Home...for a bit

Poets, writers, psychologists and philosophers work on this question--Can you go home again? There is a modifier that needs to be added, I believe. For how long? I sorta half-assed tried to answer that question between 4 PM 11/17 and 9 AM 11/20/2016, in a modest way. And the half-assed answer is yeah, you can, if the bar isn't set too high.

Flying into Greater Cincinnati International Airport was pretty much the same until the terminal...damn has that changed. It is huge now. Beautiful, to be sure and well-designed for both esthetics and security. One of the coolest happenings was the shuttle bus to the car rental area. The driver and I got to talking about radio stations back in the day...and he remember WNOP...Radio Free Newport. It was a low-power, dawn to dusk jazz station I started listening to when I was 12. Broadcast from a barge off Newport, KY. If a large boat came by...they couldn't spin a disk because the wake would make the needle jump tracks. That got the trip off to a good start.

Then there was the drive to Cincinnati. "What?" you ask. "Didn't you land at Greater Cincinnati Airport?"

Of course. CVG--the designator for GCA stands for Covington, KY. The airport is in Kentucky. Just accept it. It's too hard to explain. The drive was uneventful...except.

One of the perpetual issues in driving in Cincinnati is I-75. Not the traffic or the drivers. The road. When I left Cincinnati in 1977, parts of I-75 were under construction (one of the helicopter traffic reporters used to quip it was like there was only one guy with a shovel working on it) and damned if I didn't hit construction traffic...pretty much near where I remember the construction was some 40 years ago. So, that was one of the items to which I came home.

Food always plays a part. Frisch's Brawny Lad and their great tartar sauce remain a constant and so do Gold Star and Skyline Chili. I was Switzerland in the Gold Star and Skyline battle...I loved both.

Two places I had to go...UC (University of Cincinnati for the uninitiated) and Strauss Pipe Shop.

UC has expanded tremendously as well it should. I was sorta disoriented until I got off campus, found DuBois Bookstore, dialed in on the old Library Building and the Teachers' College Building and then I was fine. The McMicken Building, which back in the day was the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences (which also housed the College of Business Administration) was still there and expanded. Mick and Mack were there as was my favorite sign of all...over the portal are carved these words...KNOWLEDGE IS THE PRINCIPAL THING, THEREFORE GET KNOWLEDGE. There is no attribution and I've never bothered to look up who came up with that profundity. It always tickled me while it provoked me to think. Not a bad thing. I am sad, however, to report the Pink Room seems to be just gone.

Tangeman Student Center is just bloody unbelievably changed...the damned thing is now huge and looks nothing like it did. The Bookstore is located there now (from its former digs in the Physics Building which, along with the Engineering Quad, has not yet been blown up) and it's all glass and bright and great.

What is interesting--the students sorta just looked like students...not a lot different from 50 or so years ago. Clothes change and there were no slide rules or shirt protectors over by the Engineering Quad...but there were folks practicing various sports and folks were shilling for their causes...and there was the genuine feel of people wanting to---GET KNOWLEDGE.

I left happy.

Strauss Pipe Shop had changed owners and been remodeled probably more than once; it still felt good to be there and just talk pipes and tobacco. I bought some of the house blend I used to smoke and chatted with the new owner. Brought back some good memories...I bought my first Savinelli Deluxe pipe there. Remember going in there in the dead of winter and the aroma of the tobaccos and cigars was enough to warm the spirit.

Tomorrow is the day that is the reason I came. To some extent, it will be anti-climactic, yet important. In many ways, it fulfills a family tradition that includes side-branches as well and Eastern Star. It will be good to put some closure on that part of a long family history.

Can one go home again? I returned to a place that holds a great deal of meaning. I approached this trip, though, not to recapture any of that which was. The thought was to be in the moment and enjoy the changes as another color or hue added to a picture that was already in place...and could be touched up with some fresh ideas.