Lessons from the Fair

Lessons from the Fair: Chapter 1

Prologue:

Western Massachusetts, 1964

Lillian sighed and ran her hand through her short silver hair as she stacked another cardboard box in the corner of her attic. She had already been hard at work for the last 2 hours in the top floor of her house as she unpacked her belongings that had made the move with her from New York City more than a month ago. While she had made quick work of settling into her farmhouse after the move, the items in the attic had remained packed way until today. Lillian had found enough to keep her busy in the first month of her retirement, but the beginning of September made her long for a connection to her previous life. After more than 50 years of teaching, the start of a school year was ingrained in her bones. So today, she found herself unpacking all the memories - pictures, student essays, yearbooks, lecture notes - that had accumulated over the years.

She had enjoyed taking this trip down memory lane but was also thankful that she only had one more box to go. The unfinished loft space was beginning to heat up as the sun rose higher in the sky. As she began to transfer more artifacts into the wooden trunk, a thick pack of letters held together by a string caught her eye. The handwriting on the top envelope took her mind back to a time before her career as an educator had even begun - a simpler time before she had worked her way up to be the president of her public college, before two world wars had forced her to watch her students leave and never return, before the depression had caused her to seek extra work as a tutor, and before the pressures of life had turned her a bit more cynical. As she opened the first letter, the opening sentences transported Lillian back to a hot day in August 60 years ago where the sights and sounds of the St. Louis World's Fair washed over her senses.

Rather than being a 76 year old retiree, the flood of memories turned Lillian into a 16 year old student exploring the Louisiana Purchase Exhibition of 1904. She could feel the heat from the August sun, hear the call from the barkers at the Pike advertising their outlandish shows, smell and taste the food novelties, and see the many different villages and demonstrations that had elated her decades ago. The St. Louis World's Fair was a grand affair that captured the attention of the nation and the world that year. Thousands of people from all over the world attended or were part of the exhibit. In addition to hosting Olympic competitions, the fair was meant to demonstrate the power and progress of the United States and highlight the economic benefit of some of its new territorial possessions like Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and the Philippines. Though the U.S. was excellent at self-promotion, countries from around the world also vied to demonstrate their own importance through demonstrations, artifacts, technology, and presentations. Visitors to the fair were barraged with exotic scenes, learning opportunities, and a chance to make new memories around every corner. This was the fair of all fairs! One particular moment stood out above all the others for Lillian, though: the first time she had met Francisco.

St. Louis, 1904

October 3, 1904

Dear Lillian,

I was very glad to receive your letter yesterday. I did not dare hope that you would actually write me as we discussed, but your correspondence brought me glee. Please forgive my English faults as I am still learning proper etiquette in American writing.

Thank you for your kind words in your letter. You do not have any reasons to continue to apologize to me about your words at the fair that first day. I am well aware of the misguided popular American view about Filipinos like myself and do not believe that you truly entertained the idea that we are cannibals as you inquired that day. I believe both you and I received a thorough education at the fair.