Rahm's Readers Take Challange (sic) Become Traslators (sic)

The Chicago Mayor's office in conjunction with the Chicago Public Library system is running a summer kids' book reading program.

Rahm's Readers don't need to know how to spell...

In deference to the hyper-PR conscious mayor, they're using the catchy term "Rahm's Readers" to describe participants in the CPL's summer learning challenge 2014 program.

A big sign in the Sulzer Regional Chicago Public Library urged kids to take the "challange (sic)" to become one of "Rahm's Readers."

Challenge was misspelled on the library's big sign (see photo above)

The hand crafted sign was obviously the work of some fine product of the CPS (affectionately referred to as the Chicago Public Sewer System) schools.

But hey, you don't have to really know how to properly spell English words to succeed in this dumbed-down multicultural and blissfully "diverse" city.

You can always just go to the First Western Tax Service on the 4500 block of North Western Ave. and get a job as a traslator doing Spanish/English "traslations(sic)." That's how it was painted on the sign in the window there (see photo below)

...they can always get jobs as Spanish/English "traslators"

The sign in the obviously Latino-owned shop seemed to have all the Spanish words spelled correctly. Just the "traslations" into English were a bit off.

For instance, Notario Publico became "Public Notary" rather than "Notary Public" in "traslation."

Oh, well, can it really matter? If the Chamber of Commerce cheap labor crony-capitalists and the left-wing Obamaites push through amnesty for illegal aliens, we'll all be communicating in crude hand gestures and pig-Espanol anyway.

Chicago's Godawful Branch Libraries

Mid-day vacuum cleaning at
Chicago Public Library's Northtown branch

Along with Cook County Forest Preserve outhouses, cholera wards and feminist writers' circles, Chicago's neighborhood branch libraries are generally in the category of places to be avoided.

Due to circumstances beyond our control, however, we have, of late, found ourselves inside several of these centers of accumulated wisdom.

In late Autumn, due to a Metra train delay, we found ourselves guests of the nearby Norwood park branch of the Chicago Public library system.

Incisive minds, such as ours, being terrible things to waste, we sought cognitive stimulation there. Thinking to upgrade our computer knowledge we scoured the stacks for useful tomes on the subject.

To our amazement, we found the entire collection very well suited for a technological history museum. But with the latest tome having been published around 2004, they were, alas, of little practical use to us.

If, however, you ever find yourself in need of books with titles like "Success with Windows 2.0" and "The Wang 2200 for Dummies," the Norwood Park branch of the Chicago Public Library is just the spot.

Due to immobility brought on by Chicago's most recent paralyzing blizzard, we again were thrust into a Chicago Public Library branch, this time in search of a wi-fi connection.

Chicago's Northtown
 Branch Library - built in 1962

We went to the Chicago Public Library's ultra-modern North Town Branch. This place - at 6435 N. California - was built in 1962, during the waning days of the JFK administration.

Weak, though it was, we found wi-fi there and also made the amazing discovery that the cleaning lady vacuums the place right in the middle of the day!!

So there we were trying to write and surf the web, while old Russian men were trying to read their old Russian newspapers and Korean kids were trying to master their mathematics concepts and along comes this dour looking babushka, wielding a noisy vacuum cleaner (see photo above.)

It was a very noisy vacuum cleaner.

Right in the middle of the library.

And this was at 3:08 pm  -- right in the very middle of the library's day.

Asked why the night cleaning crew was operating loud heavy machinery in an ostensibly quiet study zone, a library clerk responded, "The cleaning lady always does this - all the cleaning ladies do this, that's just what they do."

Oh, that explains it.

Our spies tell us that next week they're bringing in a jackhammer operator to work on the front sidewalk.

He's scheduled for 2 pm.