take corrective actions that will help many of us adapt to this very scary scenario. >> thank you. >> you can watch this and other programs online at booktv.org. massachusetts governor duval patrick discusses his life at the national press club in washington. this program originally aired live on-line. it is about 45 minutes. >> in january 2007 duval patrick became the first african-american governor of the commonwealth of massachusetts. one of only two african american governors elected in american history. that was just when tramp in step in along the improbable journey that began on the south side of chicago. from a chaotic childhood to an elite boarding school in new

england to a soldier doing relief work in africa to the board rooms of fortune 500 companies and add to a career in politics governor patrick has led an extraordinary life. throughout his journey he was guided by the advice of his grandmother. hope for the best and work for it. now is my pleasure to introduce governor patrick. [applause] [applause] >> thanks you very much. thank you all for coming out this evening. i appreciated very much. ..

>> i am not running for anything, and as for political scores, there's some staff here who know i like to settle political scores in realtime and not in print. [laughter] so for all of you who thought that this would be a political kiss and tell, i am sorry toty appoint. -- disappoint. so why did i write book? i am a very hopeful person, an unrepentant idealist. and this book, as much as anything, is a gestureover gratitude to some of the people who have given me those gifts of hopefulness and idealism, the teachers who gave me a reason to believe in a brighter future, the family and strangers, too, who gave me a reason to believe in the power of kindness. the church ladies on the south side of chicago who ghei me a

reason to -- gave me a reason to believe in the essence of faith, the voters and many, many others. a friend of mine described this book recently as a love story which, for me, was the most powerful compliment i could be given. i wanted to write about these people and the lessons they taught me for two reasons. first, because they've done more than help me succeed, they've helped me want to be better, to be a better leader, a better husband and parent, a better citizen. and secondly, because it's within each of us to pass these kinds of lessons on to others. in fact, i think, we have a generational responsibility to do just that. as some of you know and as bea was allude anything the introduction, i grew up on the south side of sal in the 50s and 'of 0s, most of that -- '60s, most of that time on welfare. my mother and sister and i share add two-room tenement.

we lived in one of those bedrooms and shared a set of bunk beds, so you'd go from the top bunk to the bottom bunk to the floor. every third night on the floor. big, broken sometimes violent public schools, but we had a community. because those were days when every child was the jurisdiction of every single adult on the block. you messed up in the front of ms. jones, and she would straighten you out and then call home, right? so you got it two times. i think what those adults were trying to get across to us was they had a stake in the us. membership in a community was understanding the stake each of us has not just in our own dreams and struggles, but in our neighbors' as well. given the expectations that much of society has for poor black people in circumstances like mine, i am not supposed to be where i am today. my story isn't probable. but it's at the same time a distinctly american story. and it may not get told as often

as we'd like in this country, but it gets told more often in this country than any other place on earth. it is a defining story. in 1970 i got a breakthrough a program called a better chance to go to milton academy. and for me that was like landing on a different planet. i saw it for the first time the night before classes began in 1970. all by myself. my family didn't see it until graduation day. i remember they had a dress code in those days, the boys wore jackets and ties to classes, so when the clothing list arrived, my grandparents splurged on a brand new jacket for me to wear to class. but a jacket on the south side of chicago is a windbreaker. so the first day of class the other boys were presidenting on their -- putting on their blazers and tweed coats, and i have figured it out. [laughter] again, there were teachers and can other adults who reached out

and who helped. i went on to harvard college, the first in my family to go to college, to harvard law school. i've lived in chicago, in boston, in los angeles, in new york, here in d.c., in atlanta, in the sudan. i've done business all oh the world -- all over the world. i've had some remarkable experiences, improbable ones in the eyes of many. i've argued in the supreme court, i've hitchhiked from cairo to khartoum, i've counseled two presidents. i've served as the first black governor of massachusetts on my first time running for office. but as i reflect on each of these experiences, each has its roots in the lessons that i try to write about in this book. these lessons have given me a sense of the possible, and that has made all the difference. i write in the book about the transition from the south side of chicago to milton academy, about the experience of trying to bridge these very different worlds where each one seemed to demand that you reject the other

as the price of acceptance in the one. and how important it was for me to understand, ultimately, that that was a false choice. i write about the way the old ladies in big hats in church back home taught me to see that faith is not so much what you say you belief, but how -- believe, but how you live. i write about the extraordinary courage and strength of my wife, diane, through her first marriage to an abusive husband and the toll my early days in public office took on her. and how her triumph has strengthened not just me, but thousandses of others. time and time again experiences of great trial and even turmoil have produced transcendent powers, and they have contributed to my idealism. i want to defend and encourage that kind of idealism, because i think it is what motivates people to make what seems improbable possible. that may sound corny to some of

