We stopped in Midland last night, and because it's the last day of our trip, we went out for a celebration meal. Also, because we could not find the Thai restaurant at the mall. So we ended up at a fancy restaurant, the Library Restaurant. This restaurant is preserving the historic Midland library building. I found it interesting that it was built with a grant from an American millionaire, Andrew Carnegie, who apparently funded hundreds of public libraries all across the USA and Canada in the stated goal of supporting the principles of democracy.
http://www.mtc.gov.on.ca/en/libraries/carnegie_bio.shtml
"There is not such a cradle of democracy upon the earth as the Free Public Library, this republic of letters, where neither rank, office, nor wealth receives the slightest consideration." — Andrew Carnegie
This ideal is quite a contrast to the way things work today, where money is the sole consideration in winning elections. Is it significant that today this building is used for filling our stomachs and not our minds?
Pictures: I normally think there is something wrong with a person who takes pictures of their food while travelling. Obviously I am running out of ideas. Yes, I got spaghetti and meatballs again.
A surprising number of those Carnegie libraries are still operating as libraries - not the closest one, in Waterloo, though, now occupied by Habitat for Humanity.
ReplyDeleteBut, locally, the ones in New Hamburg, Paris, Fergus and Elora (and likely a few others) are still working community libraries.
It'll be interesting to see what the current crop of 1%ers contribute :-(
We can thank them for Fox News.
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