Editor’s note: Amigos805 welcomes local guest columns, letters to the editor and other submissions from our readers. All opinions expressed in submitted material are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the viewpoint of Amigos805.
David Magallanes
By David Magallanes • Guest contributor
A “pilgrimage” is defined as a journey to a sacred place, or as a spiritual sojourn. My visit last week to the Los Angeles Central Library in the heart of downtown felt like both.
My most vivid recollection of the connection I had with my father consists of our visits to that library when I was a pre-teen through my early teen years. He would drive the half hour into the city, with just me, so that we could spend hours wandering through the stacks of books beneath the hallowed murals that adorn the walls to this day. He would go his way toward his interests, and I toward mine. This allowed me to lay the foundation of academic materials that would become the infrastructure of my adult life all the way into my senior years—and I’m not referring here to “high school senior.”
So my visit to this library some sixty years later was an emotional passage. I celebrated the memory of my voracious reading and grieved the loss of that connection I once had with my father as I grew up and out of the house. We never quite recaptured that connection, but I’m grateful to have experienced it. Not just the sight of shelves of books, but also the art and the ambience rushed in and ambushed my illusion of distance from the past, a past that formed me and contributed to what I became later in life.
Decades later, when I had a daughter, I transmitted my love of books to her. She now teaches kindergartners to read, and ensures that my grandsons become solid readers.
My parents were readers, and their parents also were readers. There’s a special place in my heart for libraries and bookstores. They connect me with who I was and who I am, and with the generations before me and after me.
— David Magallanes is a retired college math educator.
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Peregrinación a la Biblioteca
Por David Magallanes • Columnista invitado
Una “peregrinación” se define como un viaje a un lugar sagrado, o como una estancia espiritual. Mi visita la semana pasada a la Biblioteca Central de Los Ángeles, en el corazón del centro de la ciudad, se sintió como las dos cosas.
Mi recuerdo más vívido de la conexión que tuve con mi padre consiste en nuestras visitas a esa biblioteca cuando yo era preadolescente y durante mis primeros años de adolescencia. Él manejaba media hora hasta allá, solo conmigo, para que pudiéramos pasar horas deambulando por los estantes llenos de libros debajo de los murales sagrados que adornan las paredes hasta el día de hoy. Él se dirigía hacia sus intereses, y yo hacia los míos. Esto me permitió construir los cimientos de materiales académicos que se convertirían en la infraestructura de mi vida adulta desde joven hasta la tercera edad.
Así que mi visita a esta biblioteca unos sesenta años después fue un pasaje emocional. Celebré el recuerdo de mi lectura voraz y lamenté la pérdida de esa conexión que una vez tuve con mi padre cuando crecí y me fui de la casa. Nunca recuperamos esa conexión, pero estoy agradecido de haberla experimentado. No solo la vista de miles de libros, sino también el arte y el ambiente me entraron como una tromba y emboscaron mi ilusión de distancia del pasado, un pasado que me había formado y que contribuyó a lo que me convertí más adelante en la vida.
Décadas después, cuando tuve una hija, le transmití mi amor por los libros. Ahora ella les enseña a leer a los niños de kínder y se asegura de que mis nietos se conviertan en lectores sólidos. Hay un lugar especial en mi corazón para las bibliotecas y librerías. Me conectan con quién era y quién soy, y con las generaciones anteriores y posteriores a mí.
– – David Magallanes es un profesor de matemáticas jubilado.
Editor’s note: Amigos805 welcomes comments on stories appearing in Amigos805 and on issues impacting the community. Comments must relate directly to stories published in Amigos805, no spam please. We reserve the right to remove or edit comments. Full name, city required. Contact information (telephone, email) will not be published. Please send your comments directly to frank@amigos805.com