[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 147 (Monday, October 1, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12378-S12379]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO GRACE PALEY

 Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, I wish to acknowledge the recent 
passing of Grace Paley. Grace, who called Vermont her home, was a 
renowned and award-winning short story writer, a political activist, a 
wife and mother.
  Although she spent much of each year in Thetford, VT, and we 
considered her an adopted Vermonter, her fiction was set in the 
apartments, streets and neighborhoods of New York City. Grace Paley was 
not attracted to the bright lights or famous personalities or glitter 
of New York; however, she was attracted to the quotidian lives and the 
interpersonal and ethical problems faced by people very like ourselves. 
As Grace once said, ``I'm not writing a history of famous people, I am 
interested in a history of everyday life.'' She wrote about them in her 
two most noted collections of stories, ``The Little Disturbances of 
Man'' and ``Enormous Changes at the Last Minute.'' And she wrote 
beautifully, and with great sensitivity to both the spoken language and 
to human relationships. Her work gathered enormous critical acclaim. 
She was one of the great short fiction writers of our age.
  Her home in Thetford, VT, was not some weekend getaway, some means of 
unwinding from the hectic pace of life in the big city. For Grace, 
Thetford--and the State of Vermont--was a place where she could carry 
on her long-standing struggle for peace and for social justice. She was 
an active, a very active, presence in the local community. Whether it 
was through her long-standing commitment to bringing peace to the world 
or her many local readings of her fiction, Grace Paley was a presence 
in our lives--and a beloved local figure. She never sought the 
spotlight, but she did not shy away from it when she felt her cause was 
just. She lived her convictions and served as a model for generations 
of women, of Vermonters, of activists.
  In recognition of her contributions to Vermont, Grace Paley was 
awarded the title of ``Vermont State Poet'' in 2003, a position that 
had been held previously by Robert Frost, among others. She was also 
awarded the title of ``New York State Writer'' by Mario Cuomo in

[[Page S12379]]

1986. It is a fitting testimony to the quality and importance of her 
literary work that both States, which she called home, chose to honor 
her in this fashion.
  Grace Paley will be sorely missed, but her work, her passion for 
peace and justice, and her love of her fellow Vermonters will not be 
forgotten.

                          ____________________