Tag: TheMostAmazingMuseumOfChicago

Margerumalia – Writers on Display

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – September 12, 2025

I was honored to receive an email recently telling me that my book would be featured in a display at The Caretaker’s Cottage curated by the West Lafayette Public Library. My wife and I went over to see it and she took this photo of me. You can see MAMLA on the top shelf of the display case farthest to the right.

It’s quite the incentive to put my nose to the grindstone and finish my sequel, The Most Amazing Museum of Chicago. I have 10,335 words written on my first draft, so that’s not nothing! 

The Caretaker’s Cottage was remodeled into a beautiful little museum that the public library set up and it sits on the edge of Grandview Cemetery, where my parents and grandmother are buried. The cottage was built around the turn of the twentieth century and housed the cemetery caretaker and his family.

The grand view, now hidden by majestic maples and towering oak trees, looked down the hillside and across the Wabash River, providing a spectacular vista of Lafayette.

I used to walk or ride my bike past that cemetery on my way to junior high school and always found it calming, not frightening like cemeteries in the movies.

The rotating displays of the museum honors West Lafayette residents from soldiers to sports figures to writers, telling the story of our city. There used to be a display of my mother’s campaign memorabilia and some highlights of her twenty-four years as mayor. That exhibit and more are now housed on the top floor of the public library.

A less comfortable story, but vital to tell, is that West Lafayette was once a sun-down town. That means that everyone who was not white had to leave the town by the time the sun went down. Non-whites were allowed to clean houses and do manual labor, but they could not live here. 

This practice ended before I was born, but it sends a cold spike into my guts when I think about it. The docent admitted that she benefitted from generational wealth, living in the house that her grandparents built about a century ago. She even showed us a copy of the deed they signed with large letters excluding non-whites. It was poignant. 

What is it they say in Alcoholics Anonymous? Before you can begin mending, you have to admit you have a problem? I’m glad to see the racial mix across the city and when I work part time at the Junior/Senior High School. I hope we, as a nation, can continue to mend and learn from our history how ever uncomfortable it may be. 

We are, after all, the human race. We are one people. 

TTFN

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My middle grade novel, The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles is available through The BookBaby Bookshop at https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-most-amazing-museum-of-los-angeles

Margerumalia – The Great Chicago Fire

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – May 16, 2025

PHOTO CREDIT: NewYorker.com

Did the Great Chicago Fire really begin in the O’Leary’s barn or was that just a story?

Were the sidewalks of Chicago in 1871 made of wood like you see in the old westerns or were they made of paving stones? Because wood burns, stones, not so much. 

Why do the photos of Chicago from that time period show telephone poles along the streets when telephones weren’t invented yet? The patent for the Bell Telephone wasn’t granted until 1876.

It’s interesting the questions that pop up when you’re writing about historical events. I hadn’t thought about the number of things I’d want to know to create a realistic picture of the past.

In The Most Amazing Museum of Chicago two of my characters travel back in time to the Great Chicago Fire and I want the readers to feel like they were really there. 

Yes, the fire did start in the O’Leary’s cow shed but there are multiple theories about how it began and who was responsible, so I get to make that part up. The kids in the story will witness it and may be partly responsible. The O’Leary’s house was spared because the fire spread north away from their home and you can find maps on line showing the devastation that followed. 

The sidewalks of Chicago in 1871 were wooden slats in some places and paving stones in others, depending on wealth and location. Modern poured concrete wouldn’t come into use for another twenty years. It was probably used in the later rebuilding of The Windy City.

And the telephone poles are actually telegraph poles. I had no idea that the telegraph lines would be all over the place like that. I don’t know how I’ll use that information, but it’s interesting to know.

I’m reminded of when I directed a production of The Outsiders a couple of years ago—not the musical version that’s currently just on Broadway—and I had to tell the kids not to give each other high fives after they successfully fought off the other gang of teens. When I told them the move hadn’t been invented yet, they looked at me like I was telling them shoes hadn’t been invented yet. The high five developed out of the “gimme five” hand slap of the 1960’s and wouldn’t be commonplace until the early 1970’s. The Outsiders takes place is the mid-1950’s, so a high five would be completely out of place. The actors found other ways to celebrate their victory.

As a writer friend pointed out, you don’t want to cause your reader, or audience member, to get distracted by things that are out of place. You just want them to be in the story.  

TTFN

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If you received this email because it was forwarded to you by a subscriber, welcome. You can subscribe as well by following the link on my website: ericmargerum.com. A free story awaits you there.

Margerumalia – Local Author Fair

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – April 18, 2025

BOOK SIGNING

Tomorrow is the Local Author Fair at the Tippecanoe County Public Library and I’ve been practicing a short reading from Chapter 6 of MAMLA. It’s the part where Maria and her mom take an elevator up to the clouds and have quite the ride getting there!

I wrote in my January Margerumalia about a resolution to retrain myself to speak with the kind of clarity I’d developed as an actor, and I’m just a little nervous in spite of daily practice. I know I’ll be my own worst critic, but it’s because I used to be able to do this so easily.

