Wonderland

On the way up to Madison and then Minneapolis, as part of my summer vacation visiting friends, I stopped off in Rockford to check out the Wonderland bookstore - an indie specializing in children's books I found on the the indiebound website (www.indiebound.org). It's been a long time since I've been in Rockford, the last time being in 1989 when I came down in high school for a second shot at the S.A.T. For some unfathomable reason, I thought I could find the high school by aimlessly driving around sections of the city. Finally I had to get a map at a gas station, but in driving around for 3 or 4 hours, I got to see quite a lot of Rockford.

Ever since I was very young, in the late 70s to early 80s, Rockford was viewed by many as one of the most unpleasant American cities in which to live. This was largely due to the rust belt deindustrialization that inflicted cities such as Rockford, resulting in large unemployment rates and a gutted economy. (As noted in Michael Moore's Roger and Me, Rockford vied with Flint as the worst place to live in Money magazine.) But in driving around Rockford today, I believe that much of the derision directed to the town had to do with its working-class roots and the corporate attack against workers in this country originating in the early 70s. Sure, I'm sure that Rockford suffered due to the economic policies of the 70s and 80s; the suffering in Flint was more than apparent in Moore's movie. But, just as my impression in '89, Rockford seems like a great town! Straddling the Rock River, it's downtown is very pleasant and the whole metro region is quite large and bustling. And from what I can tell, the people are very friendly. Before finding Wonderland, I stopped in a Subway for lunch, and to my surprise the workers there were extremely interested in what I was reading (Aristotle, no less) and when talking about my union-made shirt (No Sweat, not made in a sweatshop), both were very pro-union. I have to say, just this little conversation alone put Rockford high on my list of places to visit!

As it turned out, though, bookstores in Rockford happened to be closed on Sunday, July 5th. Before even finding Wonderland, I ran into two other indie bookstores nearby, one called Canterbury (of which I couldn't see anything much inside) and the other a religious bookstore, ostensibly Catholic, if the large life-size cutout of the Pope was any guide at all. Both were closed, though. I finally found Wonderland across the street, in another bourgie strip mall across the street. From the outside looking in, the store itself looked like it had a very large collection of children's books, a teacher's gem. It looked very impressive from the outside. As I returned to my car, I thought that I'd love a store such as this when I was in elementary school.

Well, no luck visiting the stores. But, with my very positive experience visiting Rockford, I'll be back someday.

Wonderland
1625 North Alpine Road
Rockford, Illinois