What follows is a combination of some thoughts and images from my visit last week to the TRB conference in the nation’s capital, which had to cope with some unseasonable winter weather while preparing for a monumental change due to the new administration that will take over next week.
Yes, I could use this space to offer thoughts on where the nation may be heading, but I’ll save those posts for another time. What the images and captions that follow do demonstrate is that Washington — an amazing city which contains the very foundation of our democracy — is a way cool place to visit. Yes, even after a snowfall.
The rare snowfall January 6 and 7 resulted in reduced traffic here along K Street across from Franklin Park. The scene is more akin to a northern city rather than Washington, but still beautiful and serene.Historic St. John’s Church is a short walk from my hotel. On my recent visit, I noticed this plaque on the back pew along the far right. Yes, I sat there for a while. Another compelling moment while in St. John’s Church: Someone played the pipe organ, filling the small church with beautiful and powerful music — just for me. With the Washington Monument in the distance and the U.S. Treasury on the right, I had this evening vision of a major thoroughfare in the nation’s capitol to myself.Much of Lafayette Square across from the White House was cordoned off as workers prepared for the January 20 presidential inaugural. A little snow wasn’t going to stop the construction work. And, the White House was open to visitors. On a bright, sunny morning, the Washington Monument stood majestically. Walkways were cleared of snow, testimony to the efficiency of the men and women responsible for providing access to our great public spaces across the District. One presentation that’s on my must attend list: The TRB awards for recognizing excellence in Communicating Concepts with the Public. This year’s top awards focused on programs that addressed safety in transportation.As I’ve noted often, one great benefit of my current position is the opportunity to meet and work with tremendous people from all over the world. My friend Dr. Takanori Sakai is one of those people.The giant TRB letters in the Washington Convention Center main lobby offered an ideal photo platform. For some reason, I found this rear view more captivating. Looking down Pennsylvania Avenue, the U.S. Capitol stands in the distance and flags were at half staff in respect of the recent passing of the 39th President of the United States. One excellent temporary exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery featured compelling black and white images of Hollywood movie stars from a bygone era. Okay, who is this blond bombshell?In the Presidential Portraits room at the National Portrait Gallery, purple bunting draped across the portrait of the late Jimmy Carter. History has shown that regardless of how he was viewed as a president, his life was one of honor, service and dedication.
Perhaps it’s somewhat ironic that the following post, which contains ten images and captions but just a few paragraphs as a narrative, centers on a place here in Chicago that honors and celebrates those who are recognized for their role in literature of all types. Perhaps there should be lots more words.
And, perhaps referring to these authors as “men and women of letters” is a trifle outdated and more appropriate for decades past — certainly in this digitally-driven place and time. But from this perspective, we still employ letters to construct words, sentences and paragraphs, despite the growing proliferation of emojis, images, and video in communications today.
So, without further ado (a phrase that emerged from another era), here’s the background. On April 4, I had the pleasure of attending “Ink + Impact,” a social gathering and casual discussion hosted by the Better Government Association. The theme of the conversation was “A Celebration of Journalism,” and while I didn’t take notes, one topic addressed certainly resonated: The continued dramatic loss of newspapers, especially in rural parts of the nation, and its impact on modern society across America. The BGA team recorded the conversation, which you can access from this link.
(The decline of newspapers certainly has been prevalent in recent years, and it was addressed in this space with a post published in February of 2023.)
But it was The American Writers Museum, the venue for the BGA evening event, that I focus on below. Full disclosure: I had not previously visited the museum, even though I certainly knew of its existence and its location in a vintage office building on North Michigan Avenue. Plus, a friend who works there gave me a comp admission pass a few years ago! As a “writer” of sorts, I should have made multiple pilgrimages over the years. Rest assured, I will return.
In the interim, please enjoy this “travelogue” to honor those Americans committed to the written word.
The “Ink + Impact” event drew a capacity crowd for the discussion on the state of journalism and access to the Museum.
Not much to add to the message on this panel; to employ a cliché — it speaks volumes.
One of the many way cool features of the Museum: An interactive display that provides a blueprint of sorts on how literature is made. Somewhat fitting that a copy of the masterful prose poem by one of Chicago’s most revered writers — one who maintained he never received the respect he deserved — was found in a somewhat disheveled conditioned. Both Chicago icons from the same era. We received the Chicago Sun-Times while I was growing up, so I certainly was familiar with Ann Landers. And, back in the 1980s, while working at a PR firm located in the 303 E. Wacker Dr. office building, I shared an elevator ride with Studs Terkel; I was somewhat stunned and could only say, “Hello.”Next to Nelson Algren, Bellow is my favorite Chicago author. Like Algren, he set many of his fictional works in and around Chicago. One commonality between Algren, Bellow and myself: We all lived for a time in or around the former Eastern European immigrant enclave of what’s defined by the city as West Town. This display features the tool many writers employed since its invention some 150 years ago. Those of us who used to compose on a typewriter — whether in a noisy newsroom or alone — can perhaps still hear the somewhat symphonic sounds.This main gallery features interactive profiles on American writers representing all genres and spanning the early years of the nation to today. Well said. And, let me add from cities and towns from north to south, from east to west and everywhere in between. This colorful display highlights a current exhibit, “Dark Testament: A Century of Black Writers on Justice,” housed in the Meijer Gallery and Roberta Rubin Writers Room. (Try to say that last name fast five times!)
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