Hidden/Open Treasures

Book Escape, Light Street near Montgomery Street,
Baltimore (the store occupies both of these)

I finally got around to visiting a used book store in Baltimore that I'd planned to browse last year--Book Escape. My main goal was to see if they have any books I could use to study for the Maryland bar exam; however, as I thought would be the case, they didn't have any. I was surprised to find that behind the facade of the store, which combines two storefronts, is a small courtyard or atrium surrounded by the two buildings. I asked the book seller whether he knew anything about the background of this atrium or how common this kind of thing is in Baltimore, but he didn't know.

This reminds of Chinese courtyard houses that hide a courtyard filled with trees and maybe a small pond behind grey, often windowless, walls. Most of the courtyard houses in Beijing had to be divided up for multiple families who then erected small kitchens in the middle spaces. The courtyard of this bookstore is tiny, though, just enough to allow more windows in the houses.

Book Escape, one side of courtyard, toward front of the store

Book Escape, right side of store, through window to courtyard

Book Escape, left side of store, door to courtyard

I wonder about the relationship between this kind of hidden spot and the Do Ho Suh exhibit in my March 14, 2017, post. Even as a lot of us get revealed online, much is still hidden. But even what is open few care to glance at. It's like the experiment the Washington Post ran with violinist Joshua Bell in 2007: "Pearls Before Breakfast: Can one of the nation’s great musicians cut through the fog of a D.C. rush hour? Let’s find out."  By Gene Weingarten April 8, 2007.

"It was 7:51 a.m. on Friday, January 12, the middle of the morning rush hour. In the next 43 minutes, as the violinist performed six classical pieces, 1,097 people passed by. Almost all of them were on the way to work, which meant, for almost all of them, a government job. L’Enfant Plaza is at the nucleus of federal Washington, and these were mostly mid-level bureaucrats with those indeterminate, oddly fungible titles: policy analyst, project manager, budget officer, specialist, facilitator, consultant.

Each passerby had a quick choice to make, one familiar to commuters in any urban area where the occasional street performer is part of the cityscape: Do you stop and listen?" Only one person revealed that she recognized Bell. "In the three-quarters of an hour that Joshua Bell played, seven people stopped what they were doing to hang around and take in the performance, at least for a minute. Twenty-seven gave money, most of them on the run -- for a total of $32 and change. That leaves the 1,070 people who hurried by, oblivious, many only three feet away, few even turning to look." Here's a sped-up video of what happened: "Stop and Hear the Music." [2 min 36 sec]

Many people's lives seem to be like that as they hope to be noticed, not necessarily by many but enough to be cared for by at least one person. Everyday events and scenes are like Bell's performance, too. One of the key findings in the research by John and Julie Gottman on marriages is that happy couples are vastly more likely to respond to a partner's bid for connection or attention. (Short summary: "An Introduction to Emotional Bids and Trust." Longer Wisconsin Public Radio, "To the Best of Our Knowledge" interview: "Calculus of Love." [12 min 26 sec]

As I was leaving a student flute recital at the Peabody Conservatory, I was reminded of this research when I saw this.

Washington Monument in Baltimore (first major memorial to George Washington,
completed in 1829) More info at Mount Vernon Place Conservancy website