The Book Stores I Miss.

My weakness has long been books.  I think the explanation goes back to my childhood.  My parents were wonderful about taking me to the library to check out books.  However, they saw little reason to buy books when you could get them at the library. That logic followed me for a long time.  As a high school English Teacher, libraries were available.  In law school I did not have time to read for pleasure, nor did my legal practice offer much free time.  

Some of my antique books

However, I gradually began to create a library.  Once it started, I soon filled the house.  I tried to be strict with myself about buying books, but I failed.  We added bookcases, but books hid under the furniture.    

However, this blog is not about my tidy hiding places for so many books.  It is about those wonderful bookstores that are now nearly extinct.  Remember those bookstores that had all kinds of books, new and old.  The joy in those stores were the odd old books, or the wonderful discovery of a book you loved as a child, or books once unaffordable, or discovering that an old movie was first a book.  

Of course, now you can look online.  New and old, they are neatly organized and inventoried to locate in a moment, with price and the book's condition. It is not the same as discovering something you didn't know you wanted until the moment you saw it on the shelf.  Those bookstores are disappearing.

Today I found an old clipping I had saved for some reason. A newspaper man was interviewing the proprietor of the oldest bookstore in Fort Worth, Texas.  The proprietor was Brian Perkins, and the name of the store was Barber's Bounty, although haircuts were rare.  At the time I first clipped this article, the Fort Worth Star- Telegram said it was Fort Worth's oldest bookstore.  The reporter, Tim Madigan,  described it as "a paradigm of literary clutter, with books of all genres spilling from the jam-packed shelves onto floors, chairs, tables and stairways."  Most of his books, between 80,000 and 100,000,(the number being a guess Perkins he admitted, since he had never counted them. Although the Barber Chair was rarely used, Perkins claimed he could give a customer a haircut if they asked. 

 He explained how the bookstore evolved:  "I've paid for my building.  I've paid for my house.  I don't have that motivation to be up on my toes anymore.  I've enjoyed coming to work every morning.  I'm down here six days a week almost always.  That's a lot of days.  I feel at home.  I kind of look around and see wonderful stuff.  

His "stuff" included Sherlock Holmes original editions (1894), a signed Amelia Earhart, a signed Stephen King, and a Latin script printed in 1561, the back cover crumbling.  He admitted, "I like people to see my books.  I don't like them to buy too many.  But I hate to just buy them and stick them away where nobody will see them."

There aren't many bookstores like the one that Brian Perkins once had, but what fun it must have been to wander through his unique collection.

   

Is the Current Health of our Presidents Adequately known?

 This blog is not intended to answer the title question, although I do think it is an important question to consider.  My research uncovered historic information of which I was unaware, and I think it deserves thought as medical treatment changes, as well as public awareness of our presidents' health becomes so important.  With hindsight, the issue of our presidents' health has been important for many years, but the publics access to information was less available.  In more recent years we have had both younger and elderly presidents.  For example, Kennedy, Clinton, and Obama were younger presidents, and Eisenhower, Johnson, and Reagan were older.  Our two most recent presidents are both in the older category.  Regardless of age, should voters know the status of the health of presidential candidates. 

Drown during covid by Lyn Fenwick

Certainly, being President of the United States and a leader of the free world inevitably puts stress on the president. Age in itself is not always what determines the physical and mental stress on the president.  President Jimmy Carter served only one term, but his post president life was extremely active years past his presidency.   

Woodrow Wilson suffered a number of strokes during his presidency, which his wife and personal physician concealed.  Grover Cleveland concealed a cancerous lesion on his upper pallet, pretending to be on a fishing trip when in fact a tumor and five teeth and part of his jaw were being removed, necessitated by his cigar chewing.  Dwight D. Eisenhower had heart disease during his presidency.  When Donald Trump had covid, he misrepresented the severity of his illness, and now in his second term he is private about his medical reports.

In 2000, Duke University did a study that indicated the first 37 presidents showed symptoms of health issues while in office, to the extent that it could have affected their leadership.

 We live in a different world today, in which things can happen far more rapidly than in the early days of the presidency.  Are we acting properly about the health of our current presidents?  Should voters have the right to know the health of presidential candidates when they vote.  If our president is unconscious or incapable of managing the office of the presidency, are our current procedures during such situations adequately covered?
  

Have you given this enough thought?

 

Do we know enough to do what we are doing?

