Northport Dog Parade 2013: "The Wizard of Pawz"

There’s no telling in advance what the weather will be on any given Michigan day, and August, known for its “Dog Days,” can serve up some steamy afternoons, so it was decided to schedule the dog parade for 11 a.m. this year, in case of a heat wave. Accordingly, despite very comfortable temperatures, the parade kicked off at 11, as planned. It was, once again, a stellar parade! Of course, you can’t go by my opinion, as every year’s dog parade, like every year’s Christmas tree, is always “the best ever” in my eyes. So here, judge for yourself:

What Does Northport Think About the Sale of the Washington Post to the Online Behemoth?

It's big news, Jeff Bezos buying the Washington Post. I asked a few of my friends for their thoughts, many of them writers, and here are the responses:

A retired community college teacher, fiction writer, and (clearly) someone very careful with words: “This is a paradigm shift indeed.”

A career fiction writer: “Well, as [a mutual friend] said after I sent the email about Amazon trying to control the book business: ‘Well, they do call themselves Amazon, after all.’  Is this getting scary or what?”

Another fiction writer: “When you control all the media you will control the thoughts of a people.  Sad news for every American.”

A retired newspaper writer: “I think people are correct to be nervous, but he is a smart businessman and when he talks about giving readers what they want, my heart soars because for years newspapers have been giving readers what bores and confuses and annoys them – even the smart ones who WANT insight and analysis. And, if he can charge for news online in a way that makes sense – that will be the beginning of the turnaround for news organizations.”

Retired public school teacher: “Certainly true – ‘The Post will mine data about its readers in ways not seen before in the newspaper world.’ I wonder what that means for the paper, its reporters, its readership. We don’t read a newspaper any more, except for my brief online viewing. (The local paper is still free online.) I get too much news from CNN and take complete breaks now and then. Most of what we hear is depressing or silly or just plain mean, it often seems to me. All the sides of “big” stories have their own facts, and it’s hard to know what to believe.  We’re currently watching ‘House of Cards’ on Netflix, and I’m completely skeptical of the whole political system and journalism industry. I’m also unhappy with the education system (at least around here) – so books are a welcome relief. So is yoga.”

Retired state employee (not teacher): “Not sure.  Certainly it will make the Post an e-business but that will probably help keep it alive.  More likely it will go off to the right and give him a ton more leverage on Government than he has already.  But, that's normal now where buying influence is the norm.  Wow, it's still morning but my cynical button is already pushed in.”

Retired university professor of history: “In recent years, visits to DC and via other links regarding this once great newspaper, I felt it was increasingly stogy, predictable, though reliable in a sturdy way (esp when Catherine Graham ran things with an amazing deft touch). Though the editorial page kept up, more or less, competitive with the NY Times (Sunday), the Post seemed almost dead in the water as the winds of change blew harder (pardon the allusion). [A friend] was so put off, after taking it daily for 4 decades, that he got his news on line from the NY Times. I think that, like most literate Washingtonians, he will keep a close eye on what comes.  I more or less felt among 'friends' vis the Post, but a great news system has to be up front and OUT front not therapeutic, not calming the herd, but leading it, like a wolf pack, out front. It was like that in the 70s . . . . When a major organ like this is merely transmitting the canon, the nation is not well served.”

The last reply deals with the newspaper as it has been in recent years, rather than with the sale. A retired law professor had a lot to say, but he said in person, and I neglected to take notes. Also, it would be interesting to hear what some younger people think, so if by some miracle any young person's eyes fall upon this post, please feel free to leave a comment. 

So what does this small bookseller blogger think?

One observation made on Facebook was “He knows how to sell things.” My reaction to that was, That isn’t all he knows. Right off the top of my head I can think of four big additional areas of his knowledge. He knows: (1) how to stomp out competition; (2) how to beat out unions; (3) how to manipulate government, at every level, to his benefit (see first and second points) and to his competition’s detriment; (4) how to keep running on investors’ money despite recent surprising and spectacular losses. (That link is worth following to read the article.) Interesting, isn’t it?

Does your idea of a free press include many competing viewpoints? Do you think we have that now and/or what would encourage it? Are you comfortable with falling wages and salaries? (Have unions encouraged workers to expect too much?) Should reportage and government be bought and sold, subject only to market forces? (Have they always been for sale?) What about more and more people putting their eggs in a single basket – something like Dutch tulip bulbs? Will there really be a big payoff eventually for all investors – and are you on the bandwagon?

Although most people probably do not think of him primarily as Aristotle’s pupil, Alexander the Great is a familiar name worldwide. Did he truly weep when he had “no more worlds to conquer” or upon being told that the number of worlds was infinite – and therefore, presumably, beyond his insatiable reach? What price did Alexander pay for temporarily gaining [most of] the world? Would you pay such a price? Who else paid heavily? Here is a quick biography of his life and accomplishments. Like Molly Malone, in the end he died of a fever, and no one could save him. In the long run, no one gets out of life alive.

