The Power and Magic of the Public Library

 

DUKES FANS: 

 “Without libraries, what have we? We have no past and no future.” 

               Ray Bradbury, writer 

“A society-any society-is defined and measured by its set of mutual benefits and duties embodied most visibly in public institutions: public schools, public libraries, public transportation,.....” 

                     Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich 

"Nothing sickens me more than the closed door of a library." 
                 Historian Barbara Tuchman


IT IS APRIL: 

     One of the things I love about April is that it is a month of wonderful bloomings and becomings that mean a lot to me. Despite the grey and rainy skies of this week so far, many of the trees and plants are blooming. Rosebuds, cherry trees, daffodils, tulips and more are standing bright against the grey, and bringing colors to our attention on streets, yards, and in planters. April is also a month of numerous celebrations, including ones for some important things that we need to be reminded of and that need coming into view. Yes, April has plenty of "silly" and odd celebrations: National Ferret Day, National Unicorn Day, National Cheese Fondue Day, National Licorice Day, and several other days and weeks that are either cute or just "weird. "But it also has observations that to me matter a lot and that I hope we can all pay attention to: National Autism Awareness and Acceptance Day, National Sexual Assault Awareness Month, National Child Abuse Awareness Month, National Earth Month, and more that speak to Robert Reich's old style notion of a society that involves citizens working together and looking out for and helping each other. Two of the most important of those type of observances to me are National Library Week and National Library Workers Day. 

  I am a library guy. People who know me and/or read this newsletter know that books, libraries, museums and such are things that have been big part of my life since my childhood, and that they have helped me become the person I am today. I got my first Philadelphia Free Library card when I was in 2nd grade, and over sixty five years later, I still have, and regularly use one. When my wife and I retired in 2015 she re-opened a public-school library at the Kelly School in Germantown. I volunteered there, and it is still going strong. So libraries matter to me, especially public ones. 

 Whenever I go out of town for more than two or three days, I guarantee that parts of at least one of those days will be spent in a library. On numerous camping trips my wife and I visited libraries in Kent County, MD, Kingston, ON, Buffalo, Little Falls, and Alexandria Bay, NY, and many, many others. Public libraries are, to me, one of the best expressions of any civilization and any culture, for in theory, they open up the world to all of its citizens and they offer the opportunity for each of them to become something and someone they probably would not be otherwise. They can help us each become, in part, the authors of our own stories.  

 
  Public libraries were where I first discovered many authors, artists, and musicians that I have come to love and think of as life-long friends. I would read the names of writers, musicians and songwriters in newspapers, magazines, in books, on book jackets, or on recordings. I would then go to the library to read them or hear them, and a new love affair would start. Maps, art history, poetry, history-whatever I became interested in, the library was there with materials and, very importantly, librarians who helped me delve into and encounter new ideas and ways of thinking about and viewing the world. That continues today. I regularly donate to the Philadelphia and New York City public libraries, for libraries and their workers have been quiet mainstays of my life.  

  The library is often one of those things that people tend to take for granted, but it is often one of the very first institutions to positively respond to the things going on in society. It almost always interacts with us in powerful and supportive ways. Nothing proves that more than how they have responded to the COVID pandemic over the last three years. They have found ways to allow people to reserve, borrow and return books and materials, even if they were not open.  They have provided numerous Zoom and streaming Meet the Author Events, classes, webinars, storytelling sessions, and more. They have increased links to online reference books, movies, and articles. They have found ways to maintain important special interactions with public schools and they have provided special educational resources for kids who are being home-schooled. How they have adapted to and kept themselves available for use during this crazy time has been nothing short of remarkable. They have found ways to be there; ways to keep helping us find things, explore, and learn. 

    Libraries are, to me, one of the greatest institutions we have in our civilization. All civilizations have had them, going way back to ancient times, and a lot of those cultures often judged the worth of their civilizations, in part, on the size, variety and number of holdings their libraries had. Yes, due to inadequate funding and the pandemic, the number of buildings and the hours of current library systems have been reduced, particularly in cities. Still, they have managed to add computers, ebooks, homework clubs, digital platforms, after-school programs, English learning classes, tax help, help in looking for a job and much, much more. They are still treasures.


