An unusual event, a love-in, occurred October 2, 2007, in a town not currently known as a very friendly environment. The center of attention at the love-in, held at the Sturges Center for Fine Arts in San Bernardino, California, was the World's Greatest Lover.
He wasn't Don Juan, Lothario, or Romeo. He wasn't Cary Grant, William Powell, or Tom Selleck. His voice wasn't silent like that of Rudolph Valentino or Ramon Novarro. His visage wasn't that of Brad Pitt or Leonardo Di Caprio. His stature wasn't towering like Arnold Schwarzenegger or Dwayne Douglas Johnson (AKA "The Rock"), and yet, he was all of them, and more. He managed to share his hunk of burnin' love with over 700 people in one night.
His stroke-ravaged body may be 87, but the mind of Ray Bradbury, author of Fahrenheit 451, is still going strong as was made evident by his opening lines. After being rolled onstage in his wheelchair, he cracked, "I suppose you're all wondering why I called you here tonight. I did it because I am the world's greatest lover."
He went on to display his amorous prowess as he expressed to us his love for many things — Mars, magic, carnivals — and most of all, the future. It was his love of the future that called to him, prodding him to sally forth once more despite his weakened state in the midst of his personal winter, to defend the temple of his love, which we know as the library.
Libraries — many originally sponsored by Andrew Carnegie — were once the Internet of their time, whisking a reader away across space and time to adventure, to satisfy curiosity, or to foster love and understanding, even of the unknown. Libraries are still capable of doing this, but the times have changed. Instead of being the symbol of community pride, many towns have been allowing their literacy legacies fade away.
The Carnegie Library of Rockport, Massachusetts is a perfect example. In 1986, the town agreed to a preservation restriction in order to win a grant to repair the building's roof. The town reneged on their promise to maintain the building after they closed the library in 1993. That faithless preservation restriction is now inhibiting the sale of the building to a Florida couple who seek to wall off the property from the town while claiming to care about the preservation of the building. All that remodeling they want to do doesn't count.
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