Remember, it may be cheaper to buy online or from a big box store, but you’ll never beat the locals for personal attention and local knowledge.
Local business owners are your neighbors. The same civic quality-of-life issues that matter to you matter to them.
If you don’t support them with your money*, they will fail.
Pardon me while I shed a few tears into my teacup…
*I am not suggesting that you spend your money unwisely. Obviously, if you can’t afford to buy a book at your local bookstore, you shouldn’t do so just to help keep them afloat. But I can live in a world without Amazon a whole lot more comfortably than I can in a world where small businesses are shuttered.
One of the main perks of living in a nation’s capital is that periodically there is an intersection between government, tourism, and residents. The Library of Congress’ National Book Festival down on the Mall is one such co-mingling.
An annual event for the past eight years, the Book Fest is a pet project of Laura Bush. It remains unclear whether the event will continue as the administration changes, but it was obvious from many of the remarks from authors and presenters that there is hope that funding will be found. (more…)
1. While home sick, I put the tv on in the afternoon and listen to reruns. (Reception isn’t so great on the stations that show old tv shows.) Britcoms come on first — As Time Goes By, Are You Being Served, and All Creatures Great and Small. Then I leave PBS and switch to MASH, Hanging with Mr. Cooper, and the Steve Harvey Show. When you’re not feeling great, reruns make good medicine.
2. Walking home from jazz Friday night, John suggests we stop for a warm drink at a new chocolate place that’s between our place and his new condo. I have hot chocolate made with whole milk and dark chocolate. (The only unbeautiful thing about this scenario is that I opt for a medium instead of a large.)
3. The Saturday night movie is Casablanca. It’s one of those perfect movies — great director, great writers, perfect staging, and amazing chemistry between not just the romantic leads, but also between the primary and secondary characters. I highly recommend combining a viewing with pizza and your best guy or gal.
Since I was sick Monday and yesterday, I missed both Monday Morning Music and the autumnal equinox (a word to be admired for having both an “x” and a “q” in it). So we’ll celebrate today. You don’t mind doing it again, do you? I’ll give you two songs just so you don’t feel slighted.
The first is Cheryl Wheeler’s “When Fall Comes to New England”:
And while I disagree that Virginia is the best of 13 sisters, you can’t beat Eddie from Ohio’s “Old Dominion” for its heartfelt pep (this may be the only video clip of this song on the internet, otherwise I never would have picked it, as the quality is questionable):
(If you’d like to hear a better version of the song, EFO has given the Internet Archive permission to house archives of their live shows. “Old Dominion” kicks off this concert.)
Olsson’s Books and Records has shuttered their last four locations.