Review by Mack Hassler
“Mixed Genres and True Heritages: From Trollope’s Ralph the Heir to Delany’s Dhalgren,”
by D. M. Hassler. in Into Darkness Peering (Greenwood Press, 1997)
Most of the nearly thirty titles I have posted at the U.P. Book Review have been single-authored books. This biographical or memoir account of Scott Holman, an important personality for Marquette Culture including Northern Michigan University where he served many years on the Board of Trustees and so as well as for our writing community, requires many voices. Part of the reason for this need for multiple voices is the way he himself experiences the page of print. His dyslexia apparently involves the perception of several voices at once. Some of our most brilliant thinkers have been dyslexic. So the condition is, clearly, a handicap that is at the same time an asset. One of the most brilliant science fiction writers I have studied acknowledges that his dyslexia forces his attention to increase. Samuel L Delany has produced one of the most complex novels in the genre—Dhalgren that I spent a good bit of time writing a major essay on. See the epigraph above.
Holman does not do fiction, and Dr. Steele who has gathered together this book about him is also not a single-author speaker in his book. In fact, the book is nearly a smorgasbord of gatherings by Steele. One wonders if Dr Steele himself were not dyslexic. He uses medical descriptions of the condition and the changes among educational experts and, then, many anecdotal examples of Holm moving into metal work and the founding of Foundry Companies and metal work mostly dealing with the auto industry, but later specializing in underwater metal piping systems for pumps. Holm loved to scuba dive. He also spent time right after getting out of school in the Michigan National Guard. He was in the Guard in Detroit for the terrible summer of 1967 and the riots of that summer. The book moves smoothly with expert citations and various speakers through these moments in Holm’s development. He became a very wealthy and successful businessman, and he never seemed to hesitate to take business risks, nor to help people and communities in need. He held many offices in Chambers of Commerce and eventually served several terms on the Board of Trustees for his beloved Alma Mater where he had had difficulties as a student. The Foreword by a European Academic Immigrant, who met Holm as a fellow Trustee of the University, raves about how enthusiastic Holm was both for NMU and for the UP in general. His business and political success were clearly related to his enthusiastic attitude. Steele’s smorgasbord of anecdotes and expert witnesses makes this clear.
Granite Island Light
Another product of this enthusiasm in the personality of Holm was his love of the Marquette area and of his scuba diving. When it came up for sale, he was able to purchase the whole Granite Island Light Station from the United States government for a good price. He bought it for Historical Preservation, and he knew his foundry companies could totally overhaul the underwater foundations and structures. In fact, he hired Stanley Stenson from the small lake town of Covington beyond Michigammi 50 miles West of Marquette to do the work. Stenson had done great work for my family who had a cabin in Covington, and did a beautiful job on Granite Island for Holm so that it is now a solid Historical Site in the Marquette Harbor and provides teaching internet for the school system in Big Bay. Holm also purchased the historic Mt Shasta Lodge and Dining Room in Michigammi and did a total restoration of it. These projects solidify his reputation as a huge and much-loved leader in the community He also supported a project involving a NASA astronaut from the UP that Steele documents with published accounts and with some good photos.
Epilogue to my review: In poking around the name of Scott Holm, I find that he and his wife have three sons, one of them is “Scott Jr.” The sons now own the Bay Cast Foundry Company, and Scott Junior continues to serve on the NMU Board of Trustees and has served for several terms like his Dad. He is, also, a member of the Board of Advisers for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Midland, Michigan Therefore I must end this smorgasbord account by saying “so much for the old Oedipal Myth where Father and Son are at Odds with each other.” Steele does not say so, but perhaps dyslexic fathers produce peaceful families.
The Mindset of a Dyslexic Entrepreneur, by Dr. Don Steele with Lawrence Allen, Foreword by Thomas H Zurbuchen (Performance Learning, Inc. Monee, Ill, 2024) 112 pages , pbk, n.p,
About midway into my review of the book about Holman that Victor posts today I see that I begin to spell his surname without the second syllable, and Victor has not corrected my spelling I refer to him as “Holm.” I actually like this mistake that both Victor and I make. It shows that we are channeling the dyslexia of Holman and of Delany.