Do you remember as a child hearing one of your parents saying to you "Do you think you have really
given this enough thought?"  Whether it was something simple, like spending your Birthday money on something questionable or declining a summer job offer to loaf by the pool, most of us remember parents or a good friend gently keeping us from a poor judgement by suggesting that it might deserve a second thought.

The generation in which I grew up moved more slowly, with more time to reflect and consider.  Younger people have grown up in a faster world, where answers are closer at hand.  Why look something up in the dictionary when the answer is right on your phone.  Why use a Thesaurus to find the best word for what you want to say when being precise isn't all that important.

Why reflect on future consequences when the things AI can do are amazing.  As Bill Gates states it, AI is like a "copilot, that handles administrative tasks, freeing humans from chores and giving more time for creative, human-centric parts of more important jobs."

Gates's reasoning may be significant to an executive, but what are the impacts on most people?  Should we have slowed down for a while before rushing headfirst, with little or no consideration of consequences like job displacement, bias and discrimination, privacy concerns, the ability to collect vast amounts of personal data, and taken time to establish ethical guidelines and legal frameworks.

In addition, what about the theft of information fed into the education of AI which not only used that information without compensation, but also subsequently displaced many of the people from whom they took the information.  For example, copy right laws forbid the theft of authors' work, but unknown numbers of books, ancient and modern, were fed into educating AI without compensation. Authors, Artists, and who knows what else, trained AI without compensation, and displaced the people from whom they stole. 

So, here we are, and one might ask, "Have you given this enough thought?'  In 2026 young college graduates found it to be the worst college hiring in two decades.  On the other side, the demand for large scale data centers is creating a boom for construction workers of all types.  As one man commented, "This is something that we've never seen before.  It's akin to the industrial revolution."

Trade workers are busy as electricians, pipe fitters, and other workers build the structures housing AI requirements, working 5 days a week to keep up, college graduates can't find jobs.  Some would say that is just the way the world has always advanced, it is the first time humans have competed with AI.  Construction works are benefiting now, but how long will they be needed, and will those workers with pensions and health insurance experience changes similar to the displaced office workers once the AI workers boom ends.  Will there be enough need for a permanent workforce to maintain the buildings once they have all been built.  

It is true that history tells us that as one generation creates a different world, new jobs evolve. However, humans have never competed with AI before.  History also tells us that there may be suffering in the interim.   I have seen many changes in my life, some mistakes, some imperfect, and some wonderful.  I believe this is different.  I understand that America was not the only nation exploring AI, and humans have always rushed forward, with inadequate concern for the consequences.  It seems to me that perhaps now more than ever, America, and the rest of the world, need wise leadership.  Perhaps now more than ever we need to ask that old question:  Have you really given this enough thought? 

   

Teaching Our Children

It depends on what we teach them

What are we teaching our children when commercials often disrespect parents or parents disrespect children?  Does it matter when a commercial has a family on vacation and mom and daughter are in the hot tub and dad comes in to join them and his daughter tells him he is not welcome.  Even worse, dad sadly walks away.

Or in another commercial parents sell their children's graduation moment on stage to instead carry a product advertisement, ignoring the significance of their child's achievement for some advertising cash.  

Ok, I know they are jokes, but do these advertisements and other "jokes" like them softly debase the subjects of the joke?  

Humor and attracting attention seem bound to encourage the next example a step further.  In 1988, Cher shocked the world with her sheer Rob Mackie creation at the Oscars. Today see through fabrics, plunging necklines, and thigh-hi slits are just part of the show.  The influence is not restricted to movie stars.  Skimpy beach wear just about eliminates whatever secrets that are left.  

The right to wear blue jeans to school was a special privilege for game days in the beginning, and jeans are still popular, but today it must take far less fabric to make the skintight Levis.

It is not just fashion that has changed the examples we show our children.  Part of my education as I neared graduation from law school was a lecture on maintaining the dignity of the profession.  One rule I clearly recall was the prohibition of advertising.  We were told that sending a respectful Christmas card, thanking the client for entrusting the firm with their case was forbidden.  Lawyers were not to solicit business.  Their reputations were to be the source of their business, through business cards and directory listings.  However, in 1977 the Supreme Court ruled that banning truthful advertising violated constitutional rights.  Unfortunately, some law firms now flood the television with tacky, attention-grabbing ads. 

How Americans get their news has always been complicated, the overriding importance of freedom of the press having restricted federal laws requiring Official correction.  The responsibility of correcting errors has depended on the professionalism of journalists and their ethical coeds.  The rise of internet journalism challenges the ethical standards, and today research is indicating that only a small percentage of errors are actually formally corrected.  

