57th Street

Ever have a father-son talk like this?

Today, on my way to part one of a possible multipart job application process, my dad started rehashing the past in the car. He decided to recount what some of my high school classmates were like as children. First came my friend Andrew who, when he and his family returned from a vacation, would report that they were “away for 96 hours.” Cute.

The real meat of this rather abrupt conversation came when my dad described another classmate of mine, Ben (whose full name shall remain anonymous but he now goes to a very prestigious East Coast school in Boston) who “came over once and Minnie [my babysitter and later on housekeeper as I got older] said could never come again because he pooped in the alleyway next to the house.”

I have no idea what prompted my father’s stroll down memory lane but all I could muster as a response was a rather faint “hmmmm.” In retrospect I can still imagine this Ben squatting next to my house —or any other house for that matter— today. And he’s like 24.

As I predicted, the new editor of The Washington Times, John Soloman, is making some good changes. He starts tomorrow but today he’s already begun changing the ridiculous style rules at the Times. Now they can acknowledge that there’s gay marriage! From The Washington City Paper:

John Solomon took over the Washington Times on Jan. 28.

But he arrived today, via a message from the paper’s copy operation.

The news, in short: No more scare quotes.

Longtime Washington Times readers know well what this is all about: Under the regime of Wesley Pruden, the Times, unwilling to acknowledge anything so radical and immoral as gay marriage, treated the term in its pages as gay “marriage.”

Likewise other terms. In the old Washington Times, there were no illegal immigrants, just “illegal aliens”; no gays, just “homosexuals.”

Now comes the following memo from the Solomon regime, wiping out this legacy in one flick of the wrist:

All:

Here are some recent updates to TWT style.

1) Clinton will be the headline word for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

2) Gay is approved for copy and preferred over homosexual, except in clinical references or references to sexual activity.

3) The quotation marks will come off gay marriage (preferred over homosexual marriage).

4) Moderate is approved, but centrist is still allowed.

5) We will use illegal immigrants, not illegal aliens.

Earlier I bitched about how Andrew Sullivan’s infamous Daily Dish blog has little to no writing about Sullivan. As my luck would have it (because it usually has it this way), the week I decided to start reading Sullivan’s blog was the week he went on vacation. He’s back now and dominating the Daily Dish —no substitute writers in sight. Read it, it’s good!

I’m a nerd. I know. But Battlestar Galactica has gotten some serious praise from places mean to everyone and the fourth season looks awesome. A little less grim than the third —which is good because honestly, that was the most depressing but good television I’ve ever watched.

So I found this old article in The Atlantic Monthly arguing that bookstore chains like Borders and Barnes & Noble have improved the country by spreading intellectualism to the once unliterary suburbs. And as for the already lucky communities that have independent book sellers, a new Barnes or Borders nearby is an improvement. It’s an improvement, according to Brooke Allen, who wrote the piece, because

“The superstores have given readers, writers, and publishers an invaluable gift: shelf room. The typical superstore carries about 150,000 titles in about 20,000 square feet of space, whereas the typical independent has room for fewer than 20,000 titles.”

Allen goes on to argue that, against common misconception, these book chains also carry books from smaller presses and less famous titles unlike what independent bookstore activists claim. So tell me Allen, why didn’t Borders have the Paris Review while the more reliable 57th Street Books. (namesake of the blog) did?
(sidenote, I don’t regularly read the Paris Review but lately I’ve been looking for new things to read and the Review was in consideration)
Allen continues with the Darwinian business rationale that even though the book chain giants cause smaller independent bookstores to die,

“By and large, however, the best independents have held their own, thanks to some energetic rearguard actions and to the realization by the independents that if they are going to keep competing, they have to provide some of the more successful features of the chains, such as discounts, extended hours, comfort, and parking.”

It made me wonder, Is the Seminary Co-op Bookstore and its 57th Street office —long time establishments of Hyde Park— one of those? Yes.
I have fond memories of 57th Street Books. I remember spending hours there browsing in the kids section, stopping by on the way home from high school, and during the summers tying the dog up outside to pick up a new tome and a Chicago Reader. So I want to see that place last forever.
I remember when Borders first moved to Hyde Park, I repeatedly predicted it was the end for independent bookstores in Hyde Park like the 57th Street and the various other used book shops around here. But these days it’s rumored that the Borders of Hyde Park is going to close. And from what I can tell when I’m in there, that’s true.
There are more people people sipping coffee, playing chess at the cafe, or browsing the music section, than there are readers on the first floor. This could just mean that patrons actually looking for books are buying the books and then leaving but I doubt it. I see just as many people in 57th Street as there are in Borders but they are reading —there’s no coffee shop in 57th Street, no music, no room really. Seminary Co-op didn’t take the sensible business strategy that if you have music, coffee, and space people might see the books and browse a bit, which is working.
My hypothesis is that it’s because of familiarity. While Borders, Barnes & Noble, and Books-A-Million, may really thrive in places where there are no literature stops already, there’s already a good book front here. The Seminary Co-op bookstores survive well here because

1. Hyde Parkers are socially awkward recluses, highly adverse to anything new and different.
2. 57th Street sells what Hyde Parkers want. While Borders in Hyde Park may offer a range of crowd pleasers, the Seminary Co-op bookstores’ selection has been honed over many years to appeal to those who live directly next to the University of Chicago.
3. Location, location location. A cliche, I know. Since the actual Seminary Co-op Bookstore is right on the University’s ground (and also carries textbooks for the UChicago) regular readers are far more likely to stop at the closest opportunity than schlep to 53rd.

I agree with Brooke that it’s a good thing to have these big chains that come to small towns and spread the good literature word, but I like my cramped, comfy bookstore.
So the big ugly corporate giant that tried to take root in Hyde Park fails and I get to go to the same place where I rushed to the Science Fiction section to read the latest Rogue Squadron novel…but I grew out of such silliness…