Musings on Bookstores and Corporate America...

I recently rediscovered Adbusters magazine. Its a great magazine that pokes fun of our advertising culture. (check it out at www.adbusters.org) It really made me think of how even though I try to make sustainable choices, I still fall victim to corporate culture quite a bit in my bibliphile tendencies.

And, as a bibliophile, I realized that Barnes and Noble is one of the places I frequently fall victim to supporting since they have a cafe that I enjoy studying at. So I challenged myself not to head to Barnes and Noble this weekend. I stayed in my dorm room and made myself a cup of tea and was able to choose the music that I listened to.

I also used it as an excuse to scrounge around some of the more independently owned bookstores in the area since there are quite a few of them around Berkeley. One thing I really like about them is that they seem to have a more creative spirit about them. One of the shops I headed into I mentioned to the cashier that I was studying to be a minister as we were chatting. He told me he didnt want to pick a fight with me, but had I heard about Richard Dawkins and did I know that he spoke at the University just yesterday and that the place was packed?? I told him that I have heard of Richard Dawkins (thanks to Ted Peters who loved to complain about the man). The reaction that I had though was that in the media people hear more about the religious right and that people are hungry to think more critically about religion and spirituality so an atheist scientist appeals to people's need for rationality. I dont think that was the response he expected of me. Not only did he engage me in something that could be controversial, he noticed the books that I took an interest in as I was wandering around the bookstore. And there was something about the spirit of all of that which appealed to me: no one at Barnes and Noble ever engages me in a controversial subject but they try to get me to sign up for their discount card. No one notices the books that I take an interest in but decide to put back. I know that I will definitely be back to that bookstore because their specialty is a combination of social science and activism.

Another bookstore nearby was a friends of the library bookstore. In Rochester, MN it was a friends of the library store which i frequented as it had a character to it as well as low prices which goes to a nonprofit organization. (Seriously whats not to love?) For under $10 I left the place with a stack of books, a few of which were titles I'd been dying to get a hold of.

There was something about these places that seemed more spirited, more ecological and sustainable than a Barnes and Noble. And also its easier to find books for cheap prices at a used bookshop than it is to find at Barnes and Noble. So what is the appeal in a Barnes and Noble?

First of all, there is the idea of one stop shopping at a Barnes and Noble. It seems like a lot of the more independently owned bookshops that I hae come to enjoy around Berkeley have themes to them. For someone who has a variety of interests in books, there is something to going into a shop and finding alot of the subjects that are of interest, not just one. And frequently at Barnes and Noble, if you want a book that is in print that they dont have, they are able to order it for you. Whereas sometimes there is more scrounging around for a specific title at a used bookstore.

Secondly, even though these other bookshops that I was at this weekend seemed more spirited and a lot more cheap there were no comfortable chairs to sit down and scan through a book in the shops that I was at. At Barnes and Noble, at least right now, they generally dont seem to mind if you sit down and look at stuff in the store and decide not to buy them. In an odd way they actually profit from that though too. They have a cafe with some really yummy tea and things for snacks and meals. So if you are around long enough its hard not to make one of those purchases. (And you are only allowed to sit at the tables if you make one of those purchases. Its not a tough choice: a hardcover book thats not discounted or a tea for under $2) And then it is easy to justify buying one item if you have scanned through a stack of them thinking that you were practicing some self control.

The downside on this end to more independently owned bookstores is in an odd way more pressure TO buy if you want to keep those shops in business. Barnes and Noble, on the other hand, will be around tommorrow. And yet there is this fear I have in Barnes and Noble being the only place to find books.

The other famous place for a student and a bibliophile to frequent is amazon.com. And while amazon.com seems like a cheap place to buy books, it was actually a recent New Yorker article that made me realize what a scam that free shipping for $25 is. They intentionally make their prices low so that you need to go over $25 to get the free shipping. And I just realized the other day that some of their more reputable sellers are actually independently owned bookstores, many of whom have their own websites. Why not support them directly instead of forcing them to give a portion of their profit to amazon? While there was an order I was contemplating on amazon, I actually found the same items on the powells.com website. They were only slightly more expensive and I had to pay for shipping. Yet on amazon, I would have felt pressure to pay even more money for an additional item the sake of free shipping. That free shipping is probably one of the biggest ways I give into advertising. Its so damn clever of them.

Yet I am cautious in having an entirely damn corporate america attitude, although I can see trying to make some more sustainable choices with my bibliophilia. Because the truth is I am a student on a fixed income and unfortunately major corporations often have more affordable prices on daily living things I need. The term liberal elite is just that, it doesn't consider that poorer people may have the same concerns but don't have the means to purchase more sustainable items.

Then I pose the questions then of the fact that corporate america is an institution in itself. I hardly ever think that it is effective to live totally outside institutions but to try to find ways to make them more accountable. And as much as I could try to live outside of it, I cant escape the benefits of it with the choices and accessiblity of products that it produces. Buying something used doesnt negate the conditions it was originally made under. I think that the biggest question is then how can we leave corporate america more accountable? Unfortunately, the two biggest ways I can think of would be upholding laws in court and publishing information about them in mainstream media. And we live in a world in which you can buy your way out of the justice system and where corporations help fund mainstream media. So I see how these issues are all intertwined. But do you give into cyncism or beleive as Reverend Jim Wallis says that "hope is beleiving in spite of the evidence and watching the evidence change", trying to find ways to be the hope in the world.

So I can't solve this issue entirely and there are ways that I can counterdict myself by my need to be a part of this culture which involves taking care of myself and enjoying the world around me as well. This makes me fall into Niebuhr's Christ and Culture in paradox model moreso than his Christ against culture model. (What a classic Lutheran I am...) Maybe my pocket book, my energy cant keep up with my heart all the time. But this does not negate the need to try. Support independent bookstores!!!