I have a remarkable confidence about getting up before a group of people, and I’m continually surprised now when I stumble over my words. The words that I can hear so clearly in my head.

Please keep me in mind and send me good vibes so I can give my listeners an entertaining piece of the story.

If you’re nearby, the Local Author Fair is April 19th from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM. I’ll be signing books, and giving away mazes and bookmarks. There ought to be many more interesting authors to meet and greet as well.

SOPHOMORE EFFORT

As a freshman in college everything is new, everyone seems to know so much, and it’s all you can do to find your place in the scheme of things. 

Returning as a sophomore you now know how all the pieces fit together, and you laugh with superiority at the foolish freshmen who are so hopelessly lost. 

By the time you hit your stride in your junior year, you’re working hard and have more than a little compassion for the new class of hapless frosh. 

Senior year brings the stunning reality that you’ll soon be leaving this safe haven, and have to earn a living in the big bad world. 

I’m reminded of this quotation of Dōgen, the 13th Century father of Zen Buddhism: 

“Before one studies Zen, mountains are mountains and waters are waters; after a first glimpse into the truth of Zen, mountains are no longer mountains and waters are no longer waters; after enlightenment, mountains are once again mountains and waters once again waters.”

In writing The Most Amazing Museum of Chicago, I’m suddenly aware of my sophomore effort. I want the sequel to be able to stand alone, but also bear a resemblance to the first book. I thought I knew how to proceed. “Hey, I’ve done this once already!” But now I’m starting to realize how much I don’t know about how I did it the first time. 

The mountains and the waters are so much more than merely mountains and waters. I’m on a journey to see them once more as just mountains and waters. 

My acting teacher used to remind me, “Anything can happen.” If I take that Zen-like approach without the loaded expectations, I can still forge ahead.

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If you received this email because it was forwarded to you by a subscriber, welcome. You can subscribe as well by following the link on my website: ericmargerum.com. A free story awaits you there.

Margerumalia – April Fools’ Week

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – April 4, 2025

This was the line I submitted for the New Yorker’s monthly caption contest. I hope you enjoyed it. Mine wasn’t chosen, but I like trying my hand at the game.

My wife laughed out loud when she read it and she doesn’t give up those LOL’s easily, so it’s already a winning caption in my book.

I thought a bit of humor would be a fun theme for April Fools’ Week. 

ADDITIONAL WELLNESS CENTER FOLK

I described eleven different types of folk at the Wellness Center in my Feb. 21 Margerumalia. Since then, I’ve come up with three more: 

Tippy-Toe Trudy: No exaggeration, this young lady is walking around the track on the balls of her feet! I’ve seen her leave the oval walking flat-footed, but she walks several laps on the balls of her feet. Is she building up her calves for high heels? Who knows. 

The Bond Villain: A middle-aged man with close-cropped salt-and-pepper hair gave me a steely-eyed look when I said good morning as he was putting on his shoes. He said nothing, just stared, and the voice I heard was saying, “No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die.”

The Loving Couple: These two are on Cloud Nine, hands clasped and walking at a pace better suited for the seashore. Maybe that’s the world they’re actually walking in. I remember making out with a girlfriend in a parking lot when a passer-by in a car yelled at us to get a room. We broke out of the embrace both laughing. No shield like love.

A BIT OF PARODY

You may know the famous first line of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. No? Oh, go look it up, it made me laugh when I read it at fifteen. (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42671)

On a recent quick trip I packed a single bag in order to avoid additional airline fees and I came up with this thought in imitation of Jane Austen: 

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a traveler in possession of a good bag, will be in want of adequate space for the same possessions on the return trip. 

BUTTS ON THINGS  

I got this page-a-day calendar from a member of my writing group. She’d gotten it for her husband and he was kind of indifferent about it. It tickles the same little boy in me who giggles at fart jokes. I now enjoy a giggle every day. (You can find more of his silliness at briancook.net.)

MAMCHI HUMOR

In The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles I made a point of letting my readers know how to say the MAMLA acronym by way of the docent, Doris Weatherton. For the sequel I decided to provide the readers with a similar moment with the MAMCHI docent, Morris Weatherton, but with a humorous twist: 

“I am MORRIS WEATHERTON.” He continued his speech with large gestures and dramatic tones that belonged in the center of a three ring circus. “I am your DOCENT. Your guide to MAMCHI.” He pronounced the acronym “MOM-chee.”

“I’d have said it MOM-shee,” Tamara said to the others.

“Or MOM-shih,” added Brock, “because it’s short for SHIH-cago.”

“No, that doesn’t work,” said Yesta. “It sounds too much like you’re gonna say sh—”

“CHILDREN of all AGES,” said Morris Weatherton quickly…

BOOK SIGNING

No joke. The Tippecanoe County Library invited me to participate in a Local Author Fair on April 19th from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM. I’ll be signing books, giving away mazes, and giving a 15-minute presentation about writing and about my book. 

If you’re nearby, I hope you’ll swing by and say hi. 

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If you received this email because it was forwarded to you by a subscriber, welcome. You can subscribe as well by following the link on my website: ericmargerum.com. A free story awaits you there.