My son and me, posing in front of the sign advertising the appearance by President Jimmy Carter. It was a bit chillier than expected, as well as noisy. But in the end, it was definitely worth it!
This is President Jimmy Carter's new book - "A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power
A couple of days ago, I mentioned in a post that President Jimmy Carter was coming to this area for a book signing. New York City is always going to be a big draw, of course, and he has come here before. This was not the first time that I would attend one of these functions of his, for that matter.
But that said, it would be the first time that I would take my son to one. He is eight years old, and this seemed like a unique opportunity for him to experience something that he might not experience again for a long time, if ever.
So, off we went.
Truth be told, I found this time to be different in several ways then the three previous times that I had gone to the city for a book signing event with President Carter. The previous times, I had been less organized, even though I had enjoyed more time beforehand. I found out about this less than 48 hours before it happened, but was determined to make this happen, and make it a success - mostly because the last time I had been to one, I had been disappointed by the extent of their limiting the amount of books signed. Following that, I made sure that the books that I wanted signed were all in one place, should the opportunity rise again, like it did this time. Also, I never had a camera on me before, but my cell phone nowadays does have one, which would afford me the opportunity to snap some pictures, hopefully!
I met my son and his mother (my ex-wife) at our designated meeting place -Willowbrook Mall parking lot. It was more or less midway between us, so it worked out best, and I am appreciative that she was willing to drive out that far. He seemed in high spirits. But then again, it was a surprise day off from school for him, as well as an exciting opportunity to meet a famous and historically important person!
It seemed best if we got some food in us, so I picked up some bagels (flavored for him), so we would not be starving while on line, and unable to get out of the line. The previous such events with Carter had been like that, so I was prepared to stand for hours, if need be.
After that, we headed towards Newark, to my old place of employment, and his former school. There is some cheap parking there that I know of, and we then took the PATH train to the city. My son absolutely adores trains, and he was fascinated by it all! This was already very exciting!
We got there, and obviously, there was some walking to do. The PATH takes you to 33rd Street, but the store was on 46th Street and 5th Avenue, which was a bit of a distance. Maybe that does not sound too long, but when you have an eight year old who, understandably, is taking everything in, fascinated by the noise and the sites and the energy of the big city, it can take some time. He has taken a fascination with rocks lately, and we passed a very impressive looking rock/jewelry store. The store front window showed a huge display of fossils and expensive looking boulders and such. I promised him that we would visit it as we headed back.
Finally, we arrived at the store and, sure enough, there was a line that already wrapped around the corner. The first time I went to one of these (at Barnes and Noble on Union Square), the book signing was on the fourth level, and they closed off the entire floor for the event. So, those of us who were waiting to get the President's autograph could wait inside, in the warmth. True, sitting on the floor for a long period of time can be uncomfortable. But it was better than standing outside, listening to garbage trucks across the street picking up all the debris that the construction workers were bringing out of the building. But, hey, what can you do?
Of course, the first thing that I had to do was pick up a couple of copies of the new book. So, we went in and did that, after first stopping at the bathroom. We both needed to go. He thought he did not at first, but I told him it might be a long wait, and so he decided it might be best.
Then, we went back outside. Walked around the corner, and found what appeared to be the end of the line, not maybe fifty feet after the corner. Wow! This was looking good!
Then, the security lady kind of smiled, and told us the end of the line was further back. I saw that we were by what might have been loading bays, which are not to be blocked, and saw a line of people standing beyond.
Sighing, I told my son that we needed to keep walking.
As we reached the end of the line, we looked around. There was some kind of construction project across the street, and a bunch of very noisy garbage trucks lined up, picking up the garbage, apparently, from the worksite.
Great!
My son mentioned how loud it was. But then, he began to be preoccupied with the sidewalk scaffolding on our side of the street, and started climbing. He kept remarkably occupied throughout the wait, which wound up being not nearly as long as I feared.
