A Des Plaines Resident Needs Our Help / Un Habitante de Des Plaines Necesita Nuestra Ayuda

His name is Neftali Hernandez, he is thirty-five-years-old, and he is in need of a bone marrow transplant.

Mr. Hernandez was not initially the subject of today's blog. I had planned to write about the Pulitzer-Prize winners. That's what we usually do here on Ellinwood Street: share our passion for books, movies, music, and the library. But sometimes life intervenes and our thoughts turn elsewhere.

Like many of you, I heard about the man who died just a few yards from the library at 7:30 am Tuesday morning. He walked into the path of a Metra train  bound for Chicago and was killed. Like many of you, I wondered about what had happened. I also searched online for additional information, including on Twitter, where I came across two articles on Patch about Neftali Hernandez.

It is too late to help the man who died near Miner and Pearson Streets, but it is not too late to help Mr. Hernandez, who has been undergoing cancer treatment for three years and needs to find a bone marrow donor.

Finding a bone marrow donor is not easy, however, because the donor's tissue type must be very similar to or identical to that of Mr. Hernandez. I called Mariana Sgarbi, who works for the Icla da Silva Foundation (affiliated with the Be the Match registry), and who coordinated a bone marrow drive for Mr. Hernandez on April 14th. She said that 66 people showed up to have their cheeks swabbed--to see if they might be a match--but that they have not yet learned the results. (Even if those kind souls who participated in the marrow drive are not a match for Mr. Hernandez, they  might be a match for another patient.) I also learned from my conversation with Ms. Sgarbi and from her recommended websites that patients are most likely to match donors of the same ethnicity, and that donors must be at least 18 and optimally under 45. (According to the National Marrow Donor Program website: "Doctors request donors in the 18-44 age group 90% of the time," although potential donors up to the age of 60 can join the registry.) This means a successful match for Mr. Hernandez is most likely to be Hispanic and between  the ages 18 and 44. (But donors of all ethnicities are needed to match other individuals. To learn more, visit  the National Marrow Donor Program website, where you can join the registry to become a potential donor, volunteer your time, and/or donate funds.)

Since speaking with Ms. Sgarbi, she has notified  me that another drive for Mr. Hernandez has been scheduled for Sunday, April 28th from 9 to 5 at Santuario de la Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe in Des Plaines, 1170 N. River Road. For additional information, you can contact Ms. Sgarbi at (773) 551-8222 or at Mariana@icla.org. Please consider sharing this information with others.

It is easy to feel regret about those we fail to help, but infinitely more useful to help those we can.

(The opinions in this post are those of Laura A. and not necessarily those of the Des Plaines Public Library)

Home Is Where the Pizzeria Is (Was)

I'd like to convey a note of remembrance for a great Des Plaines institution that closed its doors a year ago this month.

In my opinion, one of the most important establishments in any kind of town or city is a good local pizzeria. I suppose this stems from the fact that I grew up in Topton, PA, which had a population of just 2,000 people yet had two pizzerias: both were named Tony's, were owned by the same people, and were right around the corner from one another. To me, this unusual anomaly was always the principal factor that made Topton unique, but it also provided something else: a community center-point. I have many fond memories of going to Tony's after Little League games (it was a block or two blocks away from the baseball field, depending on which one you went to), or running to grab some pizzas for the cast and crew of the Drama Club when we had a break in between dress rehearsals in high school. In fact, while providing my mother-in-law with a recent whirlwind tour of Pennsylvania (she'd never been there before), we stopped and ate at Tony's. There, I bumped into a couple old friends (and their new kids) who had moved out of town as well but were back eating at Tony's.

"A place where everybody knows your name" may sound trite, but there's a reason why that phrase is oft repeated (besides the many epsiodes of "Cheers"): a local pizzeria offers familiarity, and with that comes peace and comfort. It also helps if the food is good, too.

When I started working at the library a few years ago, I didn't know Des Plaines very well. However, it only took me a little bit of time before I found the local pizzeria just down the street from the library: Depot Pizzeria at the Sim's Bowl & Lounge. The people there were extremely friendly and made their customers feel welcome. The pizza was great, and it was twice as better on Wednesdays due to it being half the cost.

What made me happiest, however, was seeing families with kids in little league uniforms coming in to the Depot during the summer. The time and location may have changed, but I was glad to see people still held the core values of fun, family, and food. I understand it was a long-standing establishment in the heart of downtown Des Plaines, and I feel lucky to have experienced a part of its tradition. While we are not sure what the future may hold for that particular spot of real estate, I wanted Depot Pizza to be recognized and remembered for the spot that it held in the heart of many Des Plainians. You are missed.

