I don’t try to describe the future. I try to prevent it.
– Ray Bradbury
I was introduced to Ray Bradbury when I was a boy in Michigan. My mother had died the previous year and I was lost. Ray reached out to me through messages left in the form of books he had written decades before. His words found me and offered comfort when I needed them most.
As a photographer I shot Ray Bradbury at two different locations, but the most memorable was at Acres of Books in Long Beach. It had just come down that the city would be taking over the property in order to make room for a retail development that would include a public art center, one that never came to fruition.
Ray was eloquent that day. And funny and encouraging. And Ray was angry. I suppose it was no wonder that there were no local politicians in attendance to face his ire. Ray loved bookstores, and libraries were the universities from which he had graduated.
Long after his visit Acres of Books stands empty and vacant like ruins from a past civilization. Like memories from one of his stories that will live on long after there are no buildings left to hold them.
{vsig}deboom/bradbury{/vsig}