   I am thinking about this now as the news is full of accounts of attempts by politicians to limit what people, particularly teens and young students, have access to and can learn and hear about. Books in some places are being banned and removed from school and public libraries. This type of censorship is not new or unique to the United States. But it has been some decades since it has been as upfront and widespread as it is now.  One of the unfortunate things that all authoritarian rule does is try to seize control of and change institutions-limiting what they can be and changing what they do and how they do it. We should have learned from our experiment with prohibition; banning liquor didn't stop people drinking, and worse things followed in prohibition’s wake. But throughout history civilizations often repeat their mistakes. And we are doing that again. 

    If you have been positively affected by the library and/or if your kids have had important experiences there, I urge you to donate to your local library and to take a role in helping them fight the political winds that are turning curiosity and learning into political hand grenades. Let’s celebrate National Library Week and Library Workers Day by showing how much they mean to you. They need us now, and we have to be part of Robert Reich’s mutual support so that we continue to have a full past and a variety of possible futures. 

To donate to the Philadelphia Free Library: 

https://libwww.freelibrary.org/support/ways-to-give/ 

 

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Transitions: The Only Thing Constant in Life is Change

 

DUKES FANS:  

“Look on every exit as being an entrance somewhere else.”   
― Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead  

“Leaves are verbs that conjugate the seasons.”   

― Gretel Ehrlich, The Solace of Open Spaces  

“We must live in the radiance of tomorrow, as our ancestors have suggested in their tales. For what is yet to come- tomorrow has possibilities, and we must think of it... That will be our strength. That has always been our strength.”   

― Ishmael Beah, Radiance of Tomorrow  

“There is only one real constant in life, and that is change”  

-Anonymous  

The last couple of weeks have had a few days that have been gorgeous and truly spring-like. And on those days, I have enjoyed walking around this city. I have walked some of my favorite streets, seen some of my favorite alleys, stood at some of my favorite corners, and stood before some of my favorite trees, bushes, and plants. Tulips and daffodils, rosebuds and cherry trees, Japanese maples, plants in window boxes. Everywhere things are bursting, blooming, and coming forth. We are in that glorious time of early spring, and the magic of transition is all around us. We humans have always recognized that and responded in real world and symbolic ways to it, and this week highlights that.   

The transitions of nature are the basis for much of our societal beliefs and practices. The transition seen in early to mid-spring has always been a time for some of the most important religious and spiritual observances in human history. In ancient days people marked the arrival and gradual unveiling of spring with festivals, sacred plantings, symbolic marriages and other rituals that reflected the important transitions that were happening in the world around them. Themes of rebirth, growth, sexuality, change and fertility would be acted out and honored in different locations all around the world at this time. In Sumer, the first civilization, the celebrations that coincided with spring marked the return of Dumuzi, the God of Death and Life, from the Underworld to join with the Goddess of Life, Ianna. And in their joining, the world was re-born. In ancient Egypt, Isis, the Goddess of healing and well-being, brought Osiris, the main god of their pantheon, back to life twice, once up from the underworld, and again by piecing his body back together after it was chopped up and scattered bu hi jealous brother. She was celebrated in spring with a boatload of symbolic flowers being floated on the Nile, the river that gave Egypt life. The Yoruba in West Africa also celebrated a goddess connected to the seas as well as the Divine king thought to have been the creator of the Yoruba people.  Early cultures also built huge structures around the world in places such as Stonehenge in England, the Mnajdra Temples in Malta, and Angkor Wat in Cambodia, that were oriented toward the sun. This was so the community would know when to acknowledge, give thanks, and celebrate the earth coming back to life. Noticing these transitions, then, is a universal and necessary thing we humans have always done.  

The religious celebrations we are most familiar with- Judaism, Islam, Christianly, Buddhism and Hinduism- also have rituals and beliefs at this time of the year that likewise deal with transition, rebirth, and creation. Ramadan is a month of celebrating the revelation of the Quarn, which is the birth of Islamic belief and tradition. This is both internal and external-daytime fasting, a ritual evening meal, doing extra prayer and reading of the Quran, and being with family and neighbors, celebrating the community’s existence. Passover likewise celebrates both the Jewish culture’s birth, and the religion’s later birth. It also involves symbolic eating, family and community. Easter is clearly about rebirth and creation as it celebrates both the emergence of the Divine from death and the birth of a new religion. Buddhism has several mid-spring observances, depending on one’s branch, that celebrate the birth and death of the Buddha, Viisak Puja in May, and the formation of the first approved Buddhist Assembly, Magha Puja Day. Whatever the culture or belief, then, we humans find ways to reflect the world’s and life's ongoing transitions and cycles. Even if we are secular, we can always look at the symbolic meanings of spring cleaning and new wardrobes.  

