Borders

I was saddened to hear the news about Borders. I think I've mentioned here before that I used to work at a Borders after graduating from High School. It was in the Cafe and I really enjoyed my time there, short as it may have been. This is also a disturbing trend for established authors as well as aspiring authors. What does the future hold for us??? Kind of a scary question that I may or may not want an answer to.

Then there's the whole economic downturn. We are barely recovering from an economic crisis and are in the throes of another, this cannot be a good sign for the latter. Some 11,000 people are being laid off, that sucks. Our country is in dire times and I'm a little freaked out about it all. But I'm trying to be positive. There is hope out there somewher that we may not end up being China #2. It's hard to see things going up instead continuing to spiral downwards. I think this may be the reason for the increase in Dystopian novels being written and sold. The idea of our Country falling apart seems like a very real possibility and people are just morbidly curious about what could possibly happen if something radical were to occur.

But do not fret, my friends, I don't think that the end of civilization as we know it is just around the corner, I think we have to fall a little harder for something like that to actually take place. Okay, I'm kind of done with my tangent. Here's the thing- I Love books and I Love bookstores, and at the end of the day this is just sad for all of us book lovers out there. I don't want my kids to read their adventures on some plastic digital device, I want them growing up reading old fashioned books like the many generations before them. We need to take a stand. I know that not rolling with the tides of change isn't really an option, things are going to change and progress whether we like it or not, but there are things that we can take a stand against. So go out there and support your local bookstore. Buy a real book, one that you can hold in your hands, and feel the way the paper molds between your fingertips, take a sniff (you won't get high, only on imagination) and appreciate the nostalgic feeling you get from the wiff.

Goodbye Borders, thanks for the memories. You will not soon be forgotten.