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26 2006 |
James Lileks headed for Fargo last weekend, as I sped away towards Wisconsin. He's been to Fargo quite often, it seems almost once a month lately, but this past weekend was an important one: his 30th high school reunion. Lileks (his name, tied to his domain name, precludes the use of his first name -- how superfluous! Leaving off the "dot com" already implies a degree of familiarity, even though we'd never met. Were I to meet in person, I'd expect him to offer a small ivory calling card, each letter bearing the faint impression caused by the lead type of a hand-set letterpress, bearing the simple characters "lileks.com"...and then I'd have to apologize for borrowing and butchering his method of writing parenthetical asides full of excessive illustrative commentary) graduated in 1976 -- same year as my uncle, Kevin Black. Last spring, Kevin asked me to host a blog for the organization of the reunion, which manifested itself as fargonorth1976.com. I'd hoped the blog would be used to tell some sort of story about what the reunion means to the returning students, but alas that had not happened. Lileks, however, has devoted this week to writing about his experience (start at the beginning). It probably means very little to non-Fargoans, and probably even less to now-Fargoans with no sense of our town's history.
Me, however -- I like to hear what people think about Fargo and the region. People who stop to look at the details and the buildings, the people and the places. I feel a devotion to the place I live, an emotion that hasn't lived very far into the World Of Tomorrow, dominated by temporary living-places connected by streets that get you anywhere and internet connections that lead to the rest of the world. I've got a small-town complex, it seems; a dedication to living someplace without regard for commerce or society. Were I in a much smaller town, I'd eventually be that old guy who still lives there (who knew the town stil existed?), dutifully mowing the town-owned lawns and plowing the streets that lead to every place I need to go, hazily remembering that somehow I had been elected mayor, winning uncontested elections by one vote, because this is My Town. Fargo is far from being "My Town," having grown significantly since I first set roots here, but the part I live in is happily shielded from the suburbanization of the Southern Districts. It's nice to hear Lileks (or anybody) speak of Fargo with wistful remembrance, recalling actually enjoying life in this town that so many people react negatively towards.