When you stand around long enough on a line, there is a good chance that, eventually, you will talk to the people next to you. That's what happened here. The guy behind me had apparently brought his family, as his wife and daughter were there. Or, actually, I should mention that, for the most part, they weren't there, but going to the café to pick up goodies, and looking for other places to stay warm and to find small comforts. The guy asked me if I had taken my son out from school for the day for this. Yes, I had, because it was such a unique event and opportunity. He agreed, and told me the same with his daughter.
The guy in front of me was a science teacher right in the city, apparently playing hooky from school for the day so that he could attend this event. He had also gone to one of these events before with President Carter. He mentioned that he was from Connecticut, and I mentioned that we were from New Jersey. Before long, the conversation turned political, and he asked if I was a supporter of Christie.
God no!
He laughed, feeling a lot better after that answer, and we got to talking for quite some time after that. We talked about politics, about Jimmy Carter, and even about comic super heroes, as he was apparently a big fan of Marvel characters. I tried to engage my son in the conversation with this topic, but he apparently was having none of it. But the guy apparently was very well informed about the history of Marvel, and told me, for example, that Stan Lee kind of posed as the creator of Marvel, but really wasn't. Learn something new everyday.
By this point, the line was moving, and we finally entered the building. Upstairs, to the line, with the aligning area not far, although it was blocked off by curtains placed all around, so you could not actually see anything. They instructed us to prepare our books, but since I figured this would be like the last time, where the line snaked around each row of bookshelves, I took more time than probably I should have, since it seemed we had plenty of time.
Butt we approached the signing area much quicker than expected. The previous times that I had done this, it had gone much slower, but there were probably good reasons for this. First of all, this was the middle of a weekday! That makes a difference. I happened to have had that time off naturally, given my schedule (and even if I didn't, I probably would have tried to make a way to make it free), so it was not a problem from my end. But for others, it would probably prove to be more of a challenge than if this had taken place during an evening session. Also, there seemed less publicity this time around then before. I happened to stumble on this information just a day or two beforehand, and quickly took action and made my plans. But I was lucky to have done so. Point was, there were not nearly as many people as any of the previous three times that I had seen him. Now, he is a former President, so that is going to attract a crowd. And given the day and the time, it was a fair amount of people, with the line stretching past the entrance of the building, around the corner, to the end of the block, where as I understand it, it went around another corner. But still, we were more or less in and out much quicker than I expected. The line inside the store did not snake around the shelves, like they have in the past. Before I knew it, we were pretty much there.
Now, when I had called the store the day before, just to confirm that this event was still on, and to ask some general questions, they had told me that pictures were more or less frowned upon. That was entirely in keeping with the two previous times that I had seen President Carter, although the first time, it was at another Barnes & Noble (the one at Union Square), and the set up was entirely different, and much more conducive to picture taking. The problem was, I did not have any camera, including my cheap cell phone at the time, which did not have a camera feature. I was dying to get some pictures, but was discouraged.
Imagine my surprise, then, when one of the employees said that we could take quick pictures, but only in the short waiting area just before giving our books to be signed! So, I took a few pictures - as many as I could, really - and hoped that at least one of them would come out well. Keep in mind that I was trying to get my books out of the bag and ready simultaneously, and the security guys kept telling everyone to keep moving, or get your books ready. Everything was done, as always, to expedite the time involved. A few of them came out decently. Not great, but not too bad, either. These are posted down below.
It was a relief to finally get a picture of one of these events! I was glad. But suddenly, we were up next, and again, pictures were frowned upon at too close a range. So, I clumsily fumbled my phone back into my pocket, and approached the President, while urging my son on in front of me, to go ahead and meet the President.
President Carter looked at my son after signing the last of the previous person's books, and mentioned that now we have a very important customer.
He looked at my son warmly, and then asked, "What's your name?"
My son told him. First and last name. Very respectfully, very properly.
President Carter then turned to me, with the same good spirit in his eyes and demeanor.
"Take good care of him."
"Yes, I will, Mr. President."
I also thanked him for signing our books.
And then it was done. Not much of a conversation, especially from my end, admittedly. Still, it was better than the previous times that I had gone to one of these events, and found myself speaking hoarsely, barely comprehensible even to my own ears. A bit tongue-tied those last times, when all I could muster was an almost choked off, "Thank you, Mr. President." Then, I would awkwardly walk away, looking back to steal glances at the man.
