Welcome to Forgotonia

Maid Rite, Macomb, IL

Originally uploaded by Rural Rose

Randolph House

Originally uploaded by Rural Rose

The downtown courthouse square in Macomb has fallen on some hard times.

In addition to a recent fire on the the south side that destroyed two businesses, several stores have closed and still sit empty. And, (while this is just my opinion and preference as a consumer), stuff that IS moving in seems less-than-friendly to college students, their parents and professors in a university town, such as a shop selling items related to …being Catholic (?). (Um, yeah.)

The Randolph House on the east side–which was once part of a grand hotel where Abraham Lincoln spent the night and gave a speech–appears to be somewhat neglected. Lately I’ve been wondering: who owns the building? Are there any plans for restoring it? Does it fall under the historic preservation protection?

I haven’t done much digging around for the answer, but thought I’d throw it out here and see if anyone might know the score.

How cute are they?

Madre y Padre

I’m feeling very thankful today for the fact that I not only have two intelligent, funny, loving, and kind parents, and not only that they’ve stayed married for 40 years, but also that they seem to be happy about that decision. It is almost easy to take for granted how truly lucky I am.

Saturday
We met up to celebrate last night for some fine dining, a la Aurelio’s in Macomb. (Pizza and playroom = not a bad idea when taking small kids out to eat.)

Serendipity, baby
In retrospect (1 day later, I mean), meeting up here seems appropriate for a different reason: my parents actually met in Macomb. They were students at WIU in the 60′s, (Dad a local farmboy studying horticulture, and Mom a northern-IL gal studying Spanish). They got engaged here in Macomb, too; if I have my story straight, Dad proposed to Mom under a tree on West Calhoun Street, just in front of the former Haeger Pottery, and across the street from a somewhat scurvy apartment where he was living with his friends (and which is quite possibly still very scurvy, but which fact I cannot prove). And now here I am more than 40 years later working for, and studying for a master’s degree at, the university where they met.

From ‘Frisco to…
For the first year after they were married, my parents lived in the San Francisco Bay area while Dad was stationed in the Navy (and did his subsequent Vietnam tour). But  farming awaited for my dad back home.

The fact that they lived in California–or that I didn’t get to–was something I used to c them about when I was a teenager.  “You guys lived in California and you came back here?” On purpose?!?

Now, though, I’m pretty glad we’re all right here in Forgotonia.

My parents opening their gifts

My parents (on the right) with me, my nephew Carl (1), my sister Melissa, my bro-in-law Andy, and my nephew Curtis (4). (My bf, Chris, took the pic. And, btw, we via the Internet.)

mi familia

The good news is, Macomb has a new eatery, and it’s apparently family owned. It’s located in the former Secret Garden, nee The Old JC Penny’s.

The bad news? I kan’t eat at this place on principle. I just kan’t.

from the Western Courier:

Kafe adds sweet tooth to campus crust

What started out as a hobby has turned into a full time business for one Macomb couple. Debbie and Aaron Hix are the owners of the new Kakes Kafe & Bakery, located at 24 West Side Square, a few doors south of the Ford Hopkins Drug Store. Originally from Joliet, Ill.…

What was up with the K-9 sniffers all along 67 on Friday afternoon/evening?

I came up on the ominous-looking barricade as

I was exiting Macomb on my way to Davenport to see C-Nor.

As I approached, I got all prepared for them to stop me. I practiced a little speech in my mind, trying to think of phrases “civil liberties” or something else indignant-sounding.

I also made sure to lean over and reach down to the area where a passenger’s feet are supposed to go, and gathered up some of the filth and stuffed it in an empty Hy-Vee bag, in an effort make it look a little less like a homeless person sleeps in my vehicle.

So then when I drove past and the cops and their dogs gave me a nary a blink, I was almost a little…miffed.

What, me and my little Honda Civic don’t look fringe enough?

Was the tilt of my head, the knittedness of my eyebrows, a telltale

“listening to ‘All Things Considered” giveaway?

I felt like rolling down a window and hollering at one of the cops whose suspicion I failed to spark, “You better not even ask me what I was up to in college,

boys. Haha!”
(And then I re-cranked-up the NPR and sped away.)

Oops!

