Serendipity

Reuben’s temptation

August 7, 2014 by Grandpa R

You’re trying to count calories, but the concierge highly recommends a delicatessen less than two blocks from the hotel. The deli’s name is “Reuben’s” and they claim to be the originator of a sandwich that bears their name. Oh, my. The menu speaks of “the original” sandwich and Reuben’s secret sauce.

Downtown Montreal — Boulevard Rene Levesque, Le Centre Montreal

Resistance is futile.

Well, the sandwich itself is stacked about as high as Art’s sandwiches (Studio City), but the bread slices are not quite as large. The sauce is lightly applied, and overall the sandwich is great. They also heap french fries on the plate as though they were feeding an entire hockey team. That was Thursday.

Still in Lubbock Tuesday on the way to Montreal and the annual AEJMC conference I mused that once again I would be away on our wedding anniversary. I thought of my bride. I was missing my family, and I was missing people in the Heritage Ward. I was more mindful of people than the task ahead.

Invading this airport reverie, the voice of Dr. Weiwu Zhang spread cheer upon the moment. It seemed we had the same itinerary. And what was more, we wound up sitting across from each other on both flights. We agreed we would share the cost of a cab from the airport to our respective hotels.

That turned out to be more wishful thinking than reality. After retrieving Dr. Zhang’s luggage, we proceeded together until the final step of customs and immigration, where an officer decided to separate the two of us. I went one way, Dr. Zhang another, and we did not meet again until the next day.

Once at the conference hotel, I began meeting old friends and colleagues, the day seemed better, and I had a some time to prepare for my paper presentation.

A rare find

August 12, 2011 by Grandpa R

High in the Civil Courts building in downtown St. Louis, Kathy Grillo’s solitary desk marks off her corner work space among row after row of cabinets and boxes filled with old records tracing people and events in the gateway city. Kathy’s title is Records Manager of the 22nd Judicial Circuit of Missouri, and she is a national treasure. We were directed to her during a couple hours we had between things at the AEJMC conference in St. Louis.

Nancy in St. Louis — Nancy before Civil Courts building in St. Louis

After lunch, Nancy and I walked around downtown a little, admiring the architecture, making mental notes of restaurant locations, and generally reveling in some precious down time together. Working on an imperfect recall of an earlier conversation with Roxanne about a famous trial that took place in St. Louis, we had begun asking sheriff’s deputies, bailiffs, and clerks where the Scopes trial was held, and where the tours were. That’s how we met Kathy.

At first, court officers, staff, and clerks responded as thought they thought we were asking about a trial in progress. And as we explained that we were asking about the famous trial on evolution, back in the twenties, with Clarence Darrow, they gave us blank stares. It was unsettling. “How could they not know about the Scopes Trial,” we asked each other. Finally, one of the clerks we had talked to earlier came over to the desk and said, “y’all take that elevator over there up to the second floor and ask for Kathy.”

Tucked back around the corner in a hallway at the west end of the building was a tiny old elevator. On the second floor it emptied out into a reception area with another long desk behind which were a couple of women. “Kathy?” I asked.

“No.”

“Is Kathy here?” I continued.

“Kathy Grillo?”

“I don’t know. Downstairs they said we should come up here and ask for Kathy.” Then we explained what we were looking for.

They didn’t know about the Scopes trial either, but the second woman nodded, and said, “Just have a seat, and Kathy will be here in a minute.”

In about five minutes, a dark-haired woman, about forty, wearing dark pants and a light shirt came from the general direction of the elevator. We asked her about the Scopes trial. “A Tennessee case,” she said. “You mean the one with Clarence Darrow?” she asked.

Thus began a delightful hour-long conversation during which she took us up into the archives where she works, discussed her work, gave us a facsimile copy of Dred Scott’s petition (this was probably the famous St. Louis case Roxanne was talking about) to be heard in court. Kathy told us they were into a two-year long project digitizing old records under her charge. She showed us huge court journals from the 19th century, where the ink is fading.

She revealed they have a collection of court documents classified as “freedom” documents. She said they recently digitized a lot of Lewis and Clark documents. It seems the famous explorers gathered a lot of outfitting from St. Louis merchants promising “the government will pay for it.” Apparently the government did not.

We exchanged, business cards, Kathy and I. She asked if we needed anything else, and made it clear we had only to ask. It was a nice, unexpected discovery in the middle of the annual AEJMC conference.