McBride updates UM fans

Readers of “The Color of Water” want to know what happened next. Were more pieces of the puzzle available after James McBride told the world about growing up as one of 12 children, each the offspring of a black father and a white mother cut off from her Orthodox Jewish family?

McBride, who came to the University of Maine Wednesday for several events, more than satisfied his fans’ wondering.

“Some of my relatives have emerged,” he told the college students and others attending his talk in Little Hall.

A cousin in Texas heard a piece about McBride’s book on National Public Radio and recognized the story of his own family.

After a fashion, “Mommy” – Ruth Shilsky McBride Jordan – was reunited with the sister she hadn’t seen in more than 50 years. The relationship is not an easy one for the sisters, McBride said, yet his aunt did forgive his mother for leaving her family.

“But she could not forgive her for converting to Christianity,” he added.

McBride, who cherishes his Jewish heritage, said that some Jews have complained about the book’s blunt descriptions of his mother’s relatives, especially the father who abused her emotionally and sexually.

On the other hand, he said, Jews were the first to support his book, buying it and attending readings before anyone else took notice.

McBride said it was his job “to be honest to the truth,” and that his mother’s family was so dysfunctional that “I don’t think she really experienced Judaism.”

Working on the book, which is written in both his and his mother’s words, seemed to be a catharsis for her, McBride explained.

She will turn 80 on Sunday, and she’s still a very strong person, he said. “She used to have absolute power. Now she’s got George Bush power – she says it, and somebody else makes it happen.”

As he did in the book, McBride shared his story in Orono with a good amount of humor – wry and otherwise. His stories ranged from trying to pick out his Jewish cousin arriving at Newark Airport to calling one of his brothers from South Africa after shaking hands with Nelson Mandela.

Speaking about racism, the author urged participants to devote their energies to the real issues. It does no good to vilify someone like John Rocker, the Atlanta pitcher who openly disparaged blacks, he said.

McBride called focusing on the incident “an excuse to avoid the real issue – why baseball is not hiring black managers.”

On the topic of writing, McBride praised author Stephen King for humanizing blackness in the book “The Green Mile” and the subsequent film.

McBride’s next project is a novel about a group of black soldiers in Italy during World War II, and he also is busy as a saxophonist with a 12-piece band.

In addition, he is an award-winning composer, and people who arrived early for his talk listened to tapes of music he had written.

With a master’s degree by age 22, two flourishing careers and a family, James McBride might be considered something of an overachiever who has kept his nose to the grindstone. But he encouraged college students in the audience to use their time on campus to figure out what they really want.