There is a lot to protest, to complain about, to worry over, to bemoan.
But there are also reasons to be inspired, to have hope, that there is a progressive leading edge in America, in the world, that the future is progressive.
One of my quests is to seek out what might define the leading edge in the Pacific Northwest. I found one example, to start with.
In one particular place, I feel I am in a soaring place of light, a great cathedral of learning and enlightenment, a public space where all the cultures of the world are welcomed. I feel the future here.
Having lived in the Southwest, in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas for much of my adult life, I feel that this place and the aspirational culture that produced it, is all the more miraculous.
What is normal in all too many places, is a resigned mediocrity, a lack of vision, and a depressed torpor in response to great problems. One might actually be warned against trying to make things better because "the way things are" is the way things have always been. What opportunities might exist wind up like the fall leaves blowing in the gutters, unseen. One might encounter active, hostile regressivism. Right now, in Arizona, there is an ongoing effort by the state to suppress, in the Tucson schools, an entire library full of Hispanic and Native American literature and educational thought.
This world class architecture is a statement, a commitment, to the future of humanity as a knowledge commons. Big enthusiasm about this is embodied in the building and this vision of humanity fills the space, thrumming with concentration and engagement.
This is a view from the tenth floor, looking down through the atrium to the "living room" far below.
This is the Main Branch of the Seattle Public Library. One might roam around in it for hours to just look at the different areas and features. The architect, Rem Koolhaus, even made going up an escalator an exciting experience.
Even the floor, coming off of the 4th Avenue, western facing or downhill entrance is a remarkable statement.
Letterforms and words, embossed in the Maplewood floor planks is an artist's meditation about the general beauty of language and all languages. This is a welcoming place for all nations in a city with over 60 spoken tongues. A set of shelves has a collection of books printed in languages that is probably bigger than a small branch library elsewhere. One looks up from studying the floor and sees diversity, not as a concept, but in the faces of people looking through the shelves.
The thing that is different about Seattle and the West Coast in general is the fully multicultural and multilingual environment. This is the future. The rest of the United States will eventually look like the public spaces and streets of the great port cities, though it may take several generations for this population trend to reach the smaller places.
How enlightened that tax dollars can be used to support public spaces and institutions that quietly sidestep the arguments elsewhere and simply just serve the future.
The building iis filled with light, as all the outside walls are transparent and open, held by a lattice of steel. As one looks upward, to the soaring ceilings and beyond, to the sky, one is uplifted by the presence of the best in humanity and all our aspirations for the far future. The essence of the strivings in all literature, housed in this building on myriad shelves is present in the air we breathe, here.
This is the reading room, just below the 10th floor Seattle Collection.
This building is testament to leadership inspired by a public sense of the value of the institution of the library, and the visionary ambition to be outstanding and world class. The city approved 165 million dollars for this one branch building, in a city that maintains something like 18 other branches. The total makeover for the whole library system back then was 256 million. A board raised some 83 million for books and programs. The City Librarian, Debra Jacobs, was a fearless advocate for libraries. Nearly 25,000 people came through the doors of the Main Library for the opening reception in May of 2004.
This is not an isolated achievement that just reflects big city scale. These great libraries are part of a much larger picture, which includes and benefits any library, anywhere.
It should not be forgotten that libraries exist because of a network of librarianship, which is international, and which has been developing for over a century in a modern sense. The hubs of this network are the graduate schools, places like the iSchool at the University of Washington, that train librarians through rigorous programs of graduate study that result in Masters and PhD graduations.
Any library is all libraries. Any librarian is informed by the entire profession, which is dedicated to values around sharing, networking and developing a national and worldwide culture centered around lifelong learning.
Many people use computers in a library but don't realize that this is the result of a truly great visionary achievement by a remarkable few people. Fifty years ago this year, the Seattle World's Fair included the Library 21 exhibit, which previewed the library of the future. It featured one of the first mainframe IBM computers spitting out answers to reference questions.
Robert Hayes, an emeritus UCLA faculty member who still consults, was a designer of the exhibit. He included a rotation of young librarians who were trained so they could demonstrate the library of the future. Then they went back to various libraries and over the years, carried the vision forward in many dimensions of the profession.
The original insight was derived from experience during World War II. Computers that were capable of storing information were unknown before then and few people had even heard of such a thing.
But a few who were familiar with the systems could see that they would become terrifically powerful in coming decades and that something needed to be done if they were not to wind up strictly useful to elites in big business or big government.
Libraries were the logical institution that could democratize the development of computer systems and ensure that the power that would develop could benefit the broader society. That was a vision that should earn those who authored it status as founding fathers for 21st century society. The internet came of that sense.
This is a really strong institution at the center of what makes it possible to feel that American society is forward moving towards the better future that lives in all our best dreams and hopes. Perhaps one of the more important considerations in the existence and success of this institution is its ubiquitous presence in society, and the long term building up that has accrued through different eras in history, while staying very clear about the public service ethic. Special purpose libraries may work as private sector entities, but in general the public is served by public service. That is the basic reason that local communities tend to support libraries through taxpayer dollars. It is a deep and rich relationship. This is a unique institution that supports life long learning at every level from pre-school to PhD study to continued education for seniors.
This is a place of light.