A Moment of Grace by Susan Van Kirk

A Moment of Grace by Susan Van Kirk. Writers Who Kill blog. https://writerswhokill.blogspot.com/2023/05/a-moment-of-grace-by-susan-van-kirk.html.

Thought I'd point this out since it's not every day that a good writer puts out a potent memory of Galesburg way back. I didn't grow up around here, so I have no point of reference - all I have is the modern library and the one I see going up and almost finished. It's interesting how libraries can be so many things to so many people.

It's also interesting how, though so much of the world's reading and information retrieval has gone online, libraries have apparently been able to maintain a crucial role in today's culture and world. I hope they stay that way!

Read this; it's a good picture of Galesburg.

Downtown

I set out walking for downtown today to go to a couple of events. the Big Write reception and the Wordsmith Bookshoppe's celebration of Independent Bookstore Day.

It was a cold, blustery day - it seems to me it's been a long, cold spring - but walking is pleasant as my route takes me down North Broad and through the loop to the llibrary. I got to look at the Carl Sandburg and dog statue, and all the trees were blooming. There was no train anywhere in sight.

In the library the second floor room had lots of chairs set out and there were twenty-four people, more or less, including me, there. Most either had won something or was family of someone who had. I on the other hand had entered a story, and it hadn't won, so I was eager to hear the winners to see what one had to do.

The library woman explained how the judges were independent volunteers. They had cookies and lemonade and I ate a cookie. I was disappointed that my hearing aids weren't working that well and I had trouble with several of the readings, as there was too much echo and not enough clarity. If I had sat right up front I might have been able to read lips, but I didn't really want to sit up front.

They said that the Big Write entries were put into a publication which they would make available, but it might have mature content. In fact, one of the high schoolers who had pink hair mentioned that her reading would have mature content - at least that's what I think she said, because a group of people just walked out when she said it, and returned when her reading was over. I wasn't sure about what exactly her reading had, though I know it had geno/sui/cide in it and that enough was probably objectionable to some. What's the point if you can't be a little edgy? I thought it was good although I didn't quite understand everything that was going on.

Most contestants got a certificate of their winning and I think some money exchanged hands too. I was disappointed not to win, but my attitude is this: the money is encouragement to keep writing, and I don't need encouragement; I'm going to write anyway. So if it actually works to make someone feel good, I'll find my own money to keep going. Except that, in fact, I do get discouraged sometimes.

The Adult Short Story winner was an older guy with a hat and a story about a Christmas letter. His voice was louder than the rest and he clearly had good humor as people laughed at his jokes. I however still had trouble hearing it exactly. It reminded me that I still spend so much time in my own chair, with a wife who speaks right into my face, that I don't have enough experience out in the world where I should know I have to move right up to the front to get anything out of it.

After it was over I walked the two blocks to the bookstore, and I was grateful to have a town whose downtown is so big you can be a street or two off the main drag and still be in the downtown. It's a pleasant place, actually, and there are bar neighborhoods. There's clearly plenty of alcohol happening on top of the other things downtowns have. These are not really the days of downtowns, what with covid and all, and a shrinking population, but to me I was in a big city and I kind of liked the traffic, the action, the many different things going on. Some buildings were clearly vacant. Sometimes, I'm sure, it's absolutely empty, and that's not a good feeling. But today it was feeling lively.

The bookstore had some giveaways and lots of sales but I wasn't in a buying mood. I picked up a souvenir pencil and set out for home, this time along Prairie Street. The wind was so stiff I had to hold my hat or I'd lose it. The houses on Prairie Street are quite nice, though, and there's lots of green grass and flowers. I was home to my chair soon enough.

If you're a writer you have to get out and experience the writer's life. I was somewhat quiet - nobody knew who I was. Next year I'll win the darn thing, that is, if I see it coming around.

4-14 accident

A lot of excitement transpired more or less right outside my house today, as a van hit another car and flipped entirely over, about two houses north of mine on North Broad. Those of you who know Galesburg will already know now where I live, as it seems all of Galesburg was out there to watch as they towed the cars away.

I asked someone how it happened, but they didn't know much more than I could see. I could see the right side of a small red car banged up; that car had actually been pushed up into a drivewayy y so it was more or less off the road. It had been pushed about a car-width off the road, in other words, and right near it, in the middle of the road, was the van, resting on its roof. One could see that it wasn't entirely crushed; banged up a little, but not crushed.

The people I talked to confirmed that the driver of the van was not seriously injured but was taken in anyway by an emergency vehicle. That's a relief. I hate people dying or getting mangled on my street.

But still, the question is, how do you flip a van right in the middle of a city street?

I guess the answer to that must be that he/she was going way too fast. I can't imagine, myself, how it could have played out, such that the small red car just moved straight off the road (still facing the same direction, but probably forward or back, since it was in a driveway) with bang-up marks on its side, whereas the van was right near it but still in the road.

Guess I'll read about it in the news. I commend the Galesburg Fire & EMT for all being there and being right on top of it, literally. I'm impressed at how the town workds.

A couple of Facebook sites

Much as I love Galesburg, I know that the secret to living in a small town where you see the same things every day, is to find escapes, mentally at least, and go around the world. I lived happily in Carbondale for eighteen years mainly because my international students brought me fresh perspectives every day, and ways of looking at things that I wouldn't ordinarily dream of. It's in that spirit that I bring you two sites that I really enjoy. The more I like their posts, the more I keep seeing them in my feed, and that's sustaining me these days.

The first is "view from my window." I got about ten or a dozen views from various people's front windows tonight, so I got a tour around the world. Europe, India, Hong Kong, various places. I find it amazing that some people live downtown in huge cities, while others live so far out there that they can't move in a good snowstorm. You get them all here. And that's right: I plan to put Galesburg on it. Why not? I'll have to take a good photo from my window, which is basically Broad Street, but I think it'll do fine. It's not Alaska, or Norway, or Hong Kong, but it's different. Well, different from those anyway. I like it here, and I'm happy. Why not show it?

The second one is "Walk 50 miles with your dog in March". It is a fundraiser for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention; you couldn't find a better cause. But what's cool about it is the same as the last one: you see people from all over, every day. Alaska, Montana, Nevada, you name it. But they're always happy, and their dogs are clearly happy too. Nothing's happier than a dog that just went on a two or three-mile hike. You can just see it in their faces.

Now I haven't joined them, or given them money, or asked my friends to do so, but I could very easily because as I said, it's a totally worthy cause. My dogs are happy. Not tonight; it was too cold, and I stayed in. But most nights, I give them each about a mile so I could easily get 50 total for March if I could count all three of them. And same, I wouldn't mind sharing my picture. Me with a happy smile, any of the three dogs, happy as they are. Maybe I could pose in front of the spirituality.com sign on Broad and Losey.

It helps, sometimes, when you're feeling a little confined (I don't get out to the woods enough), to just have some cool stuff in your feed.