We don't need books. We just need Twitter. Shakespeare in one tweet or not at all. It's like Ray Bradbury said it would be in Fahrenheit 451. Only moving pictures on the walls and little radios in your ear. He was a prophet." -- Ingrid Schleuter
The End of An Era. The death of brick and mortar bookstores continues, and Albert Mohler warned about and now a big one has been claimed. Borders Group, which owned the only local bookstore in town from the mid-1990's (when they bought a chain that Kmart had owned), announced it was doing a Chapter 7 (liquidation), effectively making the prophecy that bookstores are truly declining, as are music stores (as I learned with the demise of the music store I used to purchase my music for Dr. LaRoche). Now the clear winners are Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million, with the new #2 being a paltry nineteen states. As for what happened when Boarders left town in 2008, we were without a bookstore, devoid of anything for local kids at Prep (Governness' Haley's Hail the Red and Grey) or OCA (the school where Bill Connor is Chairman of the Board) to buy their literature without driving an hour, until the new independent Swift Books came to town.
My Youth Continues To Close. I am only 36, but in the past eleven years, I have seen entire facets of my growth fall by the wayside with this announcement. First it was the school I attended after first arriving in the Palmetto State (shut down in 2000), then the church I grew up attending (shut down in 2001), then the brand of car that I drove for the majority of my driving years at the time (2004), and now the bookstore group where I would frequent many times and we had readers' cards for me to read many books. Progress, yes, but at what cost? Mementos of my own youth -- my green #8 baseball jersey for the Crusaders, my late aunt's minivan (a Voyager), my cars in college (a Cutlass Supreme and a Calais), the bowing alley I remembered (All-Star), and now the local bookstore I frequented are all things that no longer exist.
And Speaking This Sad Thought. National Review lost another of their core members last week. Oh for the times I would drive to that bookstore to buy a National Review.
Laura Ingraham on Civility. Now what are people thinking when they dress like trash to church? Time to put up the old sign at the paddock in church. No shorts, tank tops, or open toe shoes allowed. But the church sign should say No Jeans, No Sneakers, Gentlemen, Jackets Are Required, Ladies, if not wearing a dress, then jackets are required, Business Dress (No Casual) . . .
Ashamed To Be An American. It's time to take down the American flag and trample on it. Raise the Northern Ireland flag on golf courses, and football pitches need to have the Hinomaru raised. ◙
