A Lotta Love for Lombard

I drove west this morning to renew my driver's license.  I started going to the facility in Lombard when I lived in Elmhurst and I've continued going there even from Chicago.  I've never regretted the trip.  The people are so friendly and make sure the seniors go through the process seamlessly.

It was very crowded but the only wait was about 20 minutes to start the driving test through the side streets with no traffic.  I was in and out in about an hour and a half.

I hope Jessie White enjoys his retirement.  And, I hope that whoever replaces him will continue to provide such excellent service.

My Private Fossil

I went down to my storage locker yesterday.  I wanted to retrieve the inflatable mattress in anticipation of Diego’s arrival next week. I can’t remember the last time I visited the locker.  But then, this story is about “I can’t remember.”

As I was digging through my pile of “stuff”, I was shocked to find a beautiful little rug.  The design is a vivid American Indian one: red, black and white.  The shock was that I couldn’t remember where it came from.  Of course, I brought it upstairs with the mattress.

Slowly, the story of the rug seeped into my consciousness.  It was from the time when I visited Arizona frequently.  I actually rented a little house there once.  I am sure now that I bought the rug at the gift shop in the Heard Museum in Phoenix.  Now I think of it as new, new, new.  A colorful addition to my space.

There are boxes in my locker whose contents remain a mystery.  I think I will unearth the fossils one by one.

My "No TV" Life

 

I watch a lot of TV.  Mostly sports and news shows.  Occasionally I hook up with a program.  Not now.  Not at all.  My cable connection disappeared and the solution is so far undiagnosed and thus untreated.  A technician isn't scheduled to arrive until next week.

And this is my happiest TV time!  NBA playoffs and a hot White Sox team.  But I'm managing to get the news I want to know.  Suns trounced the Lakers last night.  LeBron walked off the court five minutes early.  The Sox staged a valiant come back in the ninth against Cleveland but fell short by one run.  Israel may get rid of the "bad guy" because people of different political persuasions are getting together for the "good of the country." Here, some of us are still lamenting the afterlife of slavery while others demand the hierarchy remain in place.

I am reading a lot and watching movies on Netflix.  Life is good.  Did I miss anything?

The Writer and the Reader

 

Does fiction owe us any fact?  Several years ago I was happily binge-reading the series of books by Walter Mosley featuring  the Los Angeles detective Easy Rawlins.  I just loved Easy.  He was a smart black man determined to bring decency and dignity into his life behind the eight ball.

I was devastated when Mosley killed off Easy.  For no good reason.  Not even a part of any plot.  I vowed no more Mosley for me.

A few months ago I was shocked to see a new Easy Rawlins book featured on Amazon. What?  Easy is alive again?  Just like that?  I was happy to read about Easy in a new adventure, but does an author have a right to kill off a character in one book and then have him appear in another?  

What about the reader and our emotional investment?  Just asking.

Decisions

 

My reading and my TV watching have converged on one subject: those brave public servants who have the courage to make difficult decisions and live with the consequences.  I'm reading Michael Lewis' book on the pandemic: Premonitions.  I've been a big fan of Michael Lewis starting with Moneyball.  I'm not finished with the book but so far I am fascinated with his coverage of one Public Health Administrator in California.  She is unsupported and underfunded, yet called upon to made unpopular decisions as drastic as forced evacuations.

The series Philly D.A. on PBS is riveting.  Larry Krasner, a former Public Defender, took over the District Attorney's Office.  He has been determined to change the culture of prosecutions.  What an enormous undertaking.  The series shows how it is met every step of the way with a chorus of naysayers.  The latest episode is about juveniles sentenced to life without parole.  A few years ago the Supreme Court ruled that the practice was unconstitutional based on scientific knowledge of the juvenile mind.  The current Court reversed that decision just a few weeks ago.

Larry Krasner is up for re-election.  We'll see.

Clean Windows

 

John Bachtell, my second favorite Communist (yes, Shelby, you're still No. 1), posted some pix of those brave heroes washing his windows.  It's Spring!  So, the men (so far it's only been men) will also be arriving soon outside my apartment on the 26th floor.

I am in awe of them swaying on their tiny slings.  They will even wave back with their free hand.  It reminds me of the famous photo of the men eating their lunch as they are perched on that slender beam above NY city miles below.

After 9/11 there was a wonderful story on NPR about the tribe of Indians from Canada who sent their members to build the twin towers.  I wonder if my window washers belong to a tribe or a family with an unusual set of genes.  Like the flying Walendas.

No matter.  That's not necessary.  They are wonderful.  I, and everyone who visits me, loves my glorious view. Made even more sparkling because of their amazing visits.

A Promise Finally Kept

 

President Biden's decision to call the massacre of Armenians a "genocide" brings to mind Bill's movie The Promise.  It was a dream of the billionaire Kirk Kerkorian who provided all of the financing.  You could call it his "promise" to the Armenian Community's campaign to secure genocide classification of the mass killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Turks.

I remember being in the car one day with Bill who said he really didn't know much about the massacre until he started producing the film.  I agreed.  

Kerkorian died a few years ago.  It's too bad he didn't live to see this day. I like to think the film helps keep the story alive.