Meeting An Old Friend For The First Time
Finally got to meet my friend Brian in person for the first time today. He’s a great guy, does a lot of important work at the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center, among other things. I met him while I was in prison, through the UC Books to Prisoners project, and they published a couple things I wrote in their IMC newspaper, The Public i, and in their 2005 Words Through Bars zine. He wrote me many kind letters and sent me many invaluable books that were much appreciated while I was in prison.
We met up for brunch at a fantastic little cafe in Chicago called the Heartland Cafe, in Rogers Park. The cafe has a nice selection of vegetarian fare, with radical politics on the side. They had an interesting Students for a Democratic Society comic show on display there, a graphic history of the SDS. It seems like whenever I wear this “Wanted For Mass Murder - The Bush Regime” t-shirt, someone always asks me if I’m going to Washington, D.C. for the March on Washington on September 15th. The lady at the counter at the cafe said she loved my shirt and asked if I was going there, and once again I had to say that I couldn’t leave the state because I just got out of prison. In any case, we had a nice meal and conversation there.
Then we headed downtown to the Newberry Library, where Brian is doing some important research for a book. Just outside the Newberry is Washington Square Park, also known as Bughouse Square, a site that’s historically famous for being a meeting place for the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W. - also known as “the Wobblies”) and others from the radical left in the early 1900’s.
So we had a chance to finally meet each other in person, and it was a wonderful day. On a side note, we also happened across the Scottish Rite Cathedral, which is right across from the park and the library. I tried to go inside, but it was closed, and they seemed to be doing some renovations. There was a side door open where they were bringing in some construction materials, but I just peeked inside, didn’t sneak in to explore 
Very interesting, though…
