Yesterday I went downtown for the first time in weeks.
I knew the Government Center, above, had been barricaded with concrete, chain link, and barbed-wire for the trial of Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd. Seeing it was something else though.
I felt thumped with the sense of being inside History As She Is Made.
I knew the Government Center, above, had been barricaded with concrete, chain link, and barbed-wire for the trial of Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd. Seeing it was something else though.
I felt thumped with the sense of being inside History As She Is Made.
BELOW: Signs stay up for a brief time before they get taken down.
The above sign is clear. "The whole damn system is guilty as hell."
The below sign, above the toilet in Whole Foods, is confusing.
I mean, what's a foreign object, where toilets are concerned? Usually that means menstrual pads and tampons, but since those are "hygienic products", is it really okay to flush them in this toilet?
With another pustulous white boy going on a murder rampage, killing Asian American women this time, I mostly felt numb, with just a muffled sense of horror getting through, like thunder in the far distance.
I went to get take-out at a downtown coffee shop Penny's––Penny Cooper's favorite––and it had closed.
And that's when I felt a flood of grief and loss and fear, and rage at our stupidity.
Sometimes the feelings come only with the smaller, more digestible events.
Weirdly, my afternoon out ended on a happy note.
I dropped off neighborhood coffee-shop gift cards to the librarians in my newly reopened branch library.
They seemed very pleased.
In an emotionally remote way, I'm pleased too.
You can't sit in the library, of course, but you can go in and browse, and also RETURN YOUR OVERDUE BOOKS. After a year.
No fines.
Sometimes we get things right.
You can't sit in the library, of course, but you can go in and browse, and also RETURN YOUR OVERDUE BOOKS. After a year.
No fines.
Sometimes we get things right.
Many years ago I found a book which I had checked out of the library 5 years earlier when it became lost. The fun part was I found it, in excellent condition, almost to the day of it's return date, year not considered. I returned it and paid a few cents overdue book charge. The person who took it back did not note the year it had been due and I had already paid for the cost of the book when I lost it.
ReplyDeleteMade me smile. My introspective humor. I need to share this with Steve Reed.
Tom
I don’t understand the “foreign objects” signage. Do they get a lot of old-time professional wrestlers in that Whole Foods? Because that’s the world that comes to my mind when I hear “foreign object.”
ReplyDeleteWhat a good citizen! Gift cards for librarians! Brilliant. I lost any hope for the human species long ago, now I'm just along for the ride and the world of girlettes. Your town has certainly been through some horror! If that little prick does not spend the rest of his life bending over in prison , justice will not have been served.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I must say that you have saved me from total despair with the jolly and helpful world of the girlettes!
Well done on the librarians' gifts!
ReplyDeletePity that the cafe had closed...so many good ones will have done.
Dang! I'm sorry to hear about Penny's. It's such a nice location, I can't help but feel someone will take it over once more workers start going back downtown.
ReplyDeleteI can think of lots of foreign objects that get flushed down toilets...at stores, most notably packaging that's torn off shoplifted items. Didn't your store have a problem with that? Or was someone else telling me about it?
Of course there's always traditional goldfish flushing...but probably not at Whole Foods.
Nice of you to give the gift cards to the librarians. You're so thoughtful!
I have a friend who bicycles to work in DC. During inauguration week he sent me close up and personal shots of the security going up on the mall. He was riding his bicycle behind fences, but not behind the second barrier, because his wife would kill him if anything happened. Anyway, he told me he was in living history and had no intention of missing it.
ReplyDeleteGood on you for recognizing the librarians.
That's a bug fat NO on the flushing, toilets are made only for the three Ps, pee, poo and paper. Even flushable wipes shouldn't be flushed, they simply don't break down like toilet paper does.
ReplyDeleteIs your favourite coffee shop permanently closed or just for a while?
Glad the library is open again.
Oh boy, do I identify with the librarians coping that that flood of long-overdue material! At our school library, we still have tons of books checked out from LAST spring.
ReplyDeleteThat IS a weird sign from Whole Foods. I assume they just mean toilet paper, but why they would say "hygienic products" rather than "toilet paper" is a mystery -- because you're right, "hygienic products" implies much more.
The top photo reminds me of a post-apocalyptic scene out of "The Walking Dead" -- probably just because we're watching it at the moment.
ReplyDeleteMICHAEL: What's the connection between old style wrestling and "foreign objects"?
LINDA SUE: Yes, that's what my coworkers say--nothing less than a full guilty verdict will count as justice.
I doubt that will happen. (I'm guessing some lesser charge will stick--"went a bit too far there, buddy".)
I'm buckling my seat belt for a bumpy ride ahead...
GZ: Thanks--and yes, it's going to be a changed landscape when everything reopens--lots of gaps.
It's sad because it's often the quirky little places that couldn't survive, not, of course, the monsters like Amazon.
BINK" Penny's location is the best!
I hope something goes in there--or maybe they really will reopen--I think their other branches are open?
(Hm. Not sure now.)
Yes, for sure, "foreign objects" in the thrift store toilets is a problem!--I just thought that term would include diapers and kotex and the like too.
It seems like Whole Foods is saying it's okay to flush those, since they're "hygienic products".
JOANNE: " he told me he was in living history and had no intention of missing it."
That's it!
Sometimes I want to ignore it (not that that's possible), but mostly I want to at least bear witness--"Hey, folks, this is happening."
RIVER: Right on the 3 P's, I don't know why the sign wasn't more clear about that!
I hope the coffee shop will reopen---cannot tell for sure. Their furniture was still in there---and dying plants (always makes me sad).
STEVE: Oh, yeah--the Walking Dead is like an extension of or practice for the days to come...
I think that's what all zombie stories are---metaphors for our current world or our fears of the future.