Skywalkers

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hello, it’s nice to speak with you. This is Debra from Indianapolis.

Well, hello, Debra. Welcome to the program.

Thank you.

What can we do for you?

Well, first of all, I’d like to say that this has been driving me crazy for 10 or 15 years.

Excellent. I mean, not excellent, but we’re glad you called.

I can prescribe a cream for that.

I’ll take that after we go out there.

My question is that I have been looking for a word or a term that was probably used in the 1960s.

It comes from a time when tall buildings were being built in New York City, and we still called them skyscrapers.

And what happened was there was a group of Native Americans, possibly from upper New York State,

And they worked on the high beams and girders absolutely fearlessly, as if they were just on the ground.

And I think there was a term for that, but I can’t remember it.

Yeah, we can help you with that.

Oh, absolutely.

And I think you might do a little kicking of yourself, so get your boots ready.

Okay.

And then apply the cream.

Okay.

Debra, say if this rings a bell, how about the word Skywalker?

Yes.

Absolutely.

Yeah, that’s it.

You’re right.

I could check myself.

But there’s an interesting history, right, behind these men.

Where did you encounter this word?

Are you remembering it from the 60s or are you remembering it from later?

Yes.

And did you see a movie or documentary or read something about this?

I suspect that I probably read because I’m a big reader.

And I thought it was just, I don’t know, it got my imagination going that there were these Native Americans

And they were up there, and people were afraid to go up that high,

And they just did it, and they were kind of a unit or a team,

And they worked together, and I think it just got my imagination.

I could almost see them up there.

Well, let me ask you, do you know the writing of Joseph Mitchell?

He was a New Yorker writer.

A lot of his stuff was collected in a book called Up in the Old Hotel,

And one of his stories is called The Mohawks in High Steel, and it is brilliant.

It is fantastic writing.

It’s the kind of writing that any one of us would kill to be able to do,

And he describes exactly what you’re talking about,

These men from these Native American tribes in upstate New York

Who came to New York City to help build the tallest buildings,

Including the World Trade Center, as a matter of fact.

But I asked her whether or not you were, you remembered if you got it from a book or movie,

Because there was a short film, a short documentary in 1965 also called High Steel.

And you can actually find it online at the website of the National Film Board of Canada.

And it’s about 16 minutes.

Well, I didn’t look there.

Yeah.

Well, you know.

Put a link on our website.

We’ll make it easy for you and put a link on our website.

But it’s from 1965.

And you said you remembered it from the 60s.

So I wondered if somehow you’d seen that documentary too.

But there’s a ton of, you know, even NPR has done a segment for the program called Lost and Found Sound about these men.

And it’s all incredibly interesting.

They do things that I wouldn’t have the guts to do.

Oh, really?

Yes, absolutely.

So, Deborah, thank you so much for your call.

I’m glad we were able to help.

You have solved something that has been driving me nuts for years, so I appreciate it very much.

Glad we could scratch that itch, Deborah.

Thank you.

Bye-bye.

All right, bye-bye.

If you’ve got an itch that needs to be scratched, give us a call, 1-877-929-9673 or 1-877-WAYWORD, or send it to us an email to words@waywordradio.org.