orange leaves

The peak of the season has hit Broad Street - not only orange, but also red, brown, green, yellow - a splay of color which might be usual to people around here but to us, from the desert, is really quite impressive.

We were living back in the mountains - we had lots of pines, and a few other things, I wouldn't call it a lack of color, but it was nothing like here. My daughter misses the steep hills that we had to drive every day to get anywhere. Mountain cliffs with a cliff running up to the right of the car, and shooting down into the valley to the left. More than one close call with the ice and the lack of four-wheel-drive. Deer and elk all over the place. To me, I miss it, but I'm relieved to have only a mile of brick street and orange leaves to get out to where I'm going.

The biggest benefit to us, frankly, is that our kids are in school. Out there in the mountains, once they fell out, and the small mountain-town school couldn't handle them, there was literally nowhere to go. Here, they can handle our kids. They've decided, they're ok, they can get along, they'll fit in.

I walk four dogs, most days, on streets near the intersection of Broad and Mary. Selden, Cedar, Cherry, Prairie, Losey, Grove, those kinds of streets. Lots of orange leaves and bricks all over the place. Lots of beautiful houses too. Some of the Victorians are incredibly well taken care of. Some are gorgeous houses, but not incredibly well taken care of. I get a pretty good view of it all - I have to pick up these dogs' poop, unfortunately, but aside from that it's really very nice out there on the streets of Galesburg's historic north end. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I don't actually prefer the suburbs.

Today we went out to Lake Storey and walked a while in the woods. It too was incredible, as it too is at its peak. The lake is incredibly low. But, being from New Mexico, we can tell you, "you don't know from dry." The mere fact that there was water, there was a heron, there were fish out there getting ready for winter - it gave me a good feeling. Back in the Midwest, we are adjusting to the climate, wondering, yes, what happened to all those floods they were complaining about earlier, wondering if we brought some kind of drought with us. I can't answer that. I'll bring pictures. I'll decorate this blog. It's all about Galesburg, and at the moment, I'm grateful that Galesburg saved our lives.

Famous Writers of Galesburg

A little while ago The Burg newspaper listed the ten most famous writers of Galesburg. I'm not sure if they listed Carl Sandburg but I'm sure they mentioned him; he's iconic and practically represents the town. But who else did they have? I've lost the article now, and I can't remember a single other name on it. Yes, the English professor at Knox; yes, a couple of other local luminaries. But I don't remember them.

I'm going to construct my own list, though, and that's because I'm genuinely curious about the writers like me who have chosen Galesburg as their home. I have been attending book signings at the Wordsmith but there, I've mostly met writers in the area who consider Wordsmith to be the best place to get some local recognition. From those I've learned that it's a rough life, going around peddling your books, and for the most part, I can't call any of them successful. At one that I attended, the place was virtually empty, both town and bookshop, and it was a Saturday afternoon. At another the bookshop was getting lots of business but the writer wasn't; people weren't interested in a book that he had spent a good portion of his life on.

From that and other experiences I've decided to not be in such a hurry to get out there and present myself as a writer, signing books myself, etc. What good is it if nobody shows up anyway? Here these poor people had prepared whole piles of hardback books with the intention of signing one after the other. And I can't say it was because they were poor writers; probably they were better than I am and their books, anyway, are impressive to me. I don't have a single hardback to my name, and am not even sure I can get Wordsmith to sponsor me.

My guess is that it's a sign of the times. Books are out of style; about half of their readership has gone online; people are in the habit of avoiding public situations. Kids, I've noticed, have been trained this way. Social distancing, stay away from people, etc.; for 65 years I was very social and a couple of years of pandemic didn't get me out of the habit. But other people, young people in particular, are just not ready to go up and talk to somebody about a book. Book? What's that? They may be feeling a little alienated.

It's a typical small town in lots of ways. I kind of like it; I've been thinking that 30,000, or whatever it stands at now, is about right for me. I'm baffled by a few things, like how it can have a single hardware store, that is closing no less, and nobody around to replace it or buy out what is clearly necessary. Some mysteries will just have to clear themselves up with time. But in the meantime, I'll keep a running list of writers, a list of my own, and report occasionally on them. Why not? You deserve to be informed.