Labor Day has come and gone, and on the holiday my sister and I were talking about transitioning from summer to fall.
I looked around the house and surveyed the steps that accompany such a transition ¬- such as placing a cover over the air conditioning unit, cleaning and storing the barbeque grill, and putting up hooks in the garage for my children's bikes.
Then I thought about the bigger transition in my life. This is the last column that I'll be writing for The Bolingbrook Sun. I'm moving over to the Bugle Newspapers.
And some of you may have heard that this paper recently won 21 journalism awards, including this column for "original column." I've got to say that this column has been original in that I've had original people, places and events to write about here in Bolingbrook.
Thanks to my editors: Dan Cassidy, for giving me the opportunity to share my opinion on these pages, Katie Foutz, for her editing touches, and a special thanks to all of you who took the time to read this column and occasionally drop me a line.
It's been a blast.
And I hope to continue to see all of you around the Brook.
I don't know what is it with humans and vampires. My sisters and I have become vampire junkies overnight. We've fallen for the fangs of HBO's vampire series True Blood. On Sunday nights, we're literally three grown women sitting by the television waiting for the show to come on.
A couple of weeks ago, I was at Fountaindale Public Library. I didn't have my glasses on, but I could vaguely make out the True Blood logo on a DVD case behind the librarian counter.
I asked if that was in fact True Blood, the librarian confirmed it. I then asked if I could check it out. She said I'd have to wait in line. The series had previous "holds" on it, people waiting for it to come in so that they could check it out.
Because it's such a new series (It's in its second season.) I didn't think of looking at the library for the first season, which I missed. Bolingbrook library has a pre-ordering system that automatically orders titles that librarians expect to be popular, so that a patron can conceivably get a title the same day that it's released in stores.
And while two months ago, I would not have thought that a column on vampires was warranted; however, everywhere I go I hear people talking about True Blood or Twilight, and they seem equally excited and devoted as I have become to the underworld.
"Vampires seem to be very popular right now," said library spokesman, Tony LuCarelli, "These things go in cycles and we just happen to be in one," he said. Last fall when the Twilight movie came out, the library registered over 500 holds on the book alone.
And so I ask my original question - what is it about vampires and us? For myself I'm too afraid to answer that question. But what I will say out loud is that I can't get enough of a mysterious vampire with a dark bravado. There it is, I said it.
And if you're looking for a titillating new release, you just might find it at the Bolingbrook Library...that is if you're willing wait a couple of dark nights.
There's a workshop this weekend for families who might need help remaining in their homes. I saw the workshop, sponsored by Community Services Council, on the village's website.
I thought this might be a good workshop to learn more about homeownership.
When I called I learned that the event is primarily for people who need immediate assistance with foreclosure prevention and seniors looking for reverse mortgages information.
"It's aimed at people who are in trouble," said Bob Kalnicky, executive director of Community Services Council. "We'll be there with our counselors helping people with pending foreclosures and people who are behind in their mortgages."
Last year about 75 to 100 people attended the workshop. This year the organization expects to see even more, with about 100 to 125 people expected.
A key strategy that attendees can expect to be offered at the workshop is loan modification, such as lowering a home's interest rate or changing the length of a loan. Some loans can be stretched from a 30-year to a 40-year structure, Kalnicky said.
"It's about getting it to a place where people can afford it," he said. "Banks are more negotiable now. They want to keep people in their homes, because they don't want the inventory."
And how are Bolingbrook families doing in the wake of the foreclosure crisis? Kalnicky said the real estate inventory in the village is growing, and that his office has yet to see a peak. Each month about 200 area families contact the council looking for foreclosure relief.
If you plan to attend the event, it's recommended that you bring current loan documentation, income verification and a list of your bills.
The class will be held at the Romeoville Rec Center, located at 900 W. Romeo Road, in Romeoville, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, Aug 29. For more information, visit the company's website at thecsc.org.
At the beginning of the day everyone seemed quite happy.
There were parents smiling and taking pictures of their babies.
And there were children all dressed-up in their back to school gear.
It was a win-win for both kids and parents.
But by the end of the day, the parents were quickly reminded of all that goes along with children returning to school - school information to be consumed, forms to be filled out, PTA's to join or not join, play-dates to set and extra-curricula activities to pay.
So whether we're saying "hello" to a new school year and goodbye to summer camp, for parents it really doesn't matter. For us, there's really no break, whether the kids are coming or going.
I organized a block club party on my block this past week. We ordered all of the free activities that the park district offers, the climbing wall, the trackless train, a clown show, a fire department truck and an ambulance. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had her way with us, and it rained like cats and dogs.
