The benefits of talking to strangers

It was 9:30pm and I was riding the 97 bus from the Skokie Public Library to Howard Street station, feeling rather self-satisfied with the interviews I'd just done for a story on 'the 21st-century library,' when it hit me -- I'd forgotten to talk to any of the people actually using the library. No other word for it but: D'OH!

I shook my head, and as I did I caught sight of my fellow busriders. Hmmm...maybe one of them uses the library...

So I oh-so-casually floundered my way up the aisle of the speeding bus and sat down next to two women near the front.

"Hello, my name is Annie, I'm a journalism student at Northwestern University doing a story on the Skokie Public Library. Could I ask you a few questions?"

Blank stares. Awkwardness.

Finally the older woman said, "I'm sorry, again?" English not so much the first language.

Because she is IRANIAN. She's in the US for just a few weeks visiting her sister.

Needless to say, I didn't get my library interview.

Instead I tried to make out her words about the fear she feels for her husband and brother and cousins who are opposing Ahmadinejad, about how it was she was able to leave the country, about the government's tight fist around journalists. The bus was noisy and I missed most of her words, but the intensity of her eyes said it all.

The only break in her forceful words came when she asked me what I know of the situation in Iran. When she saw that I knew of the protests, the muscles around her mouth released a little of their tension. She was surprised.

The bus pulled up to the train station and we got off. She took my hand, asked for my name again, and looked me in the eye.

"Annie, pray for my country."