Key Largo library.

The computers were slow and then temporarily went down yesterday morning while checking work e-mail, so I spent the waiting time paging through this book, plucked from a nearby shelf.

1958 and '59 ... two police officers going about their jobs; 1960 and '63, with Catholic priests at their business. You see themes flipping through the years like that, and of course the firefighters and soldiers are no less represented. It's a fine little library really, and although I was only there an hour, one could easily spend a few afternoons sifting through their collections.

That's the thing about Florida, it seems to me. Just when you are ready to write her off as too new, too history-less, no shared cultural background* to form a solid foundation ... you see the living past in the form of the older folks who were raised in a more generally well educated time = more books/less tv.

They still seem to understand community, the need to volunteer and come together to organize events, and not wait for commercial offerings to present themselves. I like that, feeling a kinship somehow for the generations that came before the Boomers.

Not to stereotype, but sometimes having it too easy when you're young maybe does spoil you, and you can carry around a lifetime attitude of ... silliness, as though nothing must be taken seriously because everything seems to turn out all right, regardless. I suspect that may be changing though, as America opens her doors to those who understand living with less, and hopefully children today are coming up with a less entitled outlook.

Vacation rumination...

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I'm adding Gore Vidal to my short list of Lily Tomlin and George Carlin: celebrity veterans I've been lucky enough to hear in person while we walk the earth together.

Vidal is in a wheelchair now, no longer living in Italy but in LA full time. I was seated in the mid-back of the auditorium, but the spots on his hands were still visible, and you had to sit forward and strain to hear his voice at times. I suspect he'll be leaving us soon, but of course with his work left behind.

Mitchell Kaplan -- a younger man than I had expected -- led him through the "Evening with..." session, tossing out one question and then another, when it seemed Vidal had stopped commenting and had nothing more to add. Physically of course, he is well past his prime, but the mind is still oh-so alive. A few bon-mots:

As an attorney, I had to chuckle at his drawling observation:
(paraphrasing)
At some point, it appears litigation replaces sexual activity for plenty of people.

Monotheism is overrated -- one god too often leads to dictatorship, enforced conformity of the worlds built around the myths. More gods, as the Romans and Greeks had it, meant more varieties of cultures and beliefs.

Obviously, he detests Sarah Palin, several times calling her a Piltdown woman.

When the microphone wailed at one point while he was being questioned about his debates with Bill Buckley, he offered, "Enough Bill. I promise tonight I'll light a candle." And on the son's endorsement of Barack Obama that led to his firing/resignation from the National Review, his response drew laughter, "Evolution is a fact."

We're off to John Pennekamp now, to swim and read away the afternoon. Cooked shrimp are on sale at Publix on the island, for $6 a pound. The belly is full, the skin is fresh from the salt water, and the mind is challenged and alive -- not the least so for the conversations waiting in line. (The couple next to me came down from Toronto, and turned me on to the fabulous book festival there that I hope also to check out. They reminded me of the people I spoke with awaiting Hillary Clinton's rally in Madison -- chance conversations that enrich and feed one just as much as clean fresh shrimp.)
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*For example, imagine having to educate newcomers about such shared commonalities as pulling to the right and stopping for emergency vehicles to pass. When and where do you do that, and is it no surprise that aggressive driving habits that are the norm in other places are also carried over here?