Spo-Reflections

I am going to Chicago, said in my best Bette Davis voice, to attend a medical conference. It is really an excuse to visit The Windy City. I lived there from 1989 to 2000. Some of my greatest memories both good and bad come from my Chicago days. 25 years later it seems unreal I had ever lived there – was it all a dream?

One of the problems of living in a city and moving away is when you revisit the place you want everything to be just as you left it. It makes you feel sad to see some of your favorite places are no longer there, but it also makes you happy to see some of them have survived – just like you.

The medical conference is on the magnificent mile, downtown, so I will be able to walk about and see the sights – not that I will have much time. Classes are Wednesday through Saturday 7AM to 5PM. I like to learn so I will be happy therein. But what will really be good is meeting friends after lecture for dinner, drinks, whatever. There are more friends than evening times.

Tuesday Someone drops me off at the airport; I fly Southwest to Midway. I am not looking forward to the plane trip. Flying is usually a hassle but SWA sounds like a cattle car. I plan on wearing a mask and plugging into my headphone and do not disturb. I will take the L downtown. I will enjoy that. When I lived there, the L took me everywhere; no car was needed. I am staying the first night with The Other Michael. We will go out to Cafe Babareeba! Patience above! It’s still open! I might get emotional. I can’t get too wild for Wednesday is a school day. I move into the Marriott as lectures begin at 7AM.

I am certain to write on this as nothing inspires writing as ‘going home’ and seeing old places and old friends – some I haven’t seen in 25 years.

Every once in a while Father would announce to us boys we are going to the library. We would shriek and jump up and down as if we had won the lottery. We had to quickly take inventory of what books we had at home and were they ready to return and if not finished to better get cracking before we went. My brothers often had a list of ‘to read’ which they would ask The Librarian* if they were available. I often took a different tack, as I will tell you.

Upon entering the hallowed halls of The Library, we immediately hushed although it was often hard to curtail a squeal of delight at finding out the book you have longed to read is finally available and waiting at the counter. While Father went directly to the fiction section looking for Jack Ryan novels, I went to the large wooden filing cabinets and randomly picked a bin (‘Ma-Mo’ perhaps) and pull it open by its brass knob and finger through the index cards to come across a title that grabbed me. It was like a treasure hunt. With the dewy decimal clue in my head I would go find the book, and if it was there, would it be as wonderful as I wanted it to be. Perhaps it wasn’t there – a disappointment – but just a few books down from the gap on the shelf was another book waving its cover at me. What I wanted to find was a magical tome all but forgotten that when opened it would reveal a marvelous tale or perhaps lead me to a faraway land. Sometimes this happened.

Wandering through the stacks looking at titles at eye level (mine) sometimes this didn’t come up with anything. No fear, there were always the ‘favorites’ that were read and reread. You had to sign your name on the lender log in the front of the book. There was my name, taking up four or five lines in a row sign with some upstart stranger’s handwriting breaking the run. I would pay a lot of money to have some of those books again.**

It seemed then people were quiet and they were there to read or study. The common denominator was reading, which everyone took seriously like a religion. There was no talking but some moved their lips while reading like a priest does when he reads the prayers Secreto.

If you didn’t like the library then you didn’t go – and left us superior reader types to our books.

I hear tell libraries are shutting down mostly from indifference and lack of use. Fewer people go to the library these days; if people want to read or research something they do that online or on their Kindles. The index card filing cabinets are all gone – I wonder what happened to them. Libraries, once a quiet realm, are under siege from @-holes who want to ban books – not that they or their children go to libraries or actually read. It is all about control; if people read and became knowledgable thems in power would lose control.

If there is a hell I hope there is a special level for book burners and book banners.

There is a local branch of The Phoenix Library not too far from La Casa de Spo. I have tried going but it is a disappointment. The place feels oddly bereft of books. Rather there are video and games to rent. The librarian (who doesn’t look or sound at all god-like) will looks things up on their screen to see if said book is here or somewhere else and would I like to order it to be sent here? Somehow this takes all the fun out of it. All the same when I go which is usually on a Saturday morning among the few browsers there is often a parent with some youngsters who look as excited about their books as I was. It makes me smile to see them and the sight gives me hope thems who read and thems who go to libraries will endure.

Do you go to libraries?

Is your library in trouble from lack of money or vile sorts wanting their will imposed on them?

*Librarians were perceived to be gods, all knowing and worth our reverence. One did not talk louder than a whisper to these sage goddesses.

**One of them was titled “Red Letter Days” which gave some history of the various holidays. I forgot how I got it but there it stands on my shelf, its dust jacket quite worn and ripped some. What a treasure.

It’s already rawther hot here, already hitting temps above 40C which aren’t normally seen until early July.  Vampire-like, my evening walks are done after sunset lest I turn to dust.  

Happily, there are no lack of indoor things to do. I need to download my at-work note templates and finish all paperwork before ‘The Great Change’ on Tuesday. It reminds me of Y2K getting ready for a crash and inability to do things. There are signs already of problems. We are supposed to have our electronic signatures established but this hasn’t happened and emails calling for help get a vague and impersonal autonomic reply from IT (or someone like them):

‘We have received your request and someone is working on it.’

Not at all assuring. I am told by The House Manager I am the only one ‘not freaking out’ by all of this. This is somewhat out of wisdom but mostly from my habit if someone is carrying the beachball of anxiety I don’t have to hold it myself. 

Speaking of soon-to-be shenanigans,  The Roofer (or someone like him) is dropping off on Monday a very large iron rubbish bin in anticipation of starting The Great Roofing Project. The container sounds to be the size of a small freighter. I hope we don’t have to park on the street for the duration of the voyage. 

Speaking of freighters, a proper one recently sprung a leak while transiting Lake Superior. Reports have it the boat ‘hit something’ and soon afterwards started taking on water. The Coast Guard and a nearby freighter were summoned and the freighter hauled itself to the nearest harbor hoping to get there before it sank. It made it, but it does’t look good. The rear of the boat (the stern) is definitely lower in the water as it should, and it looks like if you put a marble on the front part of the boat (the bow) it would roll back at a 30 degree angle. Oh the horror. Bad for the boat but the boat nerds have something to talk about. There hasn’t been such drama since the Edmund Fitzgerald.  Rumors are already circulating (or course) on the speculation of what did it hit – probably a sunken ship or an uncharted shoal but the more loony-tunes explanation are soon to follow. 

Speaking of shipwrecks La Casa de Spo has its usual messes to attend to like laundry and the changing of the sheets – no Coast Guard to my rescue. This morning I am on the look-out for The FedEx man (or someone like him) to deliver some sort of cable needed to connect the new screen to the new receiver. The back of both having enough holes and connections to rival a large airplane.  It reminds me of the YouTube “The Onion” clip titled “Sony release stupid piece of sh-t that doesn’t f-cking do the g-d thing it’s supposed to”. I would provide the link but WordPress won’t let me. 😦