Willimantic, Now & Then
She went on to tell me how she had been a member of the Democratic Town Committee in Ledyard, I think it was, years ago. Joan Svetz was also a member and they had been friends.
I was shocked again. Joan, you see, is my mother, but she has never lived in Southeastern Connecticut. It seemed this other Mark Svetz also had a mother named Joan.
By Mark Svetz
WILLIMANTIC –March 2009
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What’s in a Name?
I was at a party just the other night when a man I don’t know came up and greeted me like a long, lost friend. He called me by name and went on about how long it had been since we had seen each other. Now, my memory isn’t always the best, but I was pretty sure I didn’t know this man.
“Remember? We used to go sliding down that big hill right by St. Bernard’s,” he said, “Have you seen (I can’t remember the name)? I haven’t seen him since we graduated.”
I was pretty sure this man was mistaken, but he seemed so certain, and he was about my age. I asked a few questions and then told him I had never been to St. Bernard’s High School.
“You are Mark Svetz, aren’t you?” he said. “Somebody told me that’s who you are.”
“I am Mark Svetz,” I said, “but I went to high school on the other side of the state, Lewis Mills, in Burlington.”
We shook hands, laughed over the mistaken identity and had a nice time at the party. But I was eerily shaken. This was not my first encounter with this other Mark Svetz.
Many years ago, when I was working for the Norwich Bulletin, my editor showed me a copy of a police report from one of the State Police Barracks. A name was circled. It was my name. Mark Svetz had been arrested for something.
Not long after that time, I was still working for the bulletin, in the Jewett City bureau, when a nice woman came into the office to ask about something. We got talking and when I told her my name she said, “Is Joan your mother?”
A few years later I was in a bar ignoring the TV when somebody, I think it might have been my old friend Tony Clark, hit me on the shoulder and pointed to the TV screen. There was a scruffy guy, about my age, on the screen talking about the strike at Electric Boat. Under his name it said Mark Svetz, Welder.
` There it was, in writing, Mark Svetz was somebody else. Or was I a welder at EB with out my knowing it? Maybe this was me. Give him a little less hair on top and a little more on the chin. He could be me. Oh, wow, man. That’s deep.
Years later, I got a notice from some company on the other side of the country, telling me that I was in default on my student loan. I ignored the notice since I had never taken a student loan and the Social Security number they listed on the notice wasn’t mine. I figured they were trolling the phone book or the Internet and found me by mistake. I knew there was at least one other Mark Svetz. I threw the notice out.
I got a few other notices in the mail, and then I started to get phone calls. It was getting to be a drag and I started to wonder if I should try and clear this up. But I didn’t worry about it too much. It just seemed like more corporate junk mail.
Then I spoke to someone from the company. I told him that was not me. I told him my middle initial was E and the Social Security number was not mine. That’s when he rocked my world.
“We show an alternate Social Security number: xxx-xx-xxxx. Is that you?” he said over the ‘phone.
“What do you mean alternate Social Security number?” I asked. “Who has two Social Security numbers?”
“People often give two numbers on these applications,” he said.
I hung up on him. But he got me. It had been my number he read off as the alternate.
I searched for those notices I had gotten. Fortunately I had saved a few. I gathered everything together and wrote to Congressman Joe Courtney’s office. I needed help on this. I had felt comfortably anonymous until he read my Social Security number. You see he was also talking about this program where they can automatically attach any federal payments to recover their student loans.
Now I was worried. I am just a few years away from Social Security and I didn’t want to give the first few thousand dollars I earned to pay off this other Mark Svetz’ student loans.
Ellen Paul, who worked in Joe Courtney’s Norwich office, was helpful and efficient. She got on right on the case and in no time I had a letter from the US Department of Education assuring me that I did not owe anyone for any student loans.
I silently wished this other Mark Svetz luck, but I hoped our paths would not cross again. So far, so good.
A few months later, I had just settled into a bath. I brought our ‘phone in next to the tub because I was expecting a call. The ‘phone rang and it was a woman from some new company trying to collect this student loan. I was very relaxed, in a great mood when she called,
“Oh, Ma’am,” I said sadly. “You have no idea what I’ve been through with this thing. But I have a letter from the US Department of Education….”
She was so sympathetic and assured me that this terrible ordeal would be over as soon as she made a few key strokes on her trusty computer.
“That would be great!” I said. “But, you know, you’re not the first person to tell me that. Maybe you could just put a note there somewhere saying that Mark E. Svetz is not the right guy.”
“I will do that sir. You won’t be troubled by this again.” I feel a little like the guy who jumped out the 10th floor window. As he fell past the fifth floor, someone heard him say: “So far, so good!”
Well, it’s been a six months or more and …so far, so good!
Bumping into this man the other night was fun. He seemed like a nice guy and all. But I left the party wondering about this alternate universe where another Mark Svetz went to St. Bernard’s High School, loved his mother (named Joan, by the way), went to college for a while, got a job welding, got busted, and went on strike. And he did all this using my name.
A rogue by any other name…
Mark Svetz and Sarah Winter own Clothworks, a shop on Church Street in Downtown Willimantic, where they make and sell clothing and bags. Some days. they’re not sure which one is at the shop!