you, especially in the hard-bidden washington, d.c.. but, in fact, there is nothing at all corny about hope. and there is nothing at all empowering or ennobling about the alternative. , -- about pessimism. in fact, as governor it has been a sense of the possible that has helped us achieve more than customary odds. in these cynical times, i think people are hungry for something more positive and affirming than the steady diet of no that they get. it has implications on both a policy level and a personal level. on a policy level, without a are renewed sense of idealism, with all the risk of failure and disappointment that that entails, an essential part of the national character, our can-do spirit, will be in jeopardy. and none of the big challenges facing this country will

successfully be faced. securing marriage equality or expanding health care for everyone or funding our schools at the highest level in history during the worst economy in living memory, these would be a couple of examples of letting our idealism and our highest values guide us at home in the common wealth of massachusetts. on a personal level, before anyone can change their circumstances people need a faith in their own capacity to shape a better future. they have to be able to imagine something better. and then apply themselves to achieving it. hope for the best and work for it. and that's why i chose to write a book about personal values before i write the one about policy or politics. you have to stand by for that. one of the lessons i write about is forgiveness. as a predicate to moving forward.

my parents split up when i was 4 years old, and my father moved to new york with his band which was ab avant-garde very popular jazz band, but an acquired taste. [laughter] he was a gifted jazz musician, totally committed to his music, and he would have also been described as a black militant. hoping for a reconciliation that would never come, my mother worked hard to keep my sister and me in touch with him, and i generally believe that he regretted not being able to watch us grow up. but as i grew older and started to spread my own wings, he and i had a tortured relationship. i write about how disapproving he was of my going to milton, how concerned he was that it was going to make me white, not black enough. he was also convinced that my mother was poisoning us with unflattering opinions of him and his life choices as a father and as a man. none of this was true, but it was a powerful dynamic in our

fractured relationship as i was coming into adulthood. we found -- finally found a way to reconcile tentatively, but meaningfully. and i want to read a passage about that. if i can find it and my glasses. here are my glasses. it's come to that. [laughter] the summer before my third year of law school, i worked at a law firm in washington, d.c.. i turned 25 that july, and on my birthday my father happened to be playing in a local jazz club called pig foot and invited me to join him. i hadn't spent a birthday with him since i was 3, but i agreed. i arrived near the end of the first set just before the break, and my father was playing the sax phone, jamming with a skilled quartet. i took my seat at a little table, and he nodded when he saw me come in. when they finished the number,

he took the microphone and said to the crowd, it's my son's birthday, and i want to play this next tune for him. there was warm applause and an approving glance or two my way from other patrons. then the place got quiet, and he played an old standard, "i can't get started." the no vocalist, but by then i had developed by own love for jazz, and i knew the words. i'd been around the world in a plane, i've started revolutions in spain. [laughter] the north pole i've charted, still i can't get started with you. he looked me straight in the eye while he played, long and soulfully, full of regret and longing all at once. i gazed right back at him knowing what he was trying to say. life is too short to go on like this, let's find a way to come together. no words were spoken, but the music gave us our own language. we communicated more in those

few moments than we ever had before. and it was clear how much we both wanted simple understanding. we weren't quite there when i graduated from law school. he did not attend the commencement. but we were moving closer, and it seemed my father never felt threatened by my choices again. i had saved a place, and so had he. i've given a lot of thought over the years to this idea of generational responsibility, that old-fashioned lesson each of us was taught by our grandparents that we're supposed to do what we can in our time to leave things better for those who come behind us. i have thought about what that means in the context of budget deficits and health care services and educational policy. and i've thought about what it means as the father of two extraordinary young women and many young men who might as well be mine and of whom i'm equally proud. and i am convinced that the most

important gift that we can give our heirs is the ability to dream about a better life. a better community. a better country. that's a gift i was given by grand parents and teachers or and more than a few total strangers. and that's what i'm trying to pass on with this book. and i hope you enjoy it. thank you very much for coming. [applause] and, bea, if you want, i'm happy to just shout out to people. we don't have to write 'em all down, if that's easy. >> okay, that would be great. >> yeah, sure. >> [inaudible] [laughter] >> well, you went to all that trouble. you want me to read it? >> [inaudible] >> in the first one? >> yeah. >> you know, that a's funny you should ask me. i had a question put to me recently at a gathering of psychiatrists, and someone said

