Although I went to the Newberry Library today, traveling on the trains and buses were more memorable. The Newberry Library is located near the Gold Coast neighborhood of Chicago. It is an independently funded library that is open to the public. Their collection consists of materials related to history and the humanities. Anyone can do research there, you just have to present your reasons and the topic of your research. They get alot of individuals doing genealogy research. I took the tour, which consisted of a senior citizen who told the story of Walter Newberry and looked like she was going to fall asleep, after every 2-3 sentences. She also walked us around and showed us how the building has changed over time and where the different departments were. It's a neat place, I might go back to check out their collection on Chicago history.
On my way there, I took the commuter train to the Randolph Street station (across the street from Millennium Park). The Randolph station looked like an airport terminal, with the restaurants and bright lights and clean public restrooms. It was a hub for connecting to bus and train lines in the city. From there I had to take the Red line to Chicago Ave, and walk to the library. I had a few hours to kill before the tour, so I had some lunch at the Corner Bakery and window shopped at the Water Tower mall. To get home, I had to take the Red Line to Roosevelt, then the Green Line to Garfield, and the #55 bus to my street. I had been avoiding the Green Line because my roommate said it was dangerous, but I have come to think that she might have been a bit dramatic. Granted, people get shot in Chicago. A lot of these crimes happen on the Southside. The Green Line runs through the Southside. However, plenty of good people live on the Southside and ride the Green Line, plus I was giving it a try at 4:30 in the afternoon, hopefully the hoodlums are still at home. At any rate, the ride was fine. I overheard an intense, multi-generational debate about the impact of prison on Black males and their communities. These men were breaking it down, so that it could forever and consistently be broke. The "man" was in the business of "mind control" and they pay millions of dollars to imprison or keep "the proud black man" down. I think they are starting a book club, starting with the Malcolm X biography, and meeting on the train again next week.
