Q&A with John Feal and Charles Daly

  

John Feal

 

 

John Feal is the author, with Charles Daly, of the new book I Will Follow You Anywhere: The True Story of the 9/11 Responders Who Took On Congress. Feal worked as a demolition supervisor at Ground Zero, and has lobbied Congress to assist 9/11 responders. He is the founder of the FealGood Foundation. Daly is the author of the book Make Peace or Die. He lives in Ireland. 

 

Q: John, why did you decide to write I Will Follow You Anywhere?

 

JF: One, to cleanse myself. Two, to tell an accurate story because my story was told by others in other books. Three, to find my way home. It’s taken 25 years.

More importantly, I wanted America to know it wasn't just [the comedian] Jon Stewart and John Feal. It was Ivonn Sanchez, Michael O’Connell, Tom Wilson, Glenn Klein, and others whose stories are in the book. It took a village.

 

America needs to know that there are good people in this world, and these men and women exemplify that more than anybody I ever met.

Charles Daly

 

Q: Charlie, how did you end up working on this book with John?

CD: Bridget Gormley, a friend and filmmaker, whose story is in the book, put us in touch. She also introduced me to the woman I married. Every good thing in my life is Bridget-adjacent. John and I hit it off immediately and got to work.  

 

Q: How was the book’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?

JF: There were several titles floating around, and then I recall Jon [Stewart] saying, “I will follow you anywhere.”

In the last press conference in 2019, after we got the VCF [Victim Compensation Fund] extended to 2090, and everybody wanted that, and that's who we went with when Jon Stewart said, "I will follow you anywhere,” we went on to do the burn pit bill after that. I believe Jon and I both have a lot of years left in us, hopefully, and I believe Washington, D.C., hasn't seen the last of Jon and John, and if he's not following, they all follow him.

CD: This is a “Big Yellow Taxi” title. It sounds good on its own, but the meaning and origin is embedded in the work. Those are my favorite kind of title. The subtitle drove us insane. We went back and forth for months and finally made a game-day decision to go with the one we have. 

 

Q: John, the comedian Jon Stewart said of you and your activism, "He saw a community that was sick and struggling, and he made it his mission to not allow our elected officials to escape accountability.” What do you think of that assessment, and how have you and Jon Stewart worked together?

JF: I’ll tell you what I know about Jon Stewart. He doesn't waste words. He's a he's a verbal sniper. He's an assassin. He uses every word with precision. And if Jon Stewart said something negative or positive about me, then he sincerely meant it.

 

One of the challenges of this book was putting into words just how much he means to me: as a friend, as a brother, and as someone who cared.

 

Q: What impact did it have on you to write the book, and what do you hope readers take away from it?

JF: I thought I would just write a book and walk away scot-free and not have any worries in the world. I find that I have more responsibility now that I wrote the book. It's already added to a stressful workload. But I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world because I need to go home. And I want this story to be told.

 

CD: This community of responders and survivors brought me into their world, and that’s a very special place to be. I hope I captured what that world is like–the joy and sadness of that world. I especially wanted to capture the humanity that we can lose when we put people on pedestals as heroes. 

 

Q: What are you working on now?

JF: Getting illnesses added to the bill. Because of the latency of some of these illnesses, we’re just starting to see the first cases of some cancers and autoimmune conditions 25 years after the initial exposure. 

 

Going back to D.C., I’m making sure that no members of Congress play funky games with our legislation, to ensure that the World Trade Center Health Program, the VCF, and elected officials evolve with a finite number of people affected by 9/11 as they age, and to ensure that as we evolve, we incorporate easier ways for them to get into their older years.

 

CD: I have some exciting ghostwriting projects I can’t talk about and a co-authored project coming out in September, 2027, Crush Depth: How One Woman Made Navy History Beneath the Waves. It’s the memoir of Marquette Leveque, one of the first women to serve on a U.S Navy submarine. She’s a fellow millennial, so that should tell you how recently they integrated subs. 

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

JF: I'm not done with what I'm doing. I believe if people think my resume is substantial, I'm not content or happy with it, and I'm going to do something bigger. There's more people out there to help. If I can help 150,000 people in the World Trade Center help program, and then 3 million veterans with the PACT Act, then I'm sure I can help 5 or 10 million Americans with something.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb