Q: Why did you choose to write about this subject? A: There are a number of different reasons, and in a way each one of them contributed to the evolution of my interest in this story. First, I've always been interested and involved with women's rowing. My older sister rowed on one of the first crews at Mount Holyoke College and she got me into rowing - which I did at Trinity College, in Hartford. Her stories about the hardships she endured as a woman in a "man's sport," were often quite moving and heroic. They undoubtedly had some influence on my becoming a women's crew coach later on, at Tufts University.
Q: What was that experience like?
A: It was very eye-opening. In a very small way, it allowed me to appreciate what it was like to be a female rower at a time when women still weren't appreciated as "real athletes." And this was ten years after the women in THE RED ROSE CREW had made their mark on the world. I not only had to coach them, but fight for good equipment and many other basic elements of respect - many of the issues that are covered in the book. Tufts rowed out of the Harvard Men's boathouse too, just like the members of THE RED ROSE CREW.
Q: What made you choose the 1975 crew?
A: 1975 was a pivotal year, the first concerted effort made by the U.S. to get their act together with women's rowing. Harry Parker, the famous Harvard coach, was sequestered, and the best female rowers in the country were invited to try out for the eight. This made things pretty exciting, because there was a lot of young talent out there, and Parker was the undisputed master coach.
Q: But wasn't Parker, in fact, reluctant to coach women?
A: Yes, and this was a vital part of the whole story. When Parker finally "saw the light," and realized how good women were as rowers, his enthusiastic support helped put women's rowing on the map. Telling part of the story through Parker's eyes, I think, allows the book to be accessible to male readers who might otherwise disregard it as a purely women's story.
Q: But Parker isn't the main character?
A: No, the women of the crew are, and that's the other big reason I chose to write the book. In 1993, I wrote a story about Gail Pierson (the seven seat), who was the first woman to scull in the famous The Head of the Charles Regatta. It was Gail who told me about the importance of 1975. And then I interviewed Carrie Graves (the stroke), who I'd also known for years. The stories that came out of these women were simply amazing - not only in terms of what they'd done as athletes, but off the water as well. Pierson had a Ph.D and was the first female economics professor at Harvard, and was a national champion skeet and trap shooter. Graves was a rebellious, college drop-out, who hitch-hiked around Europe in the early 1970's, smoked cigarettes, and took orders from no one. Anne Warner and Chris Ernst from Yale were equally impressive. In addition to being a Russian Studies major, Anne composed music, and conducted the Slavic choir at Yale. I could go on. In general, you are looking at a very impressive group of human beings here, "Wonder Women" if you will.
Q: So the THE RED ROSE CREW isn't just about rowing?
A: No. Rowing is the back-drop, the metaphor if you will. But it is also a woven biography of several women's lives - women who were trying to break the boundaries that our society had set up for them: in athletics, in academia, and in other realms. It's also a story of balancing cooperation and competition, and what it really means to achieve success.
Q: Why do you think women's sports are so popular today?
A: I think there are several reasons, but one of the most interesting to me is that women have brought a freshness and excitement back into many sports that had begun to become somewhat stagnant. Too many men's sports are entirely predictable at this point; both in terms of the outcome and in the way the athletes approach them. Women athletes are hungry to show what they can do - and it's very exciting to see them get better and better.