We all take risks in many different ways. My risk for 2016 was to write a work of literary fiction. I started to write YONKERS Yonkers! many years ago, but the timing wasn’t right for me to complete the manuscript. Last year, I sold my house in Seattle and found a rough draft of this story stuffed in a crushed box in the back of my closet. The pages had yellowed and the words were pecked-out on an old fashioned typewriter, but the characters came alive in a way I had not experienced before. I realized this story needed to be told.
YONKERS Yonkers! is literary fiction similar in spirit to To Kill a Mockingbird, except it explores the heart of racial prejudice in a working-class city 1969-71. Seen through the eyes of young Italian girl Cookie Colangelo, YONKERS Yonkers! is told against the backdrop of the music of the times from Woodstock to the deaths of Blind Owl Alan Wilson, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison.
The audience for YONKERS Yonkers! begins with the many thousands of people who grew up in Yonkers, are very passionate about the past, and are intent on preserving its legacy even if they left the city and abandoned the working-class mindset. I have already carefully cultivated an audience of thousands for YONKERS Yonkers! As an active member of Yonkers Community Groups on Facebook, I was astonished to learn that the collective mindset of Yonkers 2017 is identical to the Yonkers mindset 1970.
The issues that created divisiveness and racial discord in 1970 have not changed. If anything, the fissures have grown deeper, not only in Yonkers, but throughout the country. The Yonkers mindset of 2017 is a metaphor for the collective mindset of today. The real audience for this book is all of America. It will incite controversy and stimulate conversation from talk shows to classrooms. Although YONKERS Yonkers! is a work of fiction, this story creates beauty in the world and has the power to transform lives.
The seed of great fiction is always rooted in a kernel of truth. I grew up in Yonkers and left home at seventeen and until now I’ve never looked back. The timing is perfect for the issues of racial prejudice and the working-class mindset that are featured in a story told with humor, compassion and through characters who are powerfully real and unforgettable. Take a risk and brace yourself for its strong language that probes the heart of racism.
The manuscript has been completed. Stay tuned!
As a professional writer, Patricia Vaccarino has written award-winning film scripts, press materials, essays, articles, speeches, web content, marketing collateral, and six books. Please see her press kit
ON CREATIVE
RISK
by Patricia Vaccarino