Suzan-Lori Parks Interview (page: 3 / 7) Pulitzer Prize for Drama	Print Interview

We want to talk about your childhood, and what led you to writing. Your father was in the Army when you were growing up, so you moved around a lot. What was that like? You've said it wasn't such a bad thing.

Suzan-Lori Parks: It's a difficult experience to describe. We're in Washington, D.C. today, and there are a lot of people here who know what that's like. In a way, it's not a bad thing, but it's a tricky thing.

Get the Flash Player to see this video. We tried to move at the end of every school year. So summertime, we'd move, which meant that every September, we were the new kid in school. That was often kind of hard because, you have those weeks when you're standing there with your lunch tray, and you're saying, "Who will eat lunch with me?" and you're waiting for someone to wave you over to their table. That's kind of difficult. But also, it's great to meet new people who live in different places, from California to Texas to Germany, things like that. So like most blessings, it's a mixed blessing.

Are you from Kentucky originally?

Get the Flash Player to see this video. Suzan-Lori Parks: I was born in Kentucky. Born in Fort Knox. So we lived in Kentucky, we lived in Fort Knox. I was born there and then, 1963, my father got transferred or reassigned to Greensboro, North Carolina. So we moved right away. One of the earliest memories I have is being in the car, and they didn't have those car seats back then. So I'd do this, because you'd put the baby on the seat, and there I was, riding on a seat. I could see sky, trees, sky, trees, sky, trees. That's the first memory I have, and to this day, as my husband will attest, I love riding in cars. Very relaxing. I love going on rides. So I'm not from Kentucky. I think if I'm from anywhere, I'm actually from Texas. When my dad was in Vietnam -- he had two tours of duty in Vietnam, and the family -- 'cause it was 1968, so it was a very volatile time in the United States -- my parents thought it would be best if the family relocated to Texas where my mom's folks are from. So we spent several years living in West Texas while Dad was in Vietnam, and I really feel as if I'm from West Texas. That's where my heart is, I think.

So you finally got to go to the same school for more than one year?

Suzan-Lori Parks: Yeah. We were very small. It was first grade and second grade. Actually, it was kindergarten and then you'd go to a different school for first grade, but you'd see some of the same people. We lived in the same house for a couple years in a row. It was lovely, actually. I love West Texas. Odessa. I give a shout-out to Odessa.

Didn't you also live in Germany at one point?

Suzan-Lori Parks: Yeah. In the mid '70s. I remember we left on the day that Richard Nixon resigned. So it was like, "We're out of here."

Get the Flash Player to see this video. Going to Germany, my parents had this idea that was very far out, especially for the time and especially because we're an African American family, and we didn't speak any German. My parents thought it would be a great idea to send the kids to German school. So we were sent to a German school. They wanted us to be with the Germans. We lived "on the economy," it was called, with the Germans. Among the places we lived in Germany was a very small town, Höchst, that was a thousand years old. It was celebrating its thousandth -- I forget what it's called in German, but celebrating its thousandth anniversary. We were in this German school. Certainly, we were the only Americans in the school, we were certainly the only African Americans in the school. We were the only people of African descent that a lot of these children and adults had ever seen before. So there was a lot of "Wow!" that kind of thing. A lot of that. And then, we didn't speak German. So there was a lot of "Wow! Huh?" and because we were small, the German kids were just learning English, so there was a lot of confusion. Then one day, it was as if I just inhaled the language. I felt it actually just enter, right through here, and I was completely fluent in German, and it was great. It was really great, but it entered through here. I don't know if all languages do that, but it did that for me, thank God. Whew!

Have you used it since?

Suzan-Lori Parks: I was a German literature major. I was an English and German literature major in college. I went to Mount Holyoke College, and I was a German literature major, and every time I go back to Germany, it comes rushing back, but that's about it.

You've mentioned your father. What can you tell us about your mom?

Get the Flash Player to see this video. Suzan-Lori Parks: The first thing that comes to my mind. My mother -- who turns 70 this year, it's 2007 -- she just turned 70. She's been a scholar and an academic all her life, but she is retiring from Syracuse University, where she runs something called Students Offering Service, which is an organization that gets the college kids out of the classroom and into the community. She's big on getting out of the classroom and into the community to do things like Crop Walk and Habitat for Humanity and things like that. But what's exciting is she's retiring from SU, and she's going back to school at Mount Holyoke College, where she will be a Frances Perkins Scholar, and she's all excited. We're getting her a book bag, and we're going to drive her up to Mount Holyoke. So she's going to be a Frances Perkins Scholar. And study -- what did she say she wants to study? American Studies, and she might well take a dance class. So yeah, she's pretty out there.

My father passed away three years ago, three years ago yesterday actually, and is buried in Arlington. So my husband Paul and I visited Dad yesterday.

Was your father an officer?

Suzan-Lori Parks: Yes, he was. One tour in Korea and two tours in Vietnam. When he retired from the Army, he got his Ph.D. and was a professor for 20 years. His subject was education. It was always, "Dad, what do you do in the Army?" It was always so complicated and mysterious. And then, "Dad, what do you teach?" "Education." I always thought that was like, "I teach how to learn." I could never really understand it. And now my mom is going back to school. It's great. I'm so proud of her.

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