why did you run for governor? i said, you know, you're in a better position to answer that than i am. [laughter] i ran, i ran for governor because, um, in business one of the things i noticed -- and i've spent most of my life in the private sector -- one of the things i noticed is this incredible pressure, particularly in large public companies, to manage for the next quarter to get the short-term results, sometimes i think sacrificing the long-term interests of the enterprise. and i have worried that is creeping into the way we govern, where we govern for the next election cycle or the next news cycle. and we aren't making the kinds of decisions in our time that leave things better over time. that generational responsibility i was talking about. especially if they don't have a he short-term political payoff. so that had been bothering me for some while. and very much related to that is what i describe as conviction politics, the idea that -- or

this question i had whether others were as hungry for me, for someone who was running willing to lose, meaning that there was something they were so committed to doing, something they so believed in from a values point of view that they were willing to put political capital in their own political future on the line. and to engage at the level of adults with other voters. and so i wanted to try that. and we did it very much on the grassroots, you know? we went -- i had a 1% name recognition, i think. and no money. but we, we spent a tremendous amount of time just walking neighborhoods and knocking on doors and building. and i believe in the grassroots, in the power of the grassroots, and we invited people to come to see their state in their own civic -- stake in their own

civic and political future. won the primary against a great guy, well established sort of -- how should i describe -- the sort of, the heir, if you will, to the nomination. and then, and then won election and then the hard business of governing began. and then won again just this last year. and what have we done? well, we're fist in the nation in -- we're first in the nation in massachusetts, 98% of our residents have health insurance. first in the nation student achievement, first in the nation in clean energy initiatives. we're growing jobs faster than 45 other states, coming out of recession stronger. we're the only state since 2007 whose bond rating has actually strengthened in the last few years. we've got a lot to do. but we're making hard choices, engaging and in some cases even upsetting some of our friends. but in the name of generational

responsibility. and i'm really, i'm really proud of that. we don't have term limits, but i am not going to run again. because i'm no fool. [laughter] and i miss the private sector, i will say, especially on payday. [laughter] but it's been a great run. thank you. yeah? >> um, well, i'm also an alum of the better chance program. >> thank you. >> and a native of the south side of chicago. >> excellent. where'd you go to school? >> saint park school? is. >> okay, in new hampshire? >> okay. >> he knows something about st. paul school. do you know cannon hand ball? he used to be -- when were you there? >> i graduate inside 2001. >> oh, he's old. [laughter] he was a chaplain. >> oh, okay. well, i'm interested in knowing how your transition from chicago to new england affected your choices later in life or how it

changed your perspective and how you deal with things now. >> what a great question. well, you know, i'm still there. i live in a house that was on my paper route when i was a student at milton academy. and we have for 22 years now. and i've been, you know, in and out and traveled and lived in other places. but boston, which was a very fractured place around race in those days, but boston and massachusetts have been very good to me and my family. i will say, though, i tease -- you know, i have occasions now in my current line of work to speak publicly from time to time. [laughter] and we're doing a lot of work in how we transition our economy in massachusetts to the innovation economy of tomorrow because we've got so many strengths that are natural for this, the

concentration of brain power and all the research institutions and hospitals, venture capital and what have you. and i tease our business community who are, you know, have new england ways. and i talk about how, you know, when i grew up in the midwest -- and you'll understand this -- when you're new in the neighborhood, everybody bricks a pie, right -- brings a pie, right? everybody. [laughter] when you're new in massachusetts, you are the one who's expected to bring a pie, right? is. [laughter] you're nodding your head. but you understand what i mean? the sense of welcome is different. now, you get past that, and you make friends for life. deep friendships. but you've got to get past that. and in this an economy and a society that's much more fluid than it has ever been before, i mean, people talk about the global, the globalization of our economy. i happen to believe capital is globalized, labor is not yet. but it is more fluid than it's

ever been before. we have to understand that a part of our job creation strategy and economic expansion has got to include a sense of welcome. and so i'm, i'm pleased that for the first time in 20 years young people and families are moving into massachusetts faster than they're moving out. and i think that some of our sense of, you know, the notion that we all, all of us -- not just people, not just officials, not just business leaders, but everybody -- has got to get the attitude of welcome right, i think it's coming around. it's a part of that. come on back. yeah, sure. one, two, flee. three. this is the shy side, so i should just come to -- [laughter] yes. >> governor, i thank you. it's great to see you tonight. >> nice to see you. >> i had an interview this morning, and the first question was, which politician do you admire most? my answer was deval patrick for

a number of reasons, but from entering your office in 2009 when we dealt with, you know, transportation, ethics and pension reform, you know, i'm seeing the mentality. and with hearing the story about your grandmother you said, you know, we were never allowed to say we were poor, we had to say broke -- [laughter] but my question is, i graduated george washington university in four weeks. >> need a job? is. [laughter] let's cut right to it, shall we? [laughter] >> i'm not -- that's not what i do as a mentor. what advice do you have for someone who is looking for a job, yes, but loves politics -- >> yeah. >> and in this day and age the economy's bad, and it's so much about who you know. >> yeah. >> so what is the advice you would give to someone that made it happen? >> well, so, first of all, thank you for the -- thank you for helping in the office and caring