The least ambitious goal of any business, I suppose, would be simply to survive, to stay alive, forever struggling, while the most ambitious (here the word ‘overweening’ comes to my mind) would be to take over the entire world. Between these two extremes (and no, whatever you imagine of my bookstore, I do not fall at the absolute bottom of the scale) we can imagine a wide range of possibilities of flourishing (to use one of Aristotle’s favorite ideas), each step up in profitability matched by an increase in complexity and responsibility. Hmmm. Lots to think about there....

Moving along, though, it baffles me how the same people who fear a “single payer” for, say, health care, when the proposed payer is the federal government, have no fear of a “single seller,” however wide that seller casts his product net. Data mining? Terrifying and un-American if done by government! Done by a mammoth corporation? Okay? Really? How so?

Many Americans fear a government takeover of business. I fear a corporate takeover of government. Which direction are we headed? (Your answer might be that I have posed a false dilemma. If so, explain!) More specifically do you have concerns about the sale of the Washington Post, or do you see it as probably a positive change? Whatever you think, what are your reasons?

Someday soon I hope to write about short stories, both in general and as exemplified in some particularly good collections, but we read all kinds of things here Up North, including national newspapers.

Northport on National Literary Map

Ready for the Big Night

It isn’t every day of the year that an author from Washington, DC, comes to Northport, Michigan, with an important, nationally reviewed new book  on a period of American history fascinating to almost everyone. That’s what happened on the last day of July, however, when David Roll visited Dog Ears Books and held an audience enthralled with his stories of Harry Hopkins, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin. What a special event it was! I saw a few people in the audience I hadn’t seen in the bookstore all summer, a few all the way from Torch Lake, and a contingent of loyal Northporters. Still others close to home (or away on road trips) expressed regret at having scheduling conflicts that kept them from attending.

Various audience members, intrigued by his stories, asked questions of the author, and several, making purchases of the book following the presentation, expressed appreciation for his entertaining and informative talk. Again, an event like this is something you will never get online.

Before I introduced David Roll, I reminded those gathered (in my husband’s beautiful art gallery!) that we were meeting on the last day of the 20^th anniversary month of Dog Ears Books. I keep saying it over and over, not because my ego is so huge but because it’s hard for me to believe. Twenty years! The little shed where my bookstore was born is long gone. Woody’s Settling Inn, the restaurant next door to the shed, is long gone, the site newly cleared and ground broken for a new building to take shape soon. Borders came to Traverse City and then disappeared from the entire country in the 20 years that Dog Ears Books has been around. Isn’t this a pretty incredible history for a bookstore born in a little village at the end of a peninsula in northern Michigan?

The only thing I forgot was my punch line. When announcing that I would be paying the sales tax for purchasers last night and that an additional five dollars would buy them my usually nine-dollar book bag, I had intended to add, “And when you buy books and bags here, you’re not just 'buying stuff.' You’re supporting literary culture in Northport!” Okay, so I’m saying it here and now.

David Roll was a gracious bookstore guest and stayed to sign a few extra copies of his book for me after everyone else had left. Already the next morning before store opening time two of those four copies had been spoken for.

“A preposition is a word you mustn’t end a sentence with.” Did Winston Churchill say that? Or was it Ogden Nash? Never mind. The après-sunset glow of my drive home last night matched my mood, and grammar was the least of my concerns. Oh, and did I mention that David Roll may be a Washington lawyer but he is also a Michigan native? Oh, yeah!

Thursday evening Leelanau sky

Dashing In for a Quick Shout-Out

Thank heaven I have a commute that soothes my soul on the mornings and evenings I make time to go by the back roads. If you follow that link, you can see more, but I'm not going to write much this morning. Tomorrow is the day that David Roll comes to Dog Ears Books with his nationally important and very well-reviewed new book, The Hopkins Touch, a biography of Harry Hopkins, advisor to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt during World War II, and I'm a little antsy about the event. It takes a lot of planning to have authors come to my bookstore -- getting books, exchanging e-mails, advertising, sending out press releases, posting fliers, putting invitations and notices on Facebook, etc. I don't just give an author a place to sit and let him sink or swim. It's pretty incredible, too, the quality of writers who have been willing to come up to little Northport at the end of an Up North peninsula. Your online bookseller will never come through for you like this, so think it over, and please -- if you're going to buy the book, buy it from me. I'm your local bookseller, whether you shop local or not.

What Day Is It? It’s a Summer Day

(Photo I forgot to include when first posting -- makes sense of text below.)

A recent morning. Maybe last Wednesday? Jet trails in the sky caught my attention as I set out for town and bookshop.

July morning over Northport marina

Family note: My sister arrived on Wednesday, and we had dinner at the Happy Hour. Thursday evening was shrimp out in the farmyard, and Friday morning the farmers’ market in Northport, another colorful scene, for a big salad supper, with take-out ribs from the Garage Bar & Grill, but throughout all this my camera saw very little use. (Poor camera can’t talk, after all, and talk was the order of the day for several days.) Interesting that everywhere we went, it seemed there were sisters visiting sisters. Is it that time of year?

Alongside sister visit, bookstore life went on. Many browsers, customers, readers, old friends. I have a guest author coming on Wednesday so will be posting more about that soon.

