Adirondack Peeks Winter 2023

SR: Wow, that’s a bit different from the three-panel interview that Kim and I went through! You and David remained editors for the next 18 years, producing 33 issues of PEEKS magazine. How did this venture impact your life and your relationship with each other and with the mountains? SL: Well, it took a lot of time away from hiking that’s for sure. I don’t remember having any major disagreements about content or design over the years. I think that was mostly because we split the duties into mutually exclusive tasks. I chose the content and edited the material. David did the layout and photo editing. There was some back and forth for the first several years because of the way publications were put together during the dark ages before digital files and desktop publishing. SR: What were your goals as editors? SL: Our initial goal as we stated in our first issue (Fall/Winter 1985–86) was to “create a newsletter that is informative, interesting, and entertaining.” PEEKS had always been referred to as a “newsletter,” but we thought much of its content was more like a magazine, so we started calling it that with the Spring/Summer 1989 issue. As we continued with the magazine, I think we tried to present the 46er experience as something more than just receiving a patch and a number by highlighting the club’s service projects. SR: With technology growing exponentially, how did the editing process change and what were some of the challenges you faced along the way? SL: When we started nothing was digital. We received handwritten or typed submissions from hikers, and it all had to be retyped and edited before sending it out to be typeset. It came back on a heavy paper stock we then cut to fit our rough design and we would glue it onto a light blue grid paper. Those pages were then sent to the printer. Since we only printed in black and white at the beginning, any color prints or slides people sent in had to be sent out and converted to black and white prints. Also, David used an Apple/Mac computer, and I had a PC. So initially we had a compatibility problem until Apple came out with Macs that could read PC files. It was a cumbersome, labor-intensive process initially. We were right on the cusp of major technological changes in the print production industry though, and as technology advanced, we learned new software and publishing methods. That part was welcomed as it made our jobs much easier. Another challenge was simply gathering enough material for each issue. Hikers were writing thousands of letters to Grace about their hiking adventures, but they weren’t sending their stories to PEEKS . Sometimes Grace would pass along a letter that she thought was a good story for the magazine. Somehow, we always managed to have enough interesting items to fill each issue.

SR: During these editing years, and the busy period of early adulthood, you were also busy in a career at University at Albany serving as the Writers Institute associate director. Prior to this long-term role, you were the special projects officer for Toni Morrison. This must have been an exciting period in that Toni Morrison won the Pulitzer Prize for her novel, Beloved, in 1988. What was it like to work for Toni Morrison? SL: Oh, wow. It was an incredible experience and an example of being in the right place at the right time. She came to the University at Albany at the same time as the grant program I was working on was coming to an end. So, I moved about three doors down the hall to Toni’s new office and started to work with her on projects and programs that she initiated. I admit I was a bit intimidated by her at first, especially since I knew my position was going to require me to do a lot of writing. I thought, oh my gosh, I’m going to be edited by Toni Morrison. But she had a very light touch—a comma here and a change of a word there. You knew you were in the presence of a strong, independent, resolute, talented woman, but at the same time she liked to laugh and engage in a bit of gossip now and then. She was also fiercely protective of her staff. The day it was announced that she had won the Pulitzer Prize was so crazy. The phone was ringing off the hook with reporters looking for comments from her. It was exciting and fun. A few days later the University hosted a reception in her honor. Her only request was that they serve champagne and strawberries. SR: As the associate director of the Writers Institute, the list of amazing literary figures that visited is amazing. Writers such as Shelby Foote, Edward Albee, Margaret Atwood, Saul Bellow, Bill Bryson, Don DeLillo, Jennifer Egan, Jon Krakauer . . . the list just goes on and on. How did this exposure impact you and your writing as well as your role as editor of PEEKS ? SL: Hmm. I don’t think I was influenced, per se, by the award-winning writers who visited the Institute. However, after listening to them talk about their craft and writing techniques for years, perhaps, something sunk in. I only wrote a few pieces that appeared in PEEKS . I mostly edited the material that was submitted to us for publication. I think the more you write the better you get at it. SR: As a person who has been dubbed an “archivist” by Paul Grondahl, the director of the New York State Writers Institute, and someone who has spent several years digitalizing the Writers Institute’s vast library of literary

You knew you were in the presence of a strong, independent, resolute, talented woman, but at the same time [Toni Morrison] liked to laugh and engage in a bit of gossip now and then.

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