Perrier book looks at growing up male
By Britt Johnsen/Contributing Writer
Have you ever wondered what it's like growing up male in America?
Ronald Perrier certainly did.
SCSU theater and film professor Ronald Perrier recently wrote a book entitled, Growing Up Male in America: Intimate Conversations with Young Men. The book was first printed in January. It can be found at Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com and through Archie Publications, a publisher located in Minneapolis.
The idea for the book was inspired by the common observation that men tend to be more secretive than women. Men often bottle up their emotions and if it weren't for professional sports, there aren't many things that an average male can talk about with people surrounding him.
"I've thought about this for years, how men don't open up," said Perrier.
He also noticed how there are far more men in prisons, more men in the news who commit crimes, and other situations where it is the male that are dealing with their issues in a manner where one has to wonder where all that angst and repression comes from.
"Are you supposed to be sensitive, and show your sensitive side?" Perrier's often asked himself, and was sure other males have asked themselves that very question when contemplating their role as a male in today's society.
So sure that he set out to interview thirty men to see what this issue is all about, what men deal with and have dealt with, from the beginning of their existence to the present. Perrier contacted different people of different races, sexual orientations and other types and interviewed them. All the men ranged from ages 21 to 31, so as not to get them in their formative years, and not so old that they'd have skewed memories. They all had responses ranging from frank, hilarious, sad or surprising. Sixteen of the most varying men were selected, and all remained anonymous. The book is comprised of a preface and the sixteen interviews.
Perrier says that it's been an interesting learning experience. This book was helpful to him and will be helpful to everyone else, because it's so honest and deals with many issues that men don't often get to talk about: puberty, sexual orientation, racism, love, divorce and youth.
"Everybody should read this book. Boys, girls, parents, teachers � everybody."
Colleague Julie Weaver says of the book, "Ron Perrier has gotten young men, so often reluctant to talk about anything truly personal with another man, to open up and reveal their thoughts and concerns about being male, about relationships (same sex or heterosexual), about what it's like to grow up being a boy and a young man in our American culture. All young (and older) men should read this."
Weaver, who worked for five years in the play "How To Talk Minnesotan," is currently working with Perrier on the stage format of this book.
"We're working to get these concerns, issues and values out in the public," Weaver said. It's due to be finished by the fall or winter of 2002 at the earliest.
This semester, though, something will surely change. After 40 years of teaching, 27 of them at SCSU, Perrier will retire this semester. He's taught a range of theater classes, including his most popular, Theater 140: Intro to Theater and Film. He has also directed over 80 shows through SCSU and within the community.
"The main thing I'm going to miss is the contact with students, particularly university students. I just love working with people that age." Perrier said. "I've loved almost every minute of this 40-year journey."
Perrier has known since he was eight years old that he wanted to teach, and will miss it very much. "There's nothing like the glimmer of a light in a kid's eyes when they discover something."
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