about it. and i would say that caring about it and caring about service is the right place to start. i do not think that is or ought to be limited to government service. but service ought to be not just about what we do, but who we are. this i do think is connected to this point i was making at the outset about seeing our stake in each other. i think in terms of looking for a job, i mean, i'm not kidding, we should talk. if you want to come home. we should, we should talk. does that mean we have to have two different lines? one line for the book and the other line for people looking for work? [laughter] some of you look a little young -- yeah, i see you nodding your head. no, we're always looking for talent. we've, as you know, had to reduce head count, but we're always looking for talent.

i guess the advice i would give you is this: do something. don't worry about it being pert. don't worry about what it leads to. do something. and bring your whole heart to it. and things open up, right? things happen. i never, i didn't start out planning to be governor of the commonwealth of massachusetts. if i had, my wife probably never would have married me 27 years ago. [laughter] but, you know, you sense, you begin to get a sense of yourself, what your strengths are and how you want to contribute and where and when, and then you move in that direction. the other thing i would say is i have -- and i'm going to say this to you as someone who's about to get a fancy degree. i remember being in the company of others who were about to get a fancy degree when i was in college, and all they seemed to worry about is how to keep their

options open. and as a result, they could make almost no decisions. they were constantly trying to figure out how to be in the right place at the right time and be introduced to the right this and so forth. instead of following some sense of their passion and taking advantage of what that fancy degree is supposed to give you. when i, when i got into college, you know, by the time i was applying to college, it was the milton academy which has a whole apparatus, of course, to get you ready for admission, right? no one in my family had been to college before, they didn't know what the process involved. so i was fortunate to have this, you know, guidance counselors and college counselors, and we worked on our college essays in english class. i applied to five schools. i got into all five. there's one i really wanted to go to, and i got the letter saying that i was committed to that -- admitted to that school. i called home, and my grandmother answered the phone,

and i said, gram, i'm going to college next year, i'm going to harvard. and you could hear her jumping up and could down. then she paused and said, where is that, anyway? [laughter] finish and i think what she was trying to get across -- well, what she got across whether she was trying or not was that it was the opportunity that mattered, not the prestige. the the opportunity. it was the opportunity. that lesson lasts. i write about this in the book. and so whether you are, you know, working for a fraction of what you think you're worth in some governor's press office or, or, you know, helping out for a semester more at george washington or flipping burgers by day but working on a campaign at night for a period of time, bring your passion to it and other things will happen.

who was number two? yeah. >> i'm not number two, but i will be today. [laughter] >> a self-confident young woman. >> i was so compelled by what you said, and i'm somebody who grew up in worcester, massachusetts -- >> did you say worcester or western? >> i said worcester. >> worcester! all right. [laughter] >> you were talking about earlier when you were straddling both roles between an elite community and one that was not recognized as elite and trying to maintain credibility in both arenas. >> right. >> and especially as the governor of massachusetts, i'm sure you're familiar with both roles. i wonder how you continue to overcome that hurdle and then how you can advise other people on how to maintain credibility in both sectors of your life without compromising either. >> it's a great question. i try to write about this in the book, and, you know, you will be the judge about whether i have either described it properly or

am living it properly. but my view is decide who you are and be that all the time. no matter what. no matter what. there was a, i had an event in, at random house this morning, the publisher, this morning with abc, a better chance. and there were a number of ark bc -- so abc was the program that introduced me to got me to milton academy. and a portion of the proceeds of the book are going to abc. and abc brought a number of current scholars. and one young woman who was a junior in high school now said how did you manage or did you have the experience of jeopardizing friendships at home by virtue of your going off to school? and it's a very poignant moment because that is -- i understand that. and what i was saying -- and it's still so fresh in my mind and heart. and what i said to her then is what i would say to you now. you know, for the friends who

make you choose, consider whether they're your friends, in fact. because if you are -- you've got to decide what your values are, where you stand, what's your true compass or true north is. and then just be that all the time. and i would say, too, in politics i think, remember, i'm new. i've only done this two times. but i think the public reads a fraud every time. every time. every time! and if you would just, you know, say what you think, if you don't want to answer the question, say, you know what? i can't answer that, you know? i'm not going to go there. or i don't know. but be yourself all the time. and the people you really care about and who care about you will care about you for that. and it won't matter what community you're moving in. i know that sounds simplistic, but t true. thank you. >> thank you for coming.

