- Playing
- A Family Yarn
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- Rupa Marya
In the years after the implementation of NAFTA, almost all 3,000 textile mills in New England have closed, devastating local economies. When the Eastland Woolen Mill in Corrinna, Maine shut down in 1996, a family of woolen mill factory workers, one mother and her four sons, bought the old machines that were slated for the junk pile and moved them in pieces to their barn. Since then, the Marchellettas have been running a woolen mill out of their barn, successfully employing the entire family and even members of the community that once worked at Eastland. Currently they are turning wool into the yarn that makes tennis ball fuzz, producing enough yarn to cover 1,000,000 tennis balls a week. This personal story is narrated by the naturally gifted storyteller, Ruth Marchelletta, and starts around her sound rich kitchen table where she shares coffee with her boys every Saturday morning. It then moves to the barn, where the old machines are still running, for now. The same pressures that caused the large factories to close are now exerting their influence on the family operation, causing the Marchellettas to wonder how long they will be able to keep it going.
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Piece Description
In the years after the implementation of NAFTA, almost all 3,000 textile mills in New England have closed, devastating local economies. When the Eastland Woolen Mill in Corrinna, Maine shut down in 1996, a family of woolen mill factory workers, one mother and her four sons, bought the old machines that were slated for the junk pile and moved them in pieces to their barn. Since then, the Marchellettas have been running a woolen mill out of their barn, successfully employing the entire family and even members of the community that once worked at Eastland. Currently they are turning wool into the yarn that makes tennis ball fuzz, producing enough yarn to cover 1,000,000 tennis balls a week. This personal story is narrated by the naturally gifted storyteller, Ruth Marchelletta, and starts around her sound rich kitchen table where she shares coffee with her boys every Saturday morning. It then moves to the barn, where the old machines are still running, for now. The same pressures that caused the large factories to close are now exerting their influence on the family operation, causing the Marchellettas to wonder how long they will be able to keep it going.
3 Comments
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Review of A Family YarnThis piece seamlessly combines a political statement and a family portrait. The characters, especially the matriarch, are well-developed and engaging. Their struggle against a globalized market is not painted in maudlin tones, nor is it made to seem overly optimistic – Marya lets both their worries and their strength of spirit come through clearly. The sound is textured and small touches, like the smoking of a cigarette or a cup of coffee being poured, give vivid account of a day spent with the Marchellattas. |
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Review of A Family YarnPatience and faith--in radio that is-- are essential in order for you to fully appreciate this piece as it betrays the conventional expectations of a hard feature. This piece is almost impressionistic as the interviewee becomes the narrator. As your guide, the matriarch Ruth Marchellatta walks you through the family business, the decay of Maine's economy AND she offers you a cup of coffee! ( What more could you want out of a radio piece?) Listener beware: you'll have to monitor your glycemic index as this piece is full of ear candy: wonderful voices, the intoxicating sound of percolating coffee and the noirish appeal of Ruth lighting a cigarette. When to air this? During "All Things Considered" or "Morning Edition" or wherever you can spare seven minutes and one second. Given the presidential election's nonstop discussions about jobs, the economy and NAFTA , this is a supremely relevant piece.--Chelsea Merz |
Broadcast History
On Maine Public Radio, Maine Things Considered 12/16/2003
Timing and Cues
Host Intro:
In the twelve years since NAFTA went into effect, almost all the 3,000
textile mills in New England have closed. When the Eastland Woolen Mill in
Corrinna, Maine, shut down in 1996, a family of workers bought the old
machines and moved them in pieces to their barn. Today the Marchellettas --
a mother and four sons -- are producing enough wool fuzz to cover a million
tennis balls a week. But they wonder how long they can keep going. Rupa
Marya [Roo-pah Mar-ee-uh] prepared this profile. It's part of "Think
Global," public radio's week of special coverage.
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Deborah Astley
Posted on May 16, 2005 at 12:23 PM | Permalink
Review of A Family Yarn
Tennis ball fuzz. Spaghetti strings of yarn. Puffs of wool flying out of the old machinery that look like angels, snow, and poodles. Mrs. Marchelletta is a poet of the old woolen mills of Maine and Rupa Marya catches that poetry so well. As a country, we heard about NAFTA coming and about NAFTA being here, but we rarely hear about after NAFTA. This heartwrenching, heartwarming piece is about after NAFTA on a personal basis from the viewpoint of the Marchelletta family. My only question in this otherwise perfect, soundrich piece is where does the wool come from that the Marchelletta mill uses? I ask this because we have a flock of Suffolk sheep on our acreage here in southwest Oklahoma and I just wondered where the wool came from that was used for the tennis balls.