Dog note: Sarah has been very happy the last few days: company at work and company at home! Our dog loves company. If she knew that one of her favorite houseguests is arriving sometime today for an overnight visit, she would already be out on the front porch, eyes glued to the driveway.

When houseguests of readers are also readers themselves, however, there are quiet morning hours over coffee not involving constant play with dogs. Can you believe I made my way through a book during this busy time? A customer had brought in a loaner for me, The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap, by Wendy Welch, thinking I “might find it interesting.” (Might???!!!) Wendy and Jack’s bookstore is in Virginia, and it’s in their house in the little town, and they have cats, but despite differences in our respective bookselling lives there was a lot in her story that was very, very familiar to me. Wendy and Jack are on a book tour now, visiting indie bookstores with her book. You can follow her here. They don’t seem to have any immediate plans to travel Way Up North, but who knows what the future will bring?

Additional reading note: I also made my way through The Telling Room, a book about so much more than cheese, as you will know if you heard the author on NPR the other morning; am still making progress in Confessions of a Taoist on Wall Street; and started – yes! – yet another a book, a novel set in northern Minnesota that is not within arm’s reach at the moment. There is always time for reading, sometimes time stolen here and there for a page or two.

Sinking boat....

The calm before the rain....

Friday was overcast in the morning, with rain later in the afternoon and pouring rain by dinnertime. The peaceful country lake walk my sister and I started out on was cut short by rain, forcing us to go in search of ice cream cones. Talk about a mini-vacation: ice cream cones on a rainy day – ahhhhhh!

Blogging note: Looking at search terms that brought people to Books in Northport recently, I found the following: “dog with a blog ears.” What a host of speculative associations that phrase evokes!

See the pouring rain on Friday

“You’re Up Early”

Laundry doesn’t do itself, so when the sky begins to lighten I’m up and making coffee, and soon towels are sloshing around in the washing machine, giving me time to check e-mail before hanging wet laundry outdoors on the line. If it rains? Towels will be softer when they eventually dry. No problemo.

Perhaps I need to apologize to all the friends and acquaintances and customers and strangers who have given or sent me links or books or mss. or DVDs in the last month. The truth is that I have not yet looked at, read, or watched all these undoubtedly fascinating offerings. Running my business and keeping my household fed and cleaned and garden watered and lawn mowed and dog exercised are top priority items. Other trump cards are e-mail with and publicity for and visits with and selling the books of scheduled guest authors. A commute to work on back roads (follow link to see more) is one way I recharge on busy days. That is one luxury I do not forego.

Less frequent are trips outside of Leelanau Township, but I made time Tuesday evening to go into Traverse City with David to meet friends from Walloon Lake who were picking up a new car. They were making the trip to TC, and it’s not nearly as far for us to TC as to Walloon Lake, so we seized the opportunity. On the way into town, I regaled David with tales of “old Saugatuck” from a book a friend had sent me. The old lumber mill town of Singapore, abandoned when the trees gave out and then buried by shifting sands so that not even a ghost town remains, was a new story to me. How about you? Did you ever hear of Singapore, Michigan? Then there was the art colony, which David remembered from his own teaching days in Paw Paw and Kalamazoo. If I’d wanted to get through more work, I could have been reading mss. or watching DVDs in the car on the way to town, but somehow – call me crazy! – it felt good to take the evening off and feel as if I were on vacation like all the rest of the world.

Summer Breezes, Perfumes, Sights and Sounds and Possibilities

An individual blossom from a basswood tree (it’s a kind of linden) doesn’t look like much, and the blossoms are not much more impressive in their clusters on the tree. Two readily observable features of linden blossoms are worthy of notice. First is their perfume. It fills the air, so that passing by a linden you breathe more deeply and ask, “What is that delicious scent?” The next thing you may notice, if all is proceeding as it should be in Nature, is that the blossoming basswood tree is humming, vibrating, alive with sound. Almost as many bees as flowers will sometimes fill the leafy branches. 

I have written about the basswood flowers and the bees before, but their blooming time has come again, and again it claims my delighted attention. – But what is this? Where were the bees yesterday morning? I understand why they would stay home this morning, in rainy wind, but where were they yesterday? I’m starting to worry.

An old verb-form for bloom or blossom is ‘blow,’ lingering in the adjective ‘full-blown.’ Another name for service berry (or Saskatoon berry, if you want to sound fancy) was ‘shadblow,’ because the shrub blossomed at the same time of year that the shad were running. Old garden books speak of the time such-and-such a plant will ‘blow.’ It makes me think that the linden perfume is “blowing in the wind.”

"Blooming, buzzing confusion"? – isn’t it delightful? Lilies and daisies, harebells and that smaller, more delicate relative of hollyhock, malva. Our neighbor has put in countless hours of work on her aunt’s old garden, to beautiful effect.

Mystery Poet has struck again. Latest offering, in my p.o. box on Monday morning, had the usual complement of interesting postage stamps. 

Inside were four short lines:

summer says I can

winter says I will

fall says I do

spring says you too

Can I? There is so much to do!!!