>> thank you. thank you for coming. >> my pleasure. i read your book last night. i skimmed through a lot of it, and it was compelling, so thank you. it gave me a ray of hope. >> thank you. >> i was most impressed by your ability to succeed despite your failure and to never give up. so my question is, what motivated you and strengthened your resolve when you faced failure? >> well, i don't think failure is, in most cases, permanent. and i think failure is not in every case failure ultimately. meaning, a failure is more of a setback. you know, mind you, i've been blessed. but sometimes a failure is a blessing. you know, sometimes you need your comeuppance. i remember, i write in the book about living and working in darfur between college and law school, and darfur was a very

different place then. this is 30 years ago. [laughter] it was a very different place than now. but to get to darfur then you, you know, they had no airport -- i mean, it had an airport, but it had no flights, no train, you know? what you did is you went to the market, you found a market lorry that was going in your direction, you negotiated for space up on top. you brought enough food and water for the trip, and you were on tracks in the sand for five days to get from khartoum out there. it's about the distance from boston to cleveland. and on the trip out there you may have read with a sudanese guy my age i was working with, the truck flipped over, and we were trapped, stranded in the nubian desert for three days. i didn't know -- and a couple people with broken bones and so on. i was bruised but not, but not broken. i mean, imagine, you know? imagine here if you were in --

you saw a truck flip over and spread all the cargo and people all over the street. what i try to capture in the book is what the like to have that great big thud, those few screams and then utter silence. no sirens, no emergency workers, nothing. but us and 120 degrees for three days. now, you take your cue from the people around you, right? eventually we were met by a lorry going -- because we were on the trade route. we were met by a lorry going in the other direction. it took the people who were hurt and me because i was the guest back to khartoum, we started all over again and made the trip in five days on a different lorry. you know, some people say, well, that's a failure. you didn't -- your mission wasn't, you know, your objective was to get out there smoothly and safely. but that experience and then being out in darfur for those many months with no mail, no

phone service, no, you know, e-mail didn't exist, there weren't any faxes. if my children tried this today, i would kill them. [laughter] but i think that experience made me feel so powerful because you figure it out. i didn't speak the language when i first got there. you figure it out. and when you learn, you can say anybody had the experience of moving to a new city and having no friends and no place to live, you've got to find a place to live? you start building a life? it's empowering when you figure it out. and part of it is learning that you can figure it out. and so for me i think those -- i don't think so much of setbacks. i get questions all the time about, you know, you're bumping into this wall, you're bumping into that wall. but i've had so many experiences which were about convincing me that i could, i could expand my own expectations of myself and then meet them and go on from

there. so -- yeah. here and then way back. still nothing on this side. okay. [laughter] it's written down? okay. yeah. >> okay. >> welcome to the press club. >> thank you. >> [inaudible] >> [inaudible] okay. >> so -- >> you have a reporter's notebook. >> yes. >> are you a reporter? >> where are -- yes. >> where are you from? >> dow jones news wires. i was hoping that you could, you know, assess the situation -- [inaudible] rising health care costs, falling tax revenue and what type of solutions, maybe, that you could bring, it's in your business background as well. is it going to take extreme steps like local municipal bankruptcy? >> no. no, that's a dumb idea and an unnecessary one, not to put too

fine a point on it. we have, we have, like everybody else -- i think everybody else -- had to trim what we call local aid. this is the state transfer to local communities. we do local aid in a couple of different buckets. the biggest single piece is support for public schools. that has gone up every single year i've been in office, and it's been higher each year than ever before in the history of the commonwealth. that's a values choice. unrestricted local aid has been, has been reduced. every time we have cut unrestricted local aid, we have also proposed and the legislature has enacted savings that were at least as valuable. or other ways to raise revenue. so, for example, we enabled local underperforming pension funds to come into the state pension fund which saves administration costs at the local level. we created a path way for

municipal employees to come into the lower cost state health care program. we've taken another step on that now called plan design. with labor at the table, by the way. we ended an exemption to property taxes that the phone company enjoyed, you know, you didn't have to pay property taxes on poles and wires. the electricity company did, but the phone company didn't. [laughter] so we, we ended that. we enabled cities and towns as they choose to add a penny or penny and a half to the meal or hotel tax in their own community. but, again, as they've chosen. in this next round i mentioned the next step in health care reform which is, by the way -- excuse me, and health care cost control, it's really a cost-shifting issue. it's not the bigger issue we're working on which is systemwide costs.

but it really is about having municipal employees pay a comparable share of their health care costs as is happening in the private sector and as we've done at the state level. and we also require in this bill -- which has not been passed yet, but it will before the budget passes in june -- requires municipal retirees to go into medicare which they don't all do today. those two things together are worth twice as much as the amount we have cut in local aid. so it's not, it's not that cities and towns are off the hook from making hard decisions, too, but we have been trying to be sensitive to the importance of strong communities by, at the same time, cutting, also creating new ways for them to save or independently raise revenue. okay? yep. okay, you can be next. i see you back there. >> i live in massachusetts, i went to boss done -- [inaudible] >> excellent. are you moving down here now?