This time, it was better. More words exchanged, and almost an actual conversation, small though it might have been. And my son, who can often be awkward, if not downright rude in these situations, was actually pretty good this time around. Respectful, answering the question posed to him thoroughly and attentively.
A few years ago, when I went to a similar event to see Andre Agassi for a book signing, Agassi had wanted to engage my son, but he was in a combative mood, telling Agassi that he did not want to talk to him.
"But I want to talk to you!", Agassi responded, as my son fought off my efforts to encourage some kind of conversation, stalking off angrily, making sure, one last time, that Andre Agassi understood that he wanted absolutely nothing to do with him.
I thanked Agassi, obviously awkwardly, and went after my son.
Agassi said one last thing, with people laughing all around.
"Good luck with him!" he said, in a conspiratorial tone that suggested that luck would be necessary.
Yes, that had been a bit uncomfortable. And I wanted, at all costs, to avoid that kind of a scenario this time around.
Indeed, it could have been much worse. In fact, this time around things went without a hitch at all, really. Under the circumstances, it was probably the best that I could hope for.
So, walking away from the President, I was thankful. Told my son to look one last time, to get a good look at President Carter, as he was back to signing books again. He can do that awfully fast, by the way. When I went to the Julius Erving book signing in November at the Philadelphia Free Library, I overheard one of the workers there mentioning that while some of the people could sign books quickly, the undisputed record holder was Jimmy Carter. Indeed, in past book signing events with him, I remember him seemingly scribbling his name on the books, then sliding them down in a very cool manner, over and over again with each book, my own included. Yet, when I checked his autograph, they all looked pretty much the same! You cannot say that he doesn't have a talent for those things.
We walked away, feeling great! The science teacher was there, waiting for us with a smile. The books were really cool souvenirs of the event, he said, and I agreed. He also mentioned that hopefully, my son would remember this, I obviously did, too. He is still young, and seems to have forgotten some of the things that we did together, which is pretty common for very young people, I guess.
Oh, and we did stop at the rock store on the way home. I even got him something, a little bottle with little rocks, the name of which I can't quite remember at the moment. Green something or other. I eventually had to kind of get him out of there, because it was getting later than expected, there were things that I had to do, but mostly, I was getting very, very tired. ad not slept all night before, because I was working. All of that fatigue came rushing in all at once when we got out of the wind and the cold and into the rock store.
Also, I guess I'll admit to being more than a little nervous each time he approached some of the really expensive rocks. Some of them went for $20,000! Daddy does not carry that kind of cash around. Hell, it would take me years to pay that off, if he did break something like that! I'm not made of money, and far from rich!
We left, and headed back to the PATH trains. Got back to Journal Square, the transfer station, in what seemed like no time. Perhaps a part of why it felt quick was that my head kept nodding in and out, my hat pulled over my eyes, drifting in and out.
The wait at Journal Square felt long, and cold. I remembered how I had a girlfriend a few years back, and we at times would meet at that station if we met to go to the city. She recommended Grove Street instead, because it was indoors, and warm. I regretting not doing that this time around.
Eventually, finally, the train got there, and we got back to Newark, to our car, and got him home, with signed books in hand! I wondered if he would remember this event, and he said maybe, but he couldn't be sure.
Still, this was a very memorable event, and a pleasant day, overall.
I think that this was the clearest shot that I had of President Carter. He is the man with the white hair, seated and signing books. There are obviously plenty of people all around him. Some, I believe, were secret service agents they were around, and were around, The others are employees of the store. There was a very limited window of opportunity to take pictures, and you could only do it from a bit of a distance. That is why there are no straight on shots, or anything. Also, there were so many people standing in the way for much of it, that I took what I could get, when there were clearings (usually, all too brief). Still, this one came out okay, given the circumstances.
I had been hoping to sneak one picture after the signing, but they put up the curtains all around the President, to make it more difficult. Security precautions, surely, and that is understandable. You can see the curtains in the background.
Not going home disappointed - here is the autograph that President Jimmy Carter gave for my copy of his latest book, "A Call to Action"!
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