Where's Alice...?!?

ما هي الحياة؟ جنون. ما هي الحياة؟ وهم ، ظل ، قصة. ؛ كل الحياة حلم ، والأحلام نفسها مجرد أحلام

Po' Boys, Gyro and Fries

The Kankakee library was one of those few places that I could go and feel relaxed during my high school years. I spent most of my free time, weekends, and after school in the library doing homework or research papers, or just chillin away from home. My reading range extended from the New York Times to Sports Illustrated. For some reason, I distinctly remember reading "The Tale of Two Cites" as a highschool requirement in the library one summer. If you wanted to find me in high school you had to meet me at the library. In my senior year, I did a lot of advanced math work after school and most of the time I would pass the library on my way home. Especially if it was to hot outside, I would stop in the library and get a drink from the water fountain and chill in the air conditioner before heading home. During summer vacation, I would be the first one in, when the doors opened. It was a small 3 story building built in 1899, and I would climb the narrow stair case until I found the first empty desk. There weren't many to choose from. The library only had 2 or 3 desk. And if the desk were taken, I would find an empty spot of the floor between a couple bookshelves. Man, I can't describe all the emotions that come back when I saw the old library picture on internet. Kankakee is the toughest place I ever lived, but without question I learned some valuable life lessons. Life gave me some Big Boy lessons early on, and the library was my safe place. The Kankakee Community College was another safe space that helped me grow and get ready for a 4 year university. KCC is a beautiful campus hidden in some remote corn fields about 10 to 15 minutes from the downtown Kankakee. I had some great teachers at college. My chemistry and math/programming teachers come immediately to mind, Professor Stephen Monts and Professor Charles Love. I had many a philosophical conversations with Professor Love. We spent hours between classes discussing differential equations and multivariable calculus. We became close friends during my two years. I remember one Christmas he gave me a book, "Alice in WonderLand". And he said, "I need you to read this book and tell me how in the hell did Alice get in wonderland." And I was like, "what are you talking about!?! She fell in the hole." He said, "Oh..." like he needed me to question my answer a little deeper. So I spent the Christmas break reading Alice in WonderLand, but I didn't realize the extent of his question until some years later after living some life. And then one day, I was doing something random, like shopping in the plumbing isle at Home Depot and the answer popped in my head, and I realized Alice was crazy! Her imagination was a little hyper-active, but she would eventually get it under control. Life is Dream, what we imagine for ourselves, is what we recieve. After meeting Mr. Love, my impression was that college math professors were the coolest people on earth. He always wore an old school blazor with leather elbow pads. I even thought about changing my major from computer engineering to mathematician, but he persuaded me to stick with computers. Now that I think back, I wish he could have been at my 4 year graduation because he was instrumental in my college experience. I left the community college in 1999 and finished up my 4 degree in 2005 in Urbana-Champaign. After writing this page all these good emotions and feelings came back from my time in Kankakee which makes me realize that my time there wasn't as gloomy as my memory sometimes paints it to be. Now if you ever visit Kankakee, check out the Public Libary and get some fountain water and chill out in the air conditioner. The building is over a 120 years old. Also stop by the Po' Boys restuarant on Court street and order a "Chicken dinner with fries and barbeque sauce on everything".

Where's Alice...?!?

Po' Boys, Gyro and Fries

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