>> yeah. i'm going to college here in georgetown. >> great. >> and i really enjoy traveling -- [inaudible] but i would really like to go back to massachusetts -- >> come home. >> i really admire it, especially with what's gone on in the last ten years. and you talked a lot about generational responsibility and wondering what your thoughts were on the state level, my generation when we go back to massachusetts, what that would be. >> what your generational responsibility is? well n simplest terms -- in simplest terms it's you do more than we did to leave it better for people who come behind you. i can tell you personally i'm looking for, i'm looking for -- i was going to say young people, but really every kind of person, even cannon hannibal's age. [laughter] one of my best friends here, i cannot resist teasing. to come help out in the schools.

i don't care whether you're a teacher or not. help in the schools. we have, we have, as i mentioned earlier, we're number one in student achievement and have been for each of the last five years, but we've had a persistent achievement gap, and stuck in that gap are poor children and children with special needs or who speak english as a second language. you know, a greater proportion than any of us would like of children of color. we've been on a path of education reform for 18 years in massachusetts, and an achievement gap under any circumstances, you know, is an educational and economic issue. but to let it go for 18 years, that's a moral question, right? those are our kids too. and frequently what they need is not just about reading, writing and arithmetic. it's about help with their homework or a sense of safety or a sense that some adult has the time to pay some attention to them in a positive and constructive way. and so bringing those kinds of additional resources into

schools and helping teachers who are increasingly having to do what whole neighborhoods used to do, i think, is going to be -- i know it's part of our strategy to chose the achievement gap. so if you're looking for something to do, there's something to do. any kind of service, any kind of service is good. and it's good for those served, and it's good for you too. and as i say, make it a part of not just what you do, but who you are. and that is how the world will be changed, i'm confident. in the way back, yeah. >> hi. i'm not going to say when i was at milton academy, but i will say that i first became aware of you and diane -- [inaudible] pretty much aware of your -- [inaudible] at that time. and it just occurred to me, you may have alluded to this somewhat, but a particular challenge that you were particularly proud of overcoming during those days. >> at milton? is.

>> uh-huh. >> you mean besides the jacket thing? [laughter] well, you know, in some ways it comes back to the, to the question i was asked, um, who asked me about -- who went to st. pauls? there you are. about straddling those different worlds. there was a point at milton when i could outlast the -- [laughter] right? i knew how to use summer as a verb. [laughter] i knew what the old money and the new money destinations were by name. i'd never been to any of 'em, but i knew what they were. [laughter] i, you know, i cracked the code.

and by the way, this isn't unique to milton. this is, you know, going to a new workplace, it's going to a new school. it's figuring out the code, right? i think what was incredibly helpful to me and important to me is that there were a couple of teachers who made it a point to help me crack the code. and it was actually a very loving gesture, you know? if you're not too defended about that sort of thing, it can be very helpful. but it also puts you, it also jeopardizes, you know, your place in that other world. right? i can remember, and i write in the book about being home and trying to describe to some of my pals what it -- that i had met at ambassador.

you know, i'm not sure i could have explained what an ambassador was. it sounded cool. and their eyes just rolled back in their heads, you know? they just couldn't connect. first time i came home on school vacation, i think it was christmas vacation, i'd been away for whatever it was, three months. and i came in to the apartment, and my grand parents and my sister were there, and they were all excited. and my sister, we're all talking at once. and my sister out of the blue said, ooh, she said, he talks like a white boy. [laughter] i was devastated. my grandmother, without missing a beat, said he speaks like an educated boy. saved the day. but, you know, this is what i describe in the book as you get a great education at the risk of a broken heart. but figuring out that the choice

you feel you have to make is false i think may have been my greatest triumph there. are we okay? do you want me to read these too? okay. so you first, and then i'll read some of these. okay. still nothing on this side. you're on here? okay. okay. >> what do you think of school vouchers? >> what do i think of school vouchers? >> yeah. >> not much. [laughter] you know, i just don't think -- i'm very open -- i'm very open to trying things in public education, but i am not persuaded that a school voucher is going to enable a kid to go to milton academy, number one. number two, i don't think the solution is milton academy. i loved milton academy, don't get me wrong. i'm grateful for it. but overwhelmingly children get their educational opportunities in the traditional district schools.

