Farewell to a Fine Bookstore...and Place

"As an artist, you are a representative human being—you have to believe that in order to give your life over to that effort to create something of value. You're not doing it only to satisfy your own impulses or needs; there is social imperative. If you solve your problems and speak of them truly, you are of help to others, that's all. And it becomes a moral obligation."
— Stanley Kunitz, The Wild Braid, p. 103


4/24/09

Went to Books, Etc today on Exchange Street. Closing their shop today after 37 years in that spot. The children’s section was nearly empty, few books but still many good ones.

Picked up a book about growing houseplants from vegetable scraps and seeds in the kitchen, Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche, and Last Child in the Woods. Picked up some free demo Putomayo CDs. They had food out on the counters.

There was a bit of a party atmosphere, but the guy behind the counter seemed to be tired of the “we’re going to miss you” comments, which is what I said. Downtown, Longfellow Books is the only retail bookstore still standing that sells new books.

Seeing the bookstore routed does something to my insides that cannot quite be described in normal words. The storehouse emptied. The long-term neglect by the purchasing populace in favor of buying at a discount online 24/7. We can’t replace these places.

Places. We’re always talking about web site addresses. If we were to drive there what would we find?

Re-alignment

"The atoms that make up your body were once forged inside stars, and the causes of even the smallest event are virtually infinite and connected with the whole in incomprehensible ways."
— Tolle, A New Earth, p. 197



Still February 28
Easton, MD

Looking this week at a beautiful book of Gustave Baumann’s prints.

Looking at photos of him and his studio and his work I feel wistful that I never pursued the printmaker’s life. I abandoned art because it abandoned me, or maybe I just abandoned it because there were too many obstacles and too much discouragement. I’ve never been great with discouragement or obstacles, or jealous people. I get dissuaded far too easily. Or maybe I didn’t really want it. Maybe this longing for art school that bugged me for a long time was just a fantasy and not a real desire.

But looking at Baumann’s art and his studio I also feel grateful that I have abandoned the internet this year in search of a more authentic daily existence in which I used to tread, along with a whole lot of other people.

I could re-align my life with some of my old goals.

Writing this book is certainly tapping the creativity in a way that hasn’t happened in a long time.