I just stepped in a big pile of sassy!

*I began writing this post on March 1st or 2nd. Whoa. I really need to pick up the pace here!

I’m so glad it’s March.
In honor of this fabulous month and the springtime that is coming closer each day, I am going to write all about me.
ME!

What’s new in my world… well…

I got home late and someone beat me to the punch by posting this in the livejournal twin_cities community, but it deserves to be posted here as well.

I can definitely say that I saw it coming.
Slumping sales.
Selling off their video/dvd rental collection, and so on.

I’ll miss you, Amazon.
I’d buy ya if I could afford ya.
Oldest feminist bookstore.
Super freakin’ awesome.
I’ve been going there since I was in my mid-teens and have seen the store through three different locations.

I received the following e-mail today:
Dear Amazon friends,

I want to let you all know that I have decided to leave the bookstore. I have worked at Amazon for over twenty years and have come to know many of you and cherish the connections I have made here. But it is time for a change in my life, and I want to move in different directions. I had hoped that the younger staff currently working at the store would be able to carry it on, but because of the financial condition of the store, that is not a possibility.

So we have decided to sell Amazon Bookstore. We are hoping to find a buyer/buyers within the next few months.

Amazon Bookstore has been a vital part of the Twin Cities feminist and GLBT community for over 37 years. In recent years, Amazon has also functioned as a neighborhood bookstore, providing a focal point for literary and progressive books and events. We are hoping that there will be an individual or a group of individuals that want to carry on the vision of the store or recreate it into a vision of their own.

Please email me at the store, barb@amazonbookstorecoop.com for a copy of our sale proposal and with any questions you might have.

It has been a great privilege to have worked at Amazon Bookstore for so long, and I feel very grateful to all of you for the support you have shown the store over the years. I hope in the upcoming months that I get to see many of you to express my gratitude personally.

Barb Wieser
General Manager
Amazon Bookstore Cooperative

Today I went to a Book Festival, put on by Rain Taxi, with my friends Autumn and Tiff.
What fun!
I watched a spelling bee in which Channel 9’s own Robyne Robinson competed, as well as Katy Gerdes from Project Runway, local poets, authors, and a creeptastic writer from the City Pages (I think it was Paul Demko).
The woman who won (Ann something…) had blonde hair and quite the knowledge of words with Germanic origins. Indeed.
I also watched Mary Lucia (from 89.3 The Current and Rev 105 fame) interview author Stephen Lee Beeber about his book The Heebie-Jeebies at CBGB’S: A Secret History of Jewish Punk.
It was really fun to learn more the Jewish connection/contribution to the punk rock scene/movement in New York.

Also, there were tons of independent publishers, book binders, and bookstores tabling there including (one of my all-time favorites), Magers and Quinn.

What a great way to spend an afternoon!

In this photo you will find:
*me sitting on a park bench with a crazy facial expression
*my friend K (maybe - I think she’s overshadowed by me) also on the bench
*a woman that I dated in 2000/2001 chaining up her bike, with a friend (who I am far too socially awkward to talk to when I see her out in public once every couple of years, because I’m awesome)

Insanity!

(ganked from Alison Bechdel’s flickr photo stream)

Last night I saw Alison Bechdel (of Dykes to Watch Out For fame) read at the Amazon Bookstore, just blocks from my Uncle’s place where I have been housesitting for the past week.

She is very witty, verbose, amusing… a handful of other adjectives that I am too sleepy to think of right now.
It was really hot (no air flow) downstairs and packed, so I only stayed for 1/2 the reading - though I did go upstairs and buy her new book, Fun Home, and donate to her travel fund.

After that, my friend K and I went to Pepito’s for beer and some (not so) quality live (cover) music.
Fun!

And then I had a dream last night that I told the woman that I dated back in 2000/2001 that I was sorry for being such an immature moron, that she deserved better, and she seemed glad that I told her and gave me a hug.
See, that’s what I should have done.

I volunteered tonight at my favorite local gay library for the first time in two years. It’ll be a monthly gig from now on.
I’m so in love! Every time I’m there I see more books that I have to read and each time I learn something new (and often exciting) about queer culture.
My mission is to get more women and gender variant folks to come in to the joint.
It warmed my heart tonight when an older chubby gentleman rented some FTM porn.
It’s the little things.

I just got an e-mail saying that the Uptown Borders is closing.
That’s very sad-making.
I’ve been going there for years!

Harrumph!

Yesterday I:

*Ventured out to the new Minneapolis library.
It’s gorgeous, but could use a map/directory (other than the paper one they handed out).
It was fun to see a library so HUGE, packed with eager/excited folks.
*Went to the Q Library 20th anniversary party. This party was in connection with the GLBT ALMS Conference. Quite fun.
*Checked out the new Chatterbox (in St. Paul). Looks nice on the inside - far more suburban than the Minneapolis Chatterbox, attracting a largely family-focused crowd. The wait staff were a bit rude and frazzled, and to be honest I prefer the surly staff at the Mpls. Chatterbox to the snippy teenybopping staff at the new place. Aaah well. At least the joint looked nice (and almost too clean, which sounds strange for a restaurant, but damn that place was sparkling). Too bad my butt couldn’t stay put (or comfortable) in their high-top seats.

I was at the U earlier this afternoon, returning my hood (from graduation), and saw a sign saying that Augusten Burroughs would be reading at the U of M bookstore on Monday (7:00pm).

I’m totally in.

Would anyone like to join me?