and the question to me is not how we make a way for a few in special settings, but how we make the traditional district schools sing. and many do. nobody notices that. by the way, there's some great charters and some crappy charters -- excuse me, crummy charters too, right? [laughter] there's a variety of performance. the question is how do we allow the kind of creativity and space to try things, to meet kids where they are, not do the same thing in every, in every district school so that those district schools can sing? so i have a lot of -- i try to focus there rather than -- i'm sorry, i'm just being candid with you. i try to focus there rather than on vouchers. i'll read some of these? okay. after working in one of boston's turn-around schools, i'm curious as to your views on steps that

should be taken to improve boston's public school system. who's that? where did you work? >> backstone elementary. >> did you? but you're here now? >> >> yes. [inaudible] >> will okay, excellent. hey. so i gotta tell you, i went to -- do you know or chard gardens? so check me on this, okay? if this is not an accurate description. i went out to visit this school called orchard gardens which is a school in the boston public system. how should i describe it? it's the school where, you know, no matter what is going wrong in your school, what people would say is at least we're not orchard gardens, right? [laughter] and orchard gardens took all of the elements of the achievement gap act that i signed last year which is all these different tools to have, to intervene in the schools that aren't performing. every single one. they -- he asked the teachers to

reup. 80 % of them said, this is not for me. he said, see ya later. 80% of the faculty. so he recruited from around boston, around the commonwealth and around the country. he extended the school day for an hour and a half. by the way, i've gotta tell you, you know, our calendar is based on farming, right? you get -- i'm not kidding. you get out in time to plant, you stay out long enough to harvest. that's where our school year comes from. the school day is about getting to chores in the afternoon. he extended the school, the school day. why? because some kids need help with their homework, and their parents don't even speak english at home. and so their opportunity to get that help is in the classroom. he brought in city year, you know the program city year? to help with the after school, and they do many of the district interventions with family. if somebody's late, they go to the house. i mean, t a much more active and

engaged community right now. everybody has signed on. they've been at this now for seven months. and their achievement scores have gone up 60% in seven months. they have stopped allowing the children and their families to say, well, we're orchard gardens, what do you expect? is they just changed that whole sense of expectation around this. sandy, this is what you guys are trying to do and have done at the bishop walker school. it's the whole, you know, it's a whole lot of really energized adults who love those children. and make it absolutely clear what their expectations are of them, and those children meet those -- they will rise to those expectations every time. and so what i, you know, one of my challenges to teachers and others is not to say, you know, do it my way, because i don't know. but i do know that there is

something essential about a well-prepared, well-supported teacher in front of that class. and we've got to create the kinds of spaces where people can try new things. and the last thing i'll say about this, i know i'm going on too long. >> one more question. >> okay. i had a sixth grade teacher at milton academy -- excuse me, on the terrell school on the south side of chicago, and i want to call her out as an example of the fact that there are great things going on even in broken communities and broken or supposedly broken schools. this sixth grade teacher, there were 40 of us in the class, and we were a mess, right? households, home lives were a mess, neighborhood was a mess. she, she taught us to count and say the greetings in the german. she took us to the first opera i'd ever seen. i didn't know what they were

singing about. i still don't know what they're singing about. [laughter] but i loved it. she took us to a movie that was just out then called "the sound of music," and she used the movie to teach us about the rise of naziism in the second world war. she's the first person who helped me imagine what it was like to be a citizen of the world. she didn't have any of the resources that any of the teachers at milton academy had, but she met us where we were, and she raised our expectations of ourselves. and i, i don't know, i mean, there are teachers here and gifted teachers here, but i think that's, that's got to be a part of it. so one more? >> one more. >> one more. what was yours? what is your -- >> [inaudible] defining moment of your life so far. >> well, gosh. thank you for adding the thus far part. [laughter]

i mean, i have eight that i write about in here. i think, you know, i guess i would say -- can i have two? [laughter] you know, the birth of my -- my kids are something else. you know? strong, witty, um, engaged young women. they had all those attribute as children which made them a pain in the neck, but now as adults they are marvelous. and when they were born, that experience of, you know, they take that first break and then they're gone like that. and the ways that they both leave and come back, you know, not just physically, but the ways they separate and they come

back is, i think, particularly because i am so, i kind of -- i'm so conscious of parenting because my father wasn't around, i think. so i think they define me, and they enrich me. i think the experience of surviving that time in sudan was, as i said earlier, incredibly empowering. and it has made me fearless about a whole host of challenges that might have seemed off limits or even improbable. to coin a phrase. all right? thank you all for coming. i appreciate your being here. [applause] >> to find out more about governor deval patrick, visit mass.gov. >> tell us why you chose football as a way to show the story of racial tension in georgia. >> well, rachel, first of all, thanks to you and c-span for

