When I was in the seventh grade at St. Mary's parochial school in Portage, WI, the seventh and eighth grades were housed in an old building that had originally been a German-speaking Catholic church. I used to come in early because there was a wind-up Victrola that played thick old records. It was neat because you could make it play fast or slow while listening to golden oldies from the 1920s - "Hinky Dinky Parlez-vous" comes to mind.
Thirty-five years later, more or less, a group of us intrepid "radical fairies" had a day trip to the flats below the Franklin Ave. bridge and brought a portable Victrola along for mood music. De gustibus non est disputandum [No arguing about taste]! Now in the new century, I can walk a few blocks to the Hennepin County Historical Society on 3rd Ave. across the street from Fair Oaks Park in Whittier and see all manner of memorabilia from earlier days, glad that there are custodians of our past who give us the opportunity to experience antiques without having to compete for their possession, or to sneak up on them, or to feel obliged to celebrate their value in such remote settings. Something to cherish in this time of "I buy, therefore I am". Fred Markus, Horn Terrace, Ward Ten, in the Lyndale Neighborhood _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
