There was this crazy man who used to come into the library everyday in the 1990s. He was usually homeless and off his meds. He would lumber around the library all day, spending most of his time up on the second floor listening to classical music at the quiet study listening station. He would stand with the old 70s style puffy ear phones on, with his plastic bag boots and hodge podge of clothing, furiously conducting or pantomiming the violin.
For some reason, he really hated me and every time he saw me would threaten to "stab me." Not a unusual reaction to me, actually. Anyway, one day as I walked past the nest of books he had built around himself, he muttered his usual threats, only this time another customer heard these violent promises. This man thought he was being threated by the conductor and told me to call the police. Which I did.
He was escorted from the library and was trespassed from the building. For a few years, we would still see him wandering along the bus line, but he never returned to the library.
He somehow made his way to Skid Row in Los Angeles, where a writer for the LA Times wrote a series of articles about him. Those can be found here...
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lopez-skidrow-nathaniel-series,0...
NPR did a story on him, which can be found here...
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5021961
The articles have been turned into a book, to be published in a few weeks...
www.amazon.com/Soloist-Dream-Unlikely-Friendship-Redemptive/dp/039915506...
The book is being made into a movie...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0821642/fullcredits
Joined: 2006-08-23
Location: Cleveland Heights Ohio