taking the time to talk to me today. this book has been out a few years, but one of the important components of it is that i interviewed the first black player who played on the all-white albany high school in albany, georgia, football team in the 19 -- in the mid '60s. and this particular player and another black player decided to go to their football camp. and the football camp at that point was in, was in the middle of the woods along the creek. and bad things could happen out there. and the first night, the first -- one of the black players didn't make it and went home. and the one who survived was grady caldwell. now, this book, i think, is important to help us understand how football in the deep south helped further integration. and the forward of this book is written by university football coach vince dooley, and that's what appealed to him about it. i interviewed grady caldwell, a few other blacks who came after

him and other whites who had to make adjustments in that period and white coaches like harold dean cooke who supported grady and black player that is followed him. one of the themes -- and there are other themes in the book, bun of the themes is that high school sports, specifically football in the deep south, did help for integration in our part of the country. >> and you played on this football team a little bit later than grady caldwell. what was the mood like on the team? did people talk about integration, other black players? what was it like? >> no. and that's a great question. i played for albany high in 1972. and by that point our team was probably 65, 60% white, the rest black. but it was not discussed that just a few years earlier that that was an all-white football team, and the color barrier had been broken in terms of that particular school.

um, it wasn't discussed by the players that i played there, and the interviews i think in this book would help the reader understand that many of the white players and many of the black players who got to that football camp -- and it was a hell of a camp -- by the mid, early '70s just wanted to be a part of that team, and race didn't matter. >> what -- you write about how brutal the camp was. how much do you think the social challenges played into the physical challenges that they had to go through at camp? >> the social challenges if for blacks? >> yeah. >> oh, well, there's no question about it. grady caldwell, matter of fact, on january 27th -- tomorrow night -- grady will be in town speaking at the civil rights institute as one of the first blacks to graduate from albany high. grady told me about the intimidation, about the name calling, the threats from white players. and white players admitted it, and i record them in the book. and then as i said a moment ago, ernest jenkins was another black -- two blacks went on that team in '65, but earnest didn't

make it through the first night. >> what was the mood around the city of albany at that time? did they see the integration of this one high school football team helping the state of georgia move forward during integration? >> i think there's no question about it, the people who saw that were the same people that marched with dr. martin ruther king when -- luther king when he came here in '61 and '62, people that were involved in this what was called the albany movement, that were -- and grade grady caldwell's own family, and larry west, his family, ronnie nelson. these were guys whose families, whose mothers understood that if you can integrate that football team and not have white fans on one side and black fans on the other side in this big stadium we have, if you could integrate that team, then you could further integration in this community. >> was there a lot of pushback

or tension from the community when grady played on his first football game? >> there was pushback from his own white teammates. and then i recorded their interviews in this book. and they later regretted that. and they later in the same season, they later realized that grady caldwell was a fellow with strong character. and they went on on to recognize that. so there was early push, early resistance, yes. and harold dean cooke, the albany coach at that period who just recently passed away, made a point. at the cafeteria on campus, he would sit by grady. and all the other white players would not accept him early on, but the coach did that. and the other thing coach cooke did at night when he felt like there could be problems, he had grady sleep by him in his bunk. so there were things that went on, there were people that stepped forward like harold dean cooke, to help grady. >> and tell us a little bit about the title, why you chose "made or broken.

". >> i got the title, doing research for the book, i interviewed players and relied on my own memory which was just a hellish camp. we'd get up before daylight, three practices a day, no water. the hazing, water moccasins. i was going through some old stories at the albany herald, excuse me. camp was built during the mid '30s during the great depression, and there was one story, i believe it came out '62, '63. and, of course, this is the deep south. football is it. it's king. there's one story written by some local sports writer, and he's, he's talking about about the upcoming season, and albany high has had great football teams. they won the state in 1959. a lot of excitement, and he's talking about this camp, and he uses that phrase, "made or broken." he said the coach will take the kids out to the camp, and they'll either be made or broken. so when i saw it, that was it. >> and what other books are you

working on? >> well, i've written two previous books. one -- a bit about the first two. one is about a sharecropper, cotton-picking boy in 1916 that became a mill worker. that came out a year or so ago called "mill daddy: the life and times of roy davis." and i've written a book called "my mother's dream." it's a story my mother had a dream about watching my dad play baseball. this story's about their friendship, their love, but it's more than a sports book. in terms of that particular book. i have begun working on a book about grady caldwell because of what happened to him. grady, who is a central figure in this book i've mentioned, he fell into the pit of drug use and addiction. and i interviewed him in prison, matter of fact, for this book. but then there are other themes that emerge in his life; redemption, and his family stuck with him.