Recently, the long, interrupted travel around the Moon brought crowds to watch the take-off.  A television newscaster, wanting to show viewers the crowd's excitement, chose a young boy.  When the microphone was extended to the boy, he yelled excitingly "We're going to the --expletive-- Moon."  In a crowd of excited people crying and hugging one another, this news man chose a boy eager to repeat his vulgar word.  This is how we teach our children.         

           

Summer Time and Books!

 The trees are budding as I look out the window, a sign that summer and kids at home are not far away.  Do kids still look forward to finding a quiet place with a good book to enjoy?  Sometimes I wonder if modern children's books try too hard to make a point, instead of just telling a good story.  Is it possible that kids are reading less because books by great storytellers are being ignored? Maurice Sendak takes kids into an adventure with "Where the Wild Things Are," with the gnashing of their terrible teeth and terrible roars and terrible eyes, and terrible claws, and The Wild Things make him King.  Yet even better than being King is his own room to come home to, with supper awaiting him.  That book was awarded the 1964 Caldecott winner of Most Distinguished Picture Book of the Year, and kids still love it.  Like many fables and fairy tales, scary things are great...as long as someone is there at the end of the story, and nobody tries to lecture them about what the story means. 

So many classic children's books still delight children, regardless of the date of their publication.  

Christopher Robin never has to be alone, because if Winnie-the-Pooh is busy, Rabit, or Piglet, or Eeyore, or Owl oo Tiger or Kanga or some other friend will be there to play.  Written in 1926, Pooh and his friends still make great companions for youngsters who need some friends to help them grow up.

Even a bit of loneliness is manageable for "The Little Prince," on his solitary planet.  Published first in America in 2018, it is still a special book.

While those books may appeal most to boys, youngsters are often indifferent to whether characters are boys or girls, if the characters seem like a nice friend to get to know.  Familiar classics for girls like Alice in Wonderland, The Secret Garden, Little Women, and Anne of Green Gables are wonderful classics.  Another one that should not be overlooked is Charlotte's Web, the story of Fern, a young farm girl who saves a piglet she named Wilber, who was about to be killed simply because he was a runt!  His next good luck was in finding a friend named Charlotte, a spider.  This book by E.B. White, with wonderful pictures by Garth Williams, was published 1952, and should not be overlooked.  

Another classic, more recent but a wonderful series to fill a summer, is the Harry Potter series.  First issued in England in 1997, Americans lined up eagerly in long lines when books were unavailable in America until 1998.  I had bought all of the books by the time Covid hit, but I had not read them.  I used the opportunity to read them, one right after the other, and the same might be done as a summer reading adventure.  Perhaps there might be a surprise on the family bookcase if some parents were Harry Potter fans!  

My parents encouraged my reading by taking me to the library, which was important, but there is something wonderful about having a book of you own.  I began collecting children's books, especially classics, in about 1988.  I believe you can never be too old to read great classics, and the best way to encourage children to become readers is for children to see parents reading.  Peter Pan and Huckleberry Finn are great examples of books that never grow old.  

Rarely do current books appear on favorite children's book lists over time, while older classics remain in those lists for generations.  The best books do not lecture.  They tell stories.  I believe that lecturing, rather than telling a good story (that just happens to share an important lesson) is part of the problem of why kids do not love to read.  

Believe it or not, young people are entering college unable to read.  Yes, they can manage their laptop far better than I can, and they are growing up in a time that newspapers are disappearing.  But learning to read for oneself is still essential to the skill of reasoning and perceiving nonsense in fools and tricksters.  A good book is more than just understanding the plot.  Reading puts you into the story, helping you understand people and situations in a way that broadens your awareness beyond your personal experiences.  A good book that brings characters to life makes them seem real and helps the reader understand what others experience.

 The best way to encourage children to read is to read to them when they are young and eager to learn to read too.   Summer is coming, and it may be the busiest time of the year, but it is also the best time to   read to your young children.  Libraries are open, even when schools aren't.  If your library does not have the classic books I mentioned, ask them why not?  Even better, they can still be found online to begin your own library, and used books are cheaper in a time when spare cash may be limited.  Turning off the TV and reading can make a difference for everyone...something that using the internet cannot match. 

P.S.  If you don't have children, you might consider finding those books you loved so much, or those books you always meant to read but never got around to and enjoying them for yourself.