All who know his shop call him Harry, though shop called “Nelson’s Books.” Dmitri call own boss Harry, only because he ask to do so. Not mathematician, Dmitri have counted hairs left on Harry’s head so many time that sure: three left, very long, most carefully arrangéd in halo formation, and quite right so, for […]
Sitting in tavern on South Wabash, look up, see on television set one very, very ugly man, black man with great growth on forehead, huge shoulder, neck. Think, another show about black criminal everyone fear here. No. Grotesque black giant open mouth and Dmitri expect curse, but instead sing. With voice that angel if were
At lunch today, took stroll in Grant Park, in rain so gentle nearly hover, coat open to almost warm that now for three days bless this February. Much dirty snow have percolated into ground, revealing umber shingles leaves and flatted grass already perking, like boy hair in bed at dawn. And what rich smell of
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Forward Dmitri Ashkanov first crossed my path in the early 1990s at Nelson’s Books where he worked as a clerk. For a couple of years, we spent a fair amount of time together, in the bookstore and in the taverns and coffee shops down around van Buren. Dmitri didn’t bother with personal resumes when he
In the basement of the last Furr’s Cafeteria in America, the heads of Microsoft, Apple, Google and Facebook meet each September 8 with leaders of the two main political parties, presidents of major corporations and advertising agencies, and a rotating cast of foreign enemies and enemy domestic celebrities. Their long-term goal is the eradication of
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Since 1903, Emma Lazarus’ poem “The New Colossus” has been displayed inside the Statue of Liberty. My generation was raised to be proud that our country welcomed tired, poor, huddled masses to our shores. We were required to commit the poem to memory, as a kind of summary of what America meant. In case it
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