On Saturday I did something I haven't done in (at least) 15 months, and it's not something most people craved after enduring the pandemic: going to a restaurant, going to a concert, attending a party, although all of those were nice to experience. I went to a library, which is now fully open, and yup, as expected the books were all still there, waiting for me. MJ and I went to Barnes and Noble earlier, and yes the aesthetics are more pleasing at a bookstore, it smells nice, with good spots to sit and read and the space is more roomy, the music makes you want to buy at a bookstore, but a library still has quaint qualities about it. MJ doesn't like libraries (other than digital libraries so she doesn't have to go in one) because of this one traumatic experience she had of opening up a library book one time and there being a dead bug in it. I personally find that as library patronage has dropped off in the digital age, books tend to become newer and in better condition because less people have checked them out......people don't read, and so I'm essentially checking out a new or newish book. Encyclopedias, new releases, foreign language books, graphic novels, the deeper I go into a library the more I feel like I'm entering into a different world, like the kids from the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe crossing over into Narnia. There's also the periodicals section, which is a veritable treasure trove of up-to-date magazines and newspapers: Wall Street Journal, L.A. Times, Time Magazine, all updated and ready for me to peruse. There's really nothing like sitting down on a couch free of pressure of having to buy like at a bookstore.
I've gone over my nostalgia for newspapers before, how I used to pick up the newspaper from the driveway rain or shine (a lot of times it'd rain in suburban Chicago, or even snow) and pull it out of its cover ready to decour all the contents. Back then I was a little too into sports, choosing to check the scores of last night's baseball games or get the best sports headlines right away rather than business news (STOCKS!) or world/ current news.
Nowadays, though, newspapers represent one additional aspect to me: a bond to my 95-year-old grandpa, who still lives with my grandparents. He still gets the World Journal, which might sound odd for non-Mandarin speakers, but it's essentially the main Chinese-language newspaper in the U.S., or at least in Southern California where my parents live. I gotta say the World Journal does not lack for up-to-date reporting, even in a digital world, getting top headlines that just happened into the next morning's paper, with different sections like local news, business news, etc. My grandpa spends hours reading the paper every day, as he has done for the last 30 years, ever since he came with me from China. But in the last decade, I've grown accustomed to reading the Chinese newspaper with him, asking him vocabulary words I'm not familiar with. It's a mutually beneficial relationship: I get to learn new words and phrases while learning about the news, while my grandpa gets to show off the depth of knowledge of Chinese culture and Chinese history and also Chinese etymology. I don't think I've ever really stumped him with any words in the newspaper, except maybe new online-based words that have developed in the last 10 years. And even those he has some idea of what they may mean. He is a profoundly useful resource, and I make sure not to waste it when I come visit my parents. It's also a great way to bond with my grandpa who hasn't had much company except my parents ever since the pandemic shut everything down; he hasn't been able to visit the senior citizens activity center that he used to go to. He doesn't act like it's a big deal or complain about it, but we can tell he's itching to go and reconnecting with everyone,just like we all are itching to see our friends. My grandpa also has this thing about "letting everyone know he is still alive," which I guess is a constant source of price when you're his age. With reading the World Journal, though, I totally unplug from phones and computers for about an hour or so and it's like I was a child again, taking Chinese lessons from my grandpa who was explaining the meaning of words but also explaining the history of China and where certain words came from, like the best Chinese tutor you could get, or in an analogy Americans might relate to better, Mr. Miyagi teaching Daniel-san all the tools and techniques he needed in the Karate Kid. So reading newspapers is not only a relic from the past I cherish, but the act of reading and learning from my grandpa doubles the value of the exercise. I plan to continue the tradition indefinitely, or until newspapers go out of business entirely (not for awhile, if I and other avid readers can help it).
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
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