Alumna's 'To Be Marquette' Novel Published

Northern Michigan University factors prominently in the third novel by 1981 English and French alumna Sharon Dilworth. To Be Marquette weaves in some factual elements from her time as a student-namely the controversial government-funded Project ELF and associated protests about its potential adverse effects on the environment. It also references familiar community landmarks and pays homage to the area's natural beauty. Dilworth said her growing concerns about climate change made her reflect on her NMU experience and reminisce with fellow alumni in recent years, which inspired her to write the book.

"To me, that's really what fiction is: some reflection, some inspiration from real life, and other ideas pulled from different people's stories," said Dilworth, an associate professor of English/creative writing at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. "I just wanted to write this love story to Marquette and Northern. Both were so important to me. It may sound overly sentimental, but they really did change my life and I think about that all the time."

The main character, Molly, arrives from downstate for her freshman year at NMU. She enrolls in Dr. Robinson's ecology studies class, hoping to learn more about the natural world and how to protect the planet from human impact. Molly befriends classmates who call themselves Robinson's Crusoes and share her love of hiking, camping and building bonfires on Lake Superior.

Together, they protest the development of a program the Navy bills as a defense against nuclear invasion. It uses extremely low frequency (ELF) radio waves for one-way communication with submarines almost anywhere in the world. The first communication lines are embedded in bedrock that spans 84 miles of the Upper Peninsula and northern Wisconsin, with plans for more. Many area residents fear Project ELF will disrupt wildlife and harm the natural environment they hold sacred. Related news reports and letters to the editor, written by Dilworth based on her research, are interspersed throughout the text.

"When I got to Northern, people were protesting the project," "I didn't understand it at first, but learning more about concerns for the wilderness made me aware of humans' impact on the world. It was a transformative moment for me."

Dilworth said Molly is based loosely on her in the sense that both arrived on campus from lower Michigan searching for a purpose and ended up falling in love with the area.

"Marquette was unlike anything I had ever experienced growing up in suburban Detroit, not only because of the wildly exciting terrain and recreation opportunities, but also the people," she said. "Molly develops a similar perspective in the book. Everything seems possible living so close to the beauty of nature. She starts to think, 'I have become Marquette; I have become this place I love.' That's where the title came from. To Be Marquette meant to be rid of the person she had been and to embrace someone completely different."

The novel references some favorite haunts in the city: the original Crow's Nest on the 6th floor of what is now the Landmark Inn; Vango's, which remains in operation; and The Kitchen Table, a breakfast and lunch place formerly in the strip mall off Third Street, where Dilworth worked for a time. To Be Marquette also explores various aspects of the first year in college, from roommate issues and residence hall life to dating and academics.

"I wasn't a very motivated high school student; I just didn't click somehow," Dilworth said of her own experience. "I liked classes, loved to read and secretly always wanted to be a writer, but didn't really know how to pursue that path. At Northern, the professors took us seriously as scholars and were very helpful and encouraging. I had some great professors in English, including Toby Rose. My French professor Madame Graves convinced me to study abroad in France and it changed the course of my life."

Dilworth did take an ecology course taught by the late Dr. William Robinson. She recalls him as a charismatic professor, whom the "cool guys" in class highly respected and even emulated by occasionally dressing in a similar way or engaging in the same activities, such as fishing and winter camping.

"I remember one time we all went to the Soo for some sort of research," she added. "On the way back, Dr. Robinson stopped and picked some chanterelle mushrooms. When we stopped to eat in Munising at the Dog Patch, he gave us freshly picked mushrooms to put on our burgers. Things like that just didn't happen where I came from."

The character in the book shares the same last name and teaches the same subject area, but many qualities and scenarios related to him have been fictionalized. The Robinson's Crusoes, an appropriately clever play on words, was also Dilworth's creation and not the actual name of the student group. She used to call them the nature boys.

The novel opens with an ecology studies midterm at the crown jewel of Marquette, Presque Isle Park, where Dr. Robinson sets up stations to test students' ability to identify foliage and wildlife. It ends with a closing note of appreciation to former classmates: "… to all of us, like Jim 'Rounds' Hautala-the original Crusoe-who found the light on I-75 going north and never looked back. And of course to you, Donny Kukla, because you were right-we never should have left."

Dilworth is the author of two other novels and three short story collections. The Upper Peninsula and its notorious winters inspired her first collection, The Long White. According to the description, Dilworth evokes a place dominated by two Great Lakes whose power and ferocity influence the lives of every inhabitant. The particularities of place and character come together with the clarity and exactitude of a fresh snowfall that both veils and illuminates a landscape." The collection won the Iowa Short Fiction Award.

Learn more about Dilworth and her work at sharondilworth.com, or find her on Instagram as sharon dilworth.