“In 2004 when she was played on ‘Spinning
on Air,’ that was her first exposure to radio and I
just still consider myself very lucky to have heard
it, and I was very moved by it, and it just felt like
very important music,” Dzula said. “I remember
thinking at the time that, ‘Well this is such amaz-
ing music, any day now someone’s going to release
the album,’ and that just didn’t happen.”
Four years after Dzula first heard Converse’s
recordings, he “summoned the courage” to con-
tact Deitch with the proposal of releasing his
recordings. Deitch directed Dzula to Converse’s
brother, Phil Converse, a prominent professor of
political science and sociology at the University
of Michigan and the owner of Converse’s estate.
With help from Deitch and Phil, Dzula compiled
a series of recordings and founded Squirrel Thing
Records for the purpose of releasing the album
How Sad, How Lovely in 2009.
In the interview, he said her musical style is
unlike what was coming out of New York during
the time and that poignant original material,
despite many folk singers covering older stan-
dards, helps her connect with a modern audience.
“I think it’s very easy for people to see them-
selves in her, in her story and in her music,” Dzula
said. “I think that just has to do with the quality
and depth of ideas that she puts forth as a song-
writer. If you think about the ’50s being sort of
this glossy commercialized era, there’s something
a bit darker, a bit more honest about her music and
I think that’s interesting and I think that’s in some
sense what people respond to.”
Dzula’s words resonate with me wholeheart-
edly. Beyond her guitar technique, which, as a
guitarist, are enough to keep me enraptured, Con-
verse’s lyrics are poetry. Her songs grapple with
universal concepts with poignant, succinct accu-
racy. The track “How Sad, How Lovely,” which
begins with the line “How sad, how lovely / how
short, how sweet / to see that sunset / at the end of
the street,” casts me back to my childhood, learn-
ing the purpose of a wake at my first funeral — my
grandfather’s. Though a somber occasion with
tears flowing continuously, loved ones attempted
to focus on the joy my grandpa brought into this
world instead of dwelling on the sadness of his
absence. Converse understood this outlook on
life and summarized it perfectly. A sunset doesn’t
last for long but it’s lovely while it’s around. While
Dzula may not have the same specific memory
association, I would be hard pressed to believe he
doesn’t see truth in this line.
Despite this apparent connection to her modern
fan base, one album of archival recordings does
not appease a fan base hungry for more. However,
this may soon change. Dzula is currently in talks
with Converse’s estate to publish a 5 LP box set
featuring recordings of Converse
that have yet to see the light of
day. If all goes according to Dzula’s
plan, the LP set would include “her
home recordings … other demos
and oddities … Gene Deitch’s own
recordings” and more.
F
ed up with no one want-
ing to publish her music,
Converse arrived at the
University of Michigan, found her
brother and set out to make a name
for herself in academia. Just as she
had done in New York, Converse
made her way into an exclusive
echelon of people with very little
prior knowledge or expertise. In
New York, it was the beatniks and
music scene. In Ann Arbor, she
had to acclimate to an academic
environment. In a typical Converse
fashion, she exceeded anyone’s
expectations of her.
During the late ’50s and early
’60s, many women were rele-
gated to the role of secretary in
male-dominated business environ-
ments. While Converse acquiesced
to this job at first, her aspirations
and talents quickly grew out of the
position. With very little know-how in the field
of political science — one of her brother’s areas of
expertise — Converse became a writer and, even-
tually, the managing editor at the University of
Michigan’s Journal of Conflict Resolution in 1963.
Five years after she became managing editor,
she published a retrospective piece in the jour-
nal, analyzing the common themes of articles
published during her tenure and positing her sug-
gestions for the future of the journal. In her intro-
duction, Converse’s eloquent and smart prose
gives off the air of someone who has been steeped
in political science for years.
“A member of the JCR editorial board recently
suggested that the journal’s subtitle be changed
from ‘a quarterly for research related to war and
peace’ to ‘a quarterly for research related to revo-
lution and world development,’ ” Converse wrote.
“The suggestion reflects a shift in salience, over
the past decade, from the H-bomb to the war in
Vietnam. My own proposal for a new subtitle at
this point might be ‘a quarterly for research relat-
ed to the war of all against all and the truce of
some with some.’ ”
However, her jobs on campus and her activism
eventually wore Converse’s creative and men-
tal spirits down. She reportedly stopped writing
music not long after she arrived in Ann Arbor.
According to Howard Fishman’s New Yorker
From Page 5B
Wednesday, January 23, 2019 // The Statement
6B