Bozo's Circus, Des Plaines, and Lyric Opera--All in One Book!

The Black Sox Scandal

Bozo's Circus

The Chicago Literary Renaissance

Des Plaines

Lyric Opera

What do these five things have in common?

They're all entries in of one of the coolest books at the library, the Encyclopedia of Chicago. I had planned to include the Encyclopedia of Chicago in my post on Chicago theater, but I decided it deserved a tribute all its own.

An authoritative and engagingly written source on the history of Chicago, it also contains information on the surrounding suburbs, including a 523 word entry on Des Plaines. (Who knew that in the summers of the late 1800s and early 1900s, "the idyllic river setting enticed Chicagoans to board trains for Des Plaines to picnic or camp. As many as 8,000 people came in a day, disrupting the quiet community and annoying townspeople whose flower gardens were trampled by visitors.")

That entry, by Marilyn Elizabeth Perry, is just one of the 1,400 A to Z signed entries by journalists, historians and experts. Entries range from Hull House to Machine Politics to Steppenwolf Theatre to one of my favorite features, entries on all the neighborhoods, or community areas, of Chicago, such as Edgewater. (Although the emphasis is on the history of Chicago, the book is also a treasure trove of information on contemporary Chicago and its culture.)

Fun to thumb through as well as a great resource for students, it includes entries on subjects of national concern but with a Chicago slant, such as Environmental Regulation and Urban Renewal. Useful features include census data for counties, municipalities, and Chicago community areas, as well as a Biographical Dictionary at the end.

All of this is contained in one comprehensive but portable volume, complete with photographs, maps and tables. You can always find a copy on the shelf--we own a reference copy for in-library use. (Whenever you see the word REFERENCE in front of a book's call number, that means it's to be used in-library.) There's also a copy you can check out.

Finally, if it's 3 am and you're wondering just why the puppet Garfield Goose, of the Garfield Goose and Friends tv show, wore a crown on his head,* you can look it up in the free electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago, which you can access here, or via the library's guide to history and geography resources online, one of the library's many subject-specific guides to resources.

Although the library has many wonderful reference books, The Encyclopedia of Chicago is my favorite, and a fascinating book to simply browse. (I realize this makes me sound like a total geek. Does anyone else out there have favorite reference book?)

*Answer: Garfield Goose believed he was king of the United States. (The Encyclopedia of Chicago entry on Garfield Goose and Friends.)

Tionscadal na hÉireann (Project Ireland)

Have you ever asked yourself, "Is there any connection between Liam Neeson and the city of Des Plaines?" Well, the Readers Services Department has. One such way they've come up with is the following sequence:

1. In 1993 Liam Neeson played the lead role in the play “Anna Christie” on Broadway.

2. Natasha Richardson also starred in Broadway's production of “Anna Christie”, where she met Liam for the first time. They were married in 1994.

3.Natasha Richardson starred with Christopher Walken in the 1990 film The Comfort of Strangers.

4. Christopher Walken played a supporting role in the 2002 picture Catch Me If You Can, which was directed by Steven Spielberg.

5. Steven Spielberg played a cameo role as the Cook County Assessor’s Office clerk in the 1980 movie The Blues Brothers.

6. The Howard Johnson’s motel that was used as a location in The Blues Brothers was torn down as part of the re-construction plan of the Des Plaines Oasis on Interstate 90.

This and five other connections of Liam Neeson and the Chicago area (mostly Des Plaines) can be found on the 3rd floor on the poster "Six Degrees of Liam Neeson". This display itself is a part of a floor-wide program known as Project Ireland meant to celebrate Ireland and its influence on our lives today (by the way, "Tionscadal na hÉireann" means Project Ireland in the traditional Irish language).

What better place to celebrate the Irish culture of storytelling and music than in the fiction, film, and music departments at the library? There is a display that illuminates Irish music beyond the commonly known groups of the Clancy Brothers and U2, another depicting Irish travel DVDs and magazines, a display portraying Ireland as seen in cinema, and one exploring the crime fiction explosion that is currently happening on the Emerald Isle; all brought to you by members of the Readers Services Department. Whether you are Irish or not, come on in and enjoy the Wearin' of the Green with us this St. Patrick's season!

The following is a time-honored Irish blessing I'd like to extend to you, the reader:

"May love and laughter light your days,
and warm your heart and home.
May good and faithful friends be yours,
wherever you may roam."

Hopefully one of the places you'll roam is to the 3rd floor of the Des Plaines Public Library, where your friendly neighborhood Readers Services Department would be glad to see you!