Another quiet day

I got up fairly late after a very restless night punctuated with nightmares and, after breakfast, went to the library, where my laptop computer works (whereas here at the house, when I click on any file, a colored ball just spins forever). Strange doings! But at least it works somewhere!

I spent two hours writing notes on a cluster of letters between Shirley and myself written between March 2 and March 5, 1955. Then I sent notes and letters to Katie - a project that is now in its fifth year. It's been quite a revelation to us  both. These letters contain not only personal thoughts and feelings, but cultural references. For example, in one of them I refer to a film that I had arranged to have shown at my field work site, titled The Quiet One (1948). I had forgotten about this film, but In the letter, I wax enthusiastic about both the film and the reception it got. The audience was an entirely African-American group of parents and teens (except for me, of course), who were part of a group I had helped organize to deal with the problem of juvenile delinquency in a public housing project called Robert Brooks Homes - all under the auspices of the West Side Christian Parish, my field work assignment as a student at Chicago Theological Seminary. 

The film turns out to have been something of a classic. It is a semi-documentary about a disturbed ten-year-old African-American boy who is abandoned by his family and taken in by the Wiltwyck School, an Episcopal school for "delinquent" boys in Esopus, NY (Eleanor Roosevelt was a big supporter). The commentary and dialogue were written by James Agee (The African Queen, A Death in the Family), and the screenplay was nominated for an Academy Award. Amazingly, the entire film can be seen on YouTube. I would guess that from today's perspective, the story would probably be deemed patronizing and subtly racist. I hope to watch it and form an opinion. But back in 1955, I was pleased by what seemed to have been a successful evening. 

After getting these letters in the mail and doing a little shopping, I came back, took a little nap, and then played a little bit with Max and two neighbor girls who were having a good time in a camper trailer Paul has set up out in the driveway (visible in one of yesterday's photos). 

Later, Max read aloud to me from Look out kindergarten, here I come! by Nancy Carlson, part of a homework assignment. Max is a good reader!

Now we're waiting for supper and Max is snuggled next to me watching his Kindle.

                     Me and Max