain…                                                             Scratch when you itch…                                                             Take steps in stride…                                                             Roll over and sit up without treats…                                                             Find bones in hidden places…. MORAL:  Make each day an adventure.  Test the limits of what you can do.  Live in the moment and tomorrow will take care of itself.

Dear Friends and Followers: A message from “FRED: Buffalo Building of Dreams,” (2021); and “Forever Violet:  From Stony Hill to Broadway,” (2023)                                                         FRED’S REFLECTIONS While my current co-writers work on my new novel “FRED’s Timeless Tenant Tales:  Buffalo West Side Stories in the 1930s and 1940s,” I’d like to share a couple of thoughts about learning what it’s like being a human being in the early decades of the Twentieth Century. When the stock market crashed in 1929, millions were put out of work and lost their life savings.  Fortunately, two of my tenants, Sammy and his Sicilian born father, managed to keep the jobs they had secured after years of struggle.  Less fortunate were so many of my other tenants who lost their livelihoods and joined the legion of unemployed. It pained me when my adopted families were forced to leave my premises because they could no longer afford to live here.  To make matters worse, I was sold during the heart of the Great Depression of the 1930s.  My new owners were irresponsible and because of their neglect, I soon began to deteriorate and grow shabby.  Finding myself without tenants I grew depressed and expected to be torn down.  However, not long afterward, I was sold and purchased again by more loving owners.  I was rejuvenated, and new tenants again began to fill my vacant apartments.  Ultimately, I survived, and so, too, did the parade of families that filled my halls and rooms with laughter and life.  Despite the hard times that persisted, my tenants never gave up hope.  Their stories are inspirational and in most cases, heart-warming.  It is my hope that my readers may be inspired to emulate their indomitable spirit and overcome any obstacles they encounter as they pursue their dreams. Best, FRED To be continued in September….

                                                     FOREVER VIOLET’S REFLECTIONS Now that ‘Forever Violet,’ my coming of age novel, has been published and my co-authors are busy working on my new historical fiction novel, I thought it would be interesting to ask Violet this important question:  “Violet, if you could re-live your childhood would you do it?”   Violet replied, “If you had asked me that question at an earlier time in my life, I might have said I would not.  After all, who would willingly choose to grow up in abject poverty with an absentee mother and an abusive, alcoholic father?  Today, however, my answer is yes, I would.  True, I lived through some very difficult times, but I always held on to hope because I sometimes found someone who believed in me, particularly my high school teacher, Miss Barlow.  Having her in my formative years fortified my determination to free myself from an environment that crushed the not only the bodies of the people inhabiting it, but their spirit, as well.  In my struggle to escape, I faced many obstacles I could not have foreseen; however, being forced to survive the rigors of oppression, negativism and poverty hardened my will and strengthened my character.  Hope and trust in myself, a belief that I not only could survive but would ultimately prevail as long as I persevered sustained me in my struggle to escape the bondage of my past.   It is my fervent wish that my novel inspires you, the reader, to appreciate and develop your inner strength, to rely on your natural resilience and to believe in yourself.  With determination, hope and a vision of your future before you, you can and will succeed.   Best, Forever Violet

                                                             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    

FRED’S SECOND THOUGHTS For those of you who are unfamiliar with my first novel, “Fred:  Buffalo Building of Dreams,” let me introduce myself.  I am Fred, a 125 year old building located at the corner of Niagara Street and Potomac Avenue, on the West Side of Buffalo, N.Y.  In time you will come to know how I got my name and how I achieved the ability to narrate my stories. My original stories were set in the early Twentieth Century, and involved people who occupied my apartments over those same years.   These tenants arrived from all over the world:  immigrants from Europe, refugees and descendants of enslaved peoples of Africa.  Although the League of Nations had not yet been created, I had my own League of Nations of Hope.  Like my tenants, I was a survivor of those very hard times, and like them, I endured. Of course, it was impossible to tell all of their stories, stories of success and failure, sadness and joy.  Now, several years after my first novel, my co-authors, James Costa and Frances Schmidt, are working on a new novel, not yet titled.  We expect it to be completed and published in 2025. Best, Fred

                                                                          FREEDOM My name is Violet.  Sharing a website with “Fred:  Buffalo Building of Dreams” is an eye opener.  I’ve discovered I have a lot in common with so many of Fred’s tenants. Most important, is freedom.  Freedom.  It is a powerful, liberating word that rings and excites people throughout the world, wherever it is heard.  What Fred’s tenants wanted most was the freedom to take charge of their lives, achieve their goals, provide an education for their children, buy a home, start a business—in short, all those things that can be acquired as citizens in a free country. To a large extent, that word applies to my own life.  In my novel, “Forever Violet” I began as a young girl, trapped in an abusive environment that provided no freedom.  Nevertheless, because of the opportunities afforded me in a free country, and my personal determination and belief in myself, I was eventually able to escape a dreary and hopeless future. In that sense, Fred’s tenants and I have much in common.  More than that, our stories can encourage others who are oppressed to take advantage of the opportunities afforded them in a free society, have faith in themselves and persevere.  Just as so many others have done before them, they too can achieve the American Dream. Best, Violet

Have you ever thought about the way life’s unpredictable twists and turns have affected your life, or the role fate and destiny play in it?  If you answered ‘yes,’ you may want to consider reading FOREVER VIOLET.  As you accompany Violet on her life’s journey, you will see how this young girl managed to meet and overcome those challenges. “When I was a fifteen-year old girl growing up during the Great Depression of the 1930s, I endured the harsh reality of poverty and an unforgiving family environment.  Abandoned by my mother and abused by my father, I struggled against the emotional bondage that held me captive until I looked within myself to find the courage and the will to escape.  Determined not to be subdued or made a victim of fate, I fought against the bleak future that destiny had in store for me.  Perhaps by reading my story, you will be inspired to take up the challenges in your own life and overcome them.” Best, Violet