Dried up in the Swamp
The Surfside Community Center was just that, the center of the community. It was mistakenly demolished several years ago and so all we got is a barren lot with an ocean view that is closed to the public as if some old indian bones were found during the dig.
Closed Encounters of the Literary Kind
The old community center provided the residents of Surfside with a great big swimming pool, a nice little cafe, a comfortable assembly hall, a game-room and, no less valuable, our very own little library. The staff was courteous, dedicated and perfectly bookish. There were always people there. After the demolition, all the books and other resources were crammed into a miscerable windowless trailer in a parking lot behind town hall.
Reading Between the Lines.
A long time ago our founding fathers, after incorporating, decided to opt out of Dade County Library Tax and opened their own library with town tax revenues. It was not the library of congress but it was good enough for the times, a time before the internet. I remember growing up in Miami starving for information, spending hours downtown, always wanting more books, mags, papers. Availability was the issue, today it's the opposite, info-overload.
Quiet Please - Children Thinking
Some of my fondest memories of living in this quit seaside town was taking kids to the community center and library. My daughter and I would spend hours in the children's book section rummaging through old books. Those were valuable quality of life experiences no longer available to new families in town. Maybe the demand for such resources has changed but the human experience remains.
I Read a Book Once
A world without books is like a house with no kitchen.
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