But it was an opportunity to meet my neighbors as I knocked on their doors to invite them. I learned a lot about community involvement. People you expect to come - don't, and people you don't expect to come - do. And I really had some faithful neighbors to step in and help. Thanks to all of them.
Unfortunately, because of the rain the kids never got the chance to scale the wall or rattle around the trackless train. But I've got to say thank you to firemen Edgar Hughes and Pat Sperling of the Bolingbrook Fire Department. They may not know it, but they saved the day. During a tornado watch, they demonstrated to a crowd of children what it means to be a fireman, and the kids got a kick out of wearing their fire gear and looking through their engine truck.
And also thanks to Cocoa, the clown, who also braved the wet weather. She stood in my garage, dressed from head to toe in a clown costume and made the most amazing balloon animals that I've ever seen.
We're at the end of the summer and kids are headed back to school, but if you ever get a chance to plan or participate in a block party, do it. It's a chance to connect yourself to the community that is Bolingbrook.
When I sit down to write I often ask myself what topic took my attention this week.
This week it was Mayor Roger Claar.
I met with him about a story that I'm working on involving Illinois American Water Company. When I arrived at his office he wasn't there. His administrative assistant invited me into his office to wait.
When I walked in, I was taken by the spectacular ceiling-to-floor window view. As I took a seat at a table in his office, I glanced at the clock (as a had another appointment immediately afterward). I asked his assistant when would the Mayor be arriving. She said without looking at me, "The Mayor is a busy man." She seemed to say it in a tone that implied I had just accused her very son.
As I sat there I looked around the room. There I noticed a baseball hat collection strung from the ceiling and memorabilia and plaques nailed to the walls. There were also newspapers and magazines on top of the desk, table and filing cabinets - many with the Mayor's face and name on the cover. His space reflects a lifelong committment to service.
A few minutes later the Mayor came into the room and took a seat at the table next to me. The assistant sat his cup of coffee in front of him as though she were a waitress serving a faithful and longtime customer. I sat next to the Mayor and across from James Boan, the village attorney, a very knowledge man on the subject of village utilities.
And as always the mayor didn't disappoint. He answered my questions very direct and without hesitation, not a man known to mince words. And as I was about to leave he asked if I were now going from writing soft news (this column) to reporting hard news (water rate story).
I didn't mention to him my own dedication to service through community reporting, or that I was not a virgin to hard news. Hard news for me consist of covering the Jeffrey Dahmer serial murders; watching Cardinal Joseph Bernadine being accused of sexual abuse at a news conference; and winning the Illinois Press Association Award for reporting on the alleged misuse of TIF (Tax Increment Funding) in the City of Chicago.
What I like about doing soft news, or something like this column, is that it provides the opportunity to look into the lives of human nature, and I think that's important. See you around the Brook.
It was interesting to see Mayor Roger Claar accepting responsibility for failing to support the construction of a new Fountaindale Library.
I attended the groundbreaking with all the usual local dignitaries, business leaders and library administrators. We all sat under a tent, sipped juice and ate cookies. And for me, it was nice and cordial, as these things tend to be, until Mayor Claar approached the microphone.
There he admitted that he was initially against the project, a project that bought all of these book-looking individuals to the tent on such a fine day. He used a familiar and quite cleaver quote: "I was against it before I was for it," he said. And everyone got a bit of a chuckle out of that.
I respect that he didn't get up there and make up some excuse as to why he didn't support the project, nor did even say why to the audience of library professional, but in January 2008 library administrators, said he publicly stated that he was against it. I called Claar to find out his initial reasons for begin against the project; however, he was unavailable for comment.
What I also admire about this project is that the people moved forward with their vision and prevailed. Claar himself alluded to this project taking a democratic approach.
"This is how our great country works," he said referring to the fact that although he was against it, the project managed to succeed. Because in February 2008, voters passed a referendum to build the new library.
The project was initially spearheaded in 2004 when library administrators invited a group of local residents to sit down as a focus group. Library officials ask the residents what would they like to see in a new library, said Tony Lucarelli, a spokesperson for the library. That group became the library's Citizens Planning Committee, the group who lobbied for the new library.
As a result, Bolingbrook will soon have a new $43.6 million LEED-certified (Leader in Energy Efficiency Design) library. Construction has begun and the new facility is expected to be completed in 2011. I say let's continue to turn the page on the democratic process. Who knows what's possible.
Debbie Lively is an award-winning journalist, novelist and Bolingbrook mother of two. She also instructs people in the art of writing.
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