Canada
Canada
Stories set here
- A First Friend and a Little Hope at Art SchoolOn a hot July Monday, Bernie begins figure-drawing classes at Ray Vogue in Chicago. Overwhelmed by the nude model and anxious about fitting in, he meets Byron, an Army veteran studying on the GI Bill. During a cigarette break, Byron's openness and encouragement leave Bernie both unsettled and smitten. With tuition paid but only a week of rent money remaining, Bernie needs a part-time job. By day's end, a new friendship and the discovery that he can draw as well as his classmates give him hope.
- Finding Belonging in Art and Returning HomeBernie enjoyed movies, galleries, beach outings, and cooking lessons with Byron while returning home whenever possible on the Rock Island Rocket and later in his Vauxhall. Art school, Art Institute visits, and parties organized by Byron brought him an accepting circle of friends. Their open conversations and diverse community helped him shed feelings of inferiority and embrace liberal ideas. He also credited his family’s love and closeness with his enduring sense of protection.
- Jason Fairbanks and the Legends After the HangingJason Fairbanks, youngest son of Ebenezer Fairbanks, was hanged on September 1, 1801 for murdering Elizabeth Fales. The narrative recounts his physical impairment, intellectual pursuits, claims of innocence and a failed double suicide, escape to Canada, reported confession, recapture and trial. It calls him 'Jonathan' during the escape account without explanation. A storm interrupted the hanging, and subsequent legends claimed that friends revived him and that he escaped to South America; the narrator compares these tales to those about Elvis Presley.
Events here
other
Catching a 25-pound Northern
Before the September 1, 1801 hanging
Escape to Canada and recapture
The Jason narrative calls the escapee 'Jonathan'. It recounts claims of innocence and a botched double suicide, escape from jail, a confession to a friend in Canada, and recapture and trial.
Family corrections
Notes sent in by the family and approved on review. They sit alongside the original record — the book's wording is never changed.
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