David Giffels (2015)
On this episode, we are replaying an interview Matt Tullis did with David Giffels in January 2015. Giffels is a former reporter and columnist for the Akron Beacon Journal in Ohio who has gone on to become a creative writing professor in the Northeast Ohio MFA program. He\u2019s also the author of three books.\n\nWhen he was on the show in 2015, his book, \u201cThe Hard Way on Purpose: Essays and Dispatches from the Rust Belt,\u201d had just been published by Scribner. The book ruminates on Akron \u2014 Giffels\u2019 hometown \u2014 specifically the city\u2019s despair and destruction as the rubber industry moved out. It also embraces Akron\u2019s resurgence. \n\nIn January of this year, Giffels\u2019 third book was published. \u201cFurnishing Eternity: A Father, a Son, a Coffin and a Measure of Life\u201d is about what ended up being the last woodworking project Giffels ever did with his 81-year-old father; designing and building his own coffin. The book was release on January 2. Three days later, his father died. He wrote about that in an essay that was published on the Atlantic\u2019s website on Father\u2019s Day.