The kids are alright!

Millennials—hipster or not—are using the library [READER]( The Daily Reader June 6, 2023 Every now and then I meet someone who crosses the generational divide and enters a time different than their own. Like a millennial who’s really into 1970s basketball. Speaking of which . . . Run—don’t walk—to watch Steve James’s latest documentary, a four-part ESPN series on Bill Walton, who is, among other things, a great basketball player from the 70s. All of this is my way of introducing you to Timo, a hipster millennial on my bowling team. I call him a hipster millennial because . . . he’s a hipster millennial. A few months back, Timo was telling me about The Good Fight, a roughly six-year-old TV show that he and his girlfriend were enjoying. He told me, It’s about a fictitious law firm in Chicago. And it stars Delroy Lindo. And—oh, just watch it, Benny, you’ll love it. So I gave it a shot. And Timo’s right. My wife and I are hooked. We’re plowing our way through episode by episode. But it’s funny that a millennial recommended it because . . . It’s just about the Baby Boomer-est TV show you can imagine. It reminds me of Perry Mason. Lotsa courtroom drama. No fist fights. No weaponry. No shoot-outs. Or sex scenes. Just witty dialogue exchanged by great actors, many of whom are Broadway stars. Like Christine Baranski, Audra McDonald, Bernadette Peters, Brian Stokes Mitchell, etc. I half-expect them to break into a Stephen Sondheim number at any moment. Like I said: Boomer City. But, wait, there’s more . . . It streams on Paramount, a streaming service I don’t subscribe to, and have no intentions of subscribing to, as I’m already bankrolling too many tech tycoons with the many streaming services I already subscribe to. I mentioned this to Timo and he said, “No problem. What you do is, you check out the DVDs from the library.” So that’s what I’m doing. I order them and when they arrive at my local branch, I get a notice and I walk over and pick them up. I think it's great that a millennial—hipster or not—is using the library. I worry about libraries. I’m afraid that my aging generation will be the last to use them and that eventually they will fade out of existence. I worry that whoever gets elected mayor will try to cut their hours. Like Mayor Rahm tried to do and Mayor Adams is doing in NYC. I worry that MAGA will continue to wage its cultural war against librarians and censor the collection. So it’s encouraging to meet a millennial, like Timo, who uses them. One last thing . . . when I recently returned a disc of The Good Fight, the library computer spit out a request form. Meaning someone was waiting for me to return it so they could watch it. In conclusion . . . I'm years behind on a show that was old news during the Trump administration. And I'm watching it on DVDs checked out from the public library. To paraphrase [the Stones]( I’m out of time. Just like Timo. But—as that spitted-out request reveals—we’re not alone. 🎙Listen to [The Ben Joravsky Show]( 🎙 [What Ben's Reading] Last Trial]( by Benjamin Balint. Compelling tale of the legal fight over who has control over Franz Kafka’s hand-written manuscripts: Israel, Germany, or a woman named Eva Hoffe. [Dmitry Samarov]( on Bowie in Warsaw. [Ben Joravsky]( on mainstream Chicago’s obsession with Mayor Johnson’s chief of staff. [Best of the Ben J. Show]( State senator [Rachel Ventura]( on budgets and the War on Drugs . . . Filmmaker [Steve James]( on his Bill Walton series . . . [Joravsky & Joravsky]( Oh, what a week. [Elijah LeFlore makes his mark in Chicago R&B with coolheaded poise]( by [Leor Galil]( | [R]( → [Breaking barriers onstage]( A.B.L.E. redefines Shakespeare with an inclusive, modern Dream. by [Bridgette M. Redman]( | [Read here]( → [A healing practice]( Artist Sonja Henderson’s latest sculpture is a way of reuniting the late Mamie Till-Mobley with her son. by [Michelle Meyer]( | [Read here]( → [Review: Shooting Stars]( Shortcomings in writing and acting ruin what should be a compelling story. by [David Riedel]( | [Read here]( → Support community-driven media CIMA is proud to represent community-driven media throughout the Chicagoland area. With your help, CIMA can empower diverse perspectives and document the unique stories of our communities. Join them in Powering Independence. [DONATE TO CIMA]( [Issue of June 1 – 14, 2023 Vol. 52, No. 17]( [View/Download Issue [PDF]]( [View this e-mail as a web page]( [@chicago_reader]( [/chicagoreader]( [@chicago_reader]( [Chicago Reader on LinkedIn]( [/chicagoreader]( [chicagoreader.com]( [Forward this e-mail to a friend](. Want to change how you receive these e-mails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](. Copyright © 2023 Chicago Reader, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Chicago Reader, 2930 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 102, Chicago, IL 60616