Being Diggitt's musings on matters large and small: including but not limited to life as a Unitarian Universalist Min2B, inspired cooking, the earth and life sciences, living in the Mississippi River Valley, having roots in the Mahoning Valley and loving memories of the Hudson Valley and Chicago's Hyde Park (which has Lake Michigan but no river), photography, politics, and ethics ... and friends, family, and ferrets.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Detour >>>>>>>>>
One way
Chicago 790 miles
Meadville Lombard Theological School
New students this way
1978. Headed east. Everything I owned except one tall red oak desk I had to leave with friends because it made the old Ford van too heavy to handle. August. Over a hundred degrees. I got off the freeways a little early so I could swing by NU, my undergrad home Sp. '61. Then went up city streets.
Big mistake. Hit the housing projects in mid-afternoon. Menacing people on all sides -- men with nothing to do but stare. Little kids darting out between cars. I rolled up the windows and drove about five miles an hour. If I struck a child, I'd be torn apart.
Got to Hyde Park. No parking. Located Fleck House where my room was but had to park about seven blocks away. Staggered in to the M/L office just before closing and Kiyo Hashimoto, the secretary took me in both her hands. Then everything was all right.
How will you survive without Kiyo, I wonder?
When you walk out to the Point, watch for the little green parrots. I thought they were Martians at first.
Hi, I hope you'll like Hyde Park. My husband and I are friends of Lydia (It's how I found your blog), long-time Hyde Parkers, and we have friends who are graduates of Meadville Lombard.
The green parrots are monk parakeets, originally from Argentina, which have been feral in Hyde Park for almost thirty years. I don't mind 'em because they take up the niche of the Carolina parakeet, which was made extinct in the same way as the passenger pigeon.
Good luck.
Alessandra Kelley (an artist, married to Richard Garfinkle, a writer)
(By the way, Lydia's information is not supposed to be made public. She really emphasized the importance of this. If you think evildoers couldn't find this information ... well, I did, and I wasn't even trying very hard. I strongly recommend editing out that discussion of her location. -- Alessandra Kelley)
4 comments:
1978. Headed east. Everything I owned except one tall red oak desk I had to leave with friends because it made the old Ford van too heavy to handle. August. Over a hundred degrees. I got off the freeways a little early so I could swing by NU, my undergrad home Sp. '61. Then went up city streets.
Big mistake. Hit the housing projects in mid-afternoon. Menacing people on all sides -- men with nothing to do but stare. Little kids darting out between cars. I rolled up the windows and drove about five miles an hour. If I struck a child, I'd be torn apart.
Got to Hyde Park. No parking. Located Fleck House where my room was but had to park about seven blocks away. Staggered in to the M/L office just before closing and Kiyo Hashimoto, the secretary took me in both her hands. Then everything was all right.
How will you survive without Kiyo, I wonder?
When you walk out to the Point, watch for the little green parrots. I thought they were Martians at first.
Very best thoughts for a good year!
Prairie Mary
Hey, Diggit, we're dying to know how you're doing, out here in cyberspace with you at M/L. Fill us in soon!
Hi, I hope you'll like Hyde Park. My husband and I are friends of Lydia (It's how I found your blog), long-time Hyde Parkers, and we have friends who are graduates of Meadville Lombard.
The green parrots are monk parakeets, originally from Argentina, which have been feral in Hyde Park for almost thirty years. I don't mind 'em because they take up the niche of the Carolina parakeet, which was made extinct in the same way as the passenger pigeon.
Good luck.
Alessandra Kelley (an artist, married to Richard Garfinkle, a writer)
(By the way, Lydia's information is not supposed to be made public. She really emphasized the importance of this. If you think evildoers couldn't find this information ... well, I did, and I wasn't even trying very hard. I strongly recommend editing out that discussion of her location. -- Alessandra Kelley)
Post a Comment