During my lunch hour it is my habit to take a walk for a little bit regardless of the weather. If I have the time sometimes I’ll make the several block walk to the temporary library downtown that has been set up in an old Safeway store.
I like walking by Holy Family Cathedral. A huge Catholic facility that has an ancient feel to it. It has all sorts of side entrances and mysterious stairs. I’m into stuff like that.
I make my way over to Denver Avenue, home of the widest sidewalk in Tulsa.
Denver is home to some newish apartments. I say newish because they are new to me but have actually been there for over a decade I think. Long enough to need updating apparently. At work, a lot of our younger employees live downtown. The pattern is that they do it for a little while and then realize that they can get bigger apartments for less money away from downtown.
I wonder about this entrance. Why does the small structure take twelve columns to support it? It looks a bit unbalanced to me.
I pass by Plaza of the Americas. Today there were no spice addicts passed out here. This used to be a gathering place for them late in the day where they would wait for their connection to show up. Enough people have complained I guess that they have been dispersed. I know they found another spot.
And here I am!
The old Safeway store. I stop in and use the wifi for my Ipod and check Words With Friends and Instagram.
I really miss the big open grocery stores that Safeway used to have.
I’m a big fan of libraries. The new thing seems to be not oriented around books but focused on computers and internet access. Since most people have that at home now what you end up with for clients is pretty rough sometimes. Rough enough to have two security guards on duty who sometimes intercept people who appear to have been banned from the facility. The main library is undergoing a leisurely mostly unfunded renovation that will cost about fifty million dollars that will not be done until next year, if ever, and appears to continue the trend away from books toward computer terminals. I know that libraries are moving away from stacks of books toward other services but I’m wondering about the wisdom of making huge internet cafe’s where people do not feel totally safe.
Of course, not everybody is as cynical as me. Here is an interesting, if a little dated (2013) Infographic from Open-Site.Org on the future of libraries.
What do you think about libraries?
Just 69%. I find that a low number. Love the look, smell and feel of a room with books. Library=oasis.
Sometimes our branch library here the parking lot will be full and when I go in nobody else but me is in the book stacks. The computers and video sections are busy. Only If I go early in the day, are there other readers (spelled O L D people). So, yeah, I fear for the future of libraries as we knew them, but I think people will continue to need them in their evolved state. I can borrow books for my Kindle from the library we go to in Oregon BTW!
I love old churches – such history in each and every one, filled with prayers and worship. What is safeway btw?
Sorry that I didn’t explain. Safeway is a grocery store chain that is no longer active in Oklahoma.
I grew up hanging out at the library a lot. In college the reference library was indispensable. Of course this was pre-internet. I still like to read while holding a real book in my hands but wonder if future generations will even know what paper books are.