The Miracle in the Garage

BY CATHY INTEMANN

A couple weeks ago, 73 boxes on a large pallet were delivered to my garage. The pallet was wrapped in shrink wrap and piled nine-by-nine boxes wide and seven levels high with the extra boxes stacked on top. The pallet leaned slightly. They were delivered by a local cargo company representing UPS.

Inside these 73 boxes were copies of “Beauty is Experience: Dancing 50 and Beyond,” written by my daughter Emmaly Wiederholt in collaboration with photographer Gregory Bartning.

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Many people participated in the books and their final delivery to my garage, where they temporarily reside. When they were finally stacked in the garage, I thought to myself, “Those books have been in China in a printing factory, aboard a huge inter-ocean cargo ship, in a port in California, and now here, resting until their next journey.” I realized that many unknown people who had no personal investment in the book other than doing their jobs had brought those books to my home. And without each and every person completing their task, the books would not be here.

I know Emmaly interviewed many dancers and Gregory photographed them. I know they held fundraising events for financial support, often in donated spaces. I know they had a designer, Lieve Maas, and a copy editor, Zoe Bird. I know Emmaly had many conversations with the publishing company, Print Ninja.

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But, the book — printed and bound, then placed in 73 boxes, labelled, taped, moved on dollies, loaded and reloaded from one point to the next — the book became a real, hold-able, readable object with an ISBN number and a table of contents and page numbers and an elegant hard cover — only because many nameless, faceless, hardworking and probably underpaid people in a variety of locales took care of those 500 books. They did their job, perhaps in spite of the repetitiveness of their work and less-than-optimal working conditions. Perhaps they knew that this book is a treasure. Most never even had a chance to peek inside. But I believe each of them knew the contents were precious–more than cargo.

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Although this set of events is repeated countless times a day, every day, all over the world, it is still a miracle of many, many hands. I appreciate every single person who in some way touched this book. They are the contributors to The Miracle in the Garage.

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If you reserved a copy of “Beauty if Experience: Dancing 50 and Beyond,” look for it to arrive in the next month.

If you’d like to learn more about the book, or would like to order your own copy, click here!

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5 Responses to “The Miracle in the Garage”

  4. stanceondance

    Hi Rita,

    The book costs $75 plus shipping. It is a full color, 9×12, hard cover book.

    Thanks!
    Emmaly

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