One Month & Four Days Later

It is about 2:30 in the morning here in near the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It 59 degrees outside with a dark, but clear sky. I am inside my air-conditioned room, which I turned to low fan mode. I cannot sleep because I inadvertently took a late nap while listening to an audiobook on YouTube so now, I am wide awake with no one talk to and with my sleep pattern ruined for now. So, I decided to do an impromptu blog entry and give an update on the small passion projects I have been engaged with thus far and to share some short-term goals.

11 Days Ago, my top bookcase (which my roommate got for my birthday last year) had been putting pressure on my bottom bookshelf (made of press board MDF which my roommate gave to me for Christmas) which was sagging over time and humidity. 

As a result of these compounding factors, my bookshelf collapsed. 

Over the next several days, after seeking advice from friends & strangers on twitter, I bought three small black bookshelves locally through Facebook marketplace and with the help of one of my roommates, we brought them all to the place where we live (though not in one trip). After some time, my new bookshelves, (one with nine cubes & another with three cubes placed on top), have been filled with books consisting of presidential biographies, memoirs, and chronicles of the Civil Rights Movement, including books on and by civil rights heroes - Congressman John Lewis & Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

(This is how it appears of the day of this blog entry.)

The smaller bookshelf on the left consisting of three shelves is one I have christened the "Kennedy Library" as a reference to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston. I also refer to it as the "Kennedy Corner" since it is in the corner of my room. I fill the smaller bookshelf with books relating to The Kennedy Family, particularly on President John F. Kennedy along with Senators Robert F. Kennedy and Edward M. Kennedy respectively (known as Jack, Bobby, and Teddy to their family). I have also ordered some more books on them that will be arriving here over the coming weeks. I hope it doesn't fill up too quickly because I want to leave room for more books which will be published in the future, particularly Frederik Logevall's second volume of his two book biography of JFK (initials for John Fitzgerald Kennedy as almost everyone knows).

I'm also hoping to obtain this vintage JFK Head Sculpture by Robert Berks replica on marble base some time next week from a lady in Kansas through Facebook marketplace. I want to use it to crown my bookshelf dedicated to books on The Kennedys. Although there are two small chips on the marble base, I thought the price had been reasonable (and within my budget) in comparison to how much it is worth without the small chips. I'm not going to mention the price, but I will say that I am hoping that after this weekend, I can make arrangements to make sure I can pay for it at the right time. 

(Vintage JFK Head Sculpture by Robert Berks Replica)

I would also like to obtain this "Portrait of John F. Kennedy" by Norman Rockwell replica, with no glass in frame, to also crown my Kennedy bookshelf behind the JFK Head Sculpture I'm hoping to acquire. The seller has not replied to my inquiry of whether the item is still available as of yet. I can only hope at this point. 

("Portrait of John F. Kennedy" by Norman Rockwell Replica)

Although I would treasure both of these items once they're in my possession, none would or ever compare to my most treasured item in my Kennedy Collection. A book entitled "The Nine Of Us: Growing Up Kennedy" by Jean Kennedy Smith (1928-2020), 

(My copy of "The Nine Of Us: Growing Up Kennedy" by Jean Kennedy Smith)

For those who don't know, she was appointed to be United States Ambassador to Ireland by President Bill Clinton in 1993 and stayed in her post until 1998. As ambassador, she contributed to the Irish peace process (which I hope to learn more about) and years later, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. She was also the last surviving sibling of her brothers nicknamed Teddy, Bobby, and Jack Kennedy. 

(L-R: Jean Kennedy Smith with her family & with her brother President Kennedy) 

What's special about this copy of her book is that she signed it at the only time that I met her one evening on January 24, 2017 at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. 

(Myself with Ambassador Smith at the JFK Library on 1/24/2017 & the page in which she signed my copy of her book.)

I believe that in meeting her deepened my interest in the history of her siblings and it may have been the genesis of what will be my Kennedy Book Collection. This is also coincidentally the sixtieth anniversary of the year in which John F. Kennedy was inaugurated as the 35th President of the United States. To commemorate this anniversary, I will be obtaining more books on the Kennedys in the future; I just hope that I don't run out of space. 

With nothing else to add for this night, I will conclude this blog entry with a quote from a book I have yet to obtain called “The Gospel According to RFK: Why it Matters Now (ed. 2004). In it, Robert F Kennedy apparently said: "Together, we can make ourselves a nation that spends more on books than on bombs, more on hospitals than the terrible tools of war, more on decent houses than military aircraft."