Check out this snafu in this article about the Vishnu tour in the Western Courier on Friday:

(I try not to be too harsh in poking fun at any newspaper, student or professional, because I’ve been in their shoes. But this one made me truly LOL. Couldn’t resist!)

The Friends of Vishnu want to respect the wishes of Ira Post and keep it a wildlife sanctuary, where no animals are harmed. The current caretaker of Vishnu Springs is Morris Wells, who helped get people to and from the parking area.

McDonough County sheriff Johnny Carson was also on site to help. He estimated that throughout the six hours that Vishnu was open to the public, roughly 1,000 people attended.

Go ‘head, give it a good read.

I have driven past this sign on East Calhoun in Macomb for many months. And each time, I have wondered: WTFrick?

But a few other questions have arisen as well.

1. Shall we begin with the unique spelling of “Maqom?”

   The first time I noticed this sign, probably on a trip home from the Aldi or from bein‘ over ta’ the Wal-Mart’s, I thought, “Holy typo.”

   I figured this church is struggling for cash. When the deacon or whoever got back from the Signprinter’s and realized the mistake, they didn’t have the money to do a re-print.

   And yet…

2. It’s so far off the mark ….maybe it’s not a typo?

   I mean, something about that curly Q in place of the “C” seems purposeful to me.

   So here are other potential theories:

   A) There is some kind of alternative movement in Macomb that I am just not hip and young enough to know about. The members of the movement have a great collective sense of humor and the use of “Maqom” is supposed to be like….using the word “rawk” for rock-n-roll.

   And yet there’s that whole fact that it’s in front of a church…

   B) It is the church’s attempt to draw in the youth through “hip” use of Kwik-e-Mart grammatical grossness. Some of the elders sat around at church council and said, “Hey, I know! Let’s spell it with a Q! And leave off the B! And we could use ‘Rite’ and ‘Nite‘ in really cool ways too!”

   C) Is it not referring to Macomb at all, but instead a word from some ancient or perhaps African language.

   D) Some other and better theory (which you should leave in the comments section below)?

3. Now, let’s move onto larger questions.

   Namely:

   A) seriously what is this place?

   B) Why is this Church of Maqom “restored“?

   The placement, er, rather propped-up-ed-ness, of the sign, leads me to think this is the latest incarnation of something that existed once before.

   Is that indeed the case? If so, what happened to the first church?

   C) Or is the word “restored” some kind of denominational indicator (such as “Fresher! Now with more fundamental roots!”)?

   
   If you’ve got better theories—or if you know the answers to any of these questions— please let me know.

   I simply can’t go to Aldi again without knowing the answer.
   

Former WIU archivist Marla Vizdal has started a Facebook group for Vishnu Springs.

Check it out to see pictures of the size of the crowd from last Sunday!

(Something like 1,500 people got to go inside the old hotel. I’m so jealous!)

… but back on this beautiful June day, I wanted to capture those clouds.

Check out some more of my rural-life snapshots on my Photography page or on Flickr.

Thanks to Ziggy and HerGLX3 for the reports of the Vishnu Tour!

Oh, how I wish I could’ve gone. Especially to see the inside of the hotel, to view those photo albums HerGLX3 mentioned, and to hear those“extras” that Marla Vizdal shared.

As I’ve blogged about before, I first heard about Vishnu when I was 15 years old, and I was so fascinated by what I learned back then that I felt as if I was being told about something truly magical.

An old hotel deep down in a ravine that you “can’t see from the road” was in itself—after having lived my life on this flat, flat prairie—exciting enough, not to mention the idea of the place turning into a counterculture commune (right outside my little ol’ homogeneous hometown).

Since having actually seen the place (ok, I admit it, I trespassed), I admit that it seems at first like not much more than a dilapidated building out in the woods. Big whoop.

But if you know the story, and the fact that you’re standing at the spot of a ghost town, and when you think about such a bustling area once having existed there… it still fascinates me.

This article about the tour from the McDonough County Voice does a nice job of summarizing the history and the current status of the place.

Also, there’s a brief mention of a former tenant from the commune days.

“It had its wild phase before I got here,” he said about the hotel’s student-rental era. Fortuna also recalled the harsh winter he spent there, being snowed in for days at a time and shoveling his way up the road leading out the hotel’s valley. …. “It’s a beautiful place.”