I love the way nature works in cycles and transitions. They are what a friend calls, “constantly different similarities”- things that are both different and the same simultaneously. The coming of spring each year brings me new joy, new awareness, and new connections to the world around me, even though I have been through the arrival of spring numerous times. It is both constant and different, and noticing that helps me feel more connected to the universe. However you observe this process, I hope it is both a joyous and a meaningful one for you. And I hope paying attention to it can lead to some peace and understanding in this troubled time in this troubled world.  

Two TraIns Running

 

DUKES FANS:  
“Well there’s two; two trains running...” Muddy Waters and others 

I first heard Al Wilson play harmonica on the great 1965 Son House album, Father of the Folk Blues. I loved his tone, phrasing and smooth way of working in and out of Son’s playing and singing. I next came upon Al Wilson in about 1970 playing in a band named after one of my favorite country blues songs, Canned Heat. The guitarist in that band was Henry Vestine, one of my favorite guitarists, and I had several of their LP’s. I loved that band. At the same time, I was also listening regularly to Gene Shay’s long running Sunday folk music show, at that time on WRTI, and I was familiar with the incredible rhythmic and strange guitar work of a man named John Fahey. And I had seen Howling Wolf on Shindig with the Rolling Stones and decided that I wanted to be a blues musician.  

These things were all happening when I was a teenager, and they all had a role in helping me develop into the musician I am now. I was getting more and more into music at that time, going to the many coffeehouses in the Philadelphia area and hanging out in Rittenhouse Square and jamming with countless great Philadelphia musicians. At coffeehouses, and even at my high school, I also got to see Son House and Canned Heat live as well as Skip James, Mississippi John Hurt, Sleepy John Estes, Rev. Gary Davis, and many more in person. At the time I was drinking all of this in, though, I had no idea of all that had to have happened so that all of these old musicians, who had last recorded in the 1930’s, were there in front of me and on records again. I went to festivals, met some of these great players, and even got to play and jam with many of them. But I didn’t get the whole story of how they were re-discovered until 5 years ago when I saw the amazing film, Two Trains Running at the Ritz Bourse. And what a story it was. 

Two Trains Running tells the story of young white college students who set out in 1963 on quests to try and find Son House and Skip James, musicians they had only heard on scratchy old 78 records and folk music anthology LP’s. Totally separately, Phil Spiro, Dick Waterman, and Nick Perls, from MA, and John Fahey and Henry Vestine from CA set out on long journeys through rural Mississippi and Tennesse to find these performers. This documentary takes us along for the ride. We get to see some of their interactions with the people they met, some of the blind spots they hit, the ways they had to improvise, how they had to allow things to happen, and their incredible dedication to the mission that kept them going. We get to see what they had to do and go through to enable me to hear and see so many of these incredible musicians as I was becoming a musician. 

This all happened in 1963 and 1964 in the South, just as the Civil Rights Movement was heating up and starting to gain national attention. This was the time of Freedom Schools, marches, and voter registration drives,  and there was violence and danger all around. It was a time of deep challenge and change on so many levels, social and political as well as musical, and the film does an excellent job of setting the search for these musicians in the context of those times. There are wonderful interviews with Civil Rights workers and powerful news footage from the time. It is a powerful reminder of what it can take to produce societal change and how very little happens in isolation in a society, 

Two Trains Running is an incredibly powerful and moving documentary. With interviews, live action, animation and plenty of music, it pays tribute to so many people and so many things that came together at a precise point in time to change us as a nation, both musically and otherwise. It is a film I have seen several times and will probably watch some more. It is available on Amazon Prime. You can also look up many of the people mentioned and associated with the film via Wikipedia and the web in general. I urge you to see it; it will affect you in very deep ways.