Depressing Trend Story of the Day

A symptom of that city’s abysmal literacy rate?

even more, i’m afraid it’s a symptom of what is going on in the publishing industry.

KT:
.
Don’t they have a library there?

On one hand the concerned citizens of Laredo can take heart that Barnes and Noble is planning on opening a new store within the next two years. Hopefully anyway. But on a side note, I find it very sad that these big box retailers have driven out the smaller mom and pop owned book stores. When I was little one of my favorite weekly stops was to a small neighborhood bookstore. Then B&N and Boarders came to town. Now my childhood book store is a futon store. But then again I guess I am lucky to have a B&N AND Boarders within a 5 minute drive from my house.

KT just wondering: I’ve read reports that reading is declining, but I have also read reports that in fact reading rates in America have not declined. Any insight into which side is correct?

Deason said the Laredo store is profitable, but its profits are not significant when factoring in the expenses of running a chain that’s being phased out.

This is what I refer to as “managing by spreadsheet” and is the number 1 symptom of what happens when companies get too big. So the store is profitable but the Corporate office is working on ‘rebranding’ so a community is getting screwed.

Oh, no! This could really decrease the number of book burnings in Texas.

KT, maybe not all is lost. The book biz model is changing similar to media and retail shopping (I’m still out of work in arch. / construction, given commercial market collapsed, let alone housing). I think there was only one or two new “traditional” indoor shopping malls built last year nationwide – outdoor “lifestyle centers” are the new model (and they’ve been waaaaay overbuilt, but I digress).
.
E-books are replacing some of our reading needs for the info. but I suspect that physical books will stay to some degree for the objects themselves. Some people like holding them and turning pages (I’m one of them). The books can be collectibles such as “Tom Sawyer” autographed by an angel (or Amy), Sarah Palin autographed edition, first edition of your upcoming book. given your info-heavy work / using your laptop. cell phone, and blackberry every day, now and then you need a break from all that tech crap on the beach or in a sunny DC café and just sit and read escapist fantasies at your own pace.
.
Also, if real books were to go away, I’d suspect libraries would be toast. They’re still here and are changing (adding more internet and entertainment, etc.) They do face massive budget problems nationwide but I suspect this is more of a recession budget problem and NOT a falling need / desire for libraries. I visit my main library a lot and believe me, in this recession I’m seeing more people there during the day thanks to unemployment (I’ve asked the librarians this and they confirm it). Who’s the loyal reader here that’s a librarian? She would know way more than me about this.
.
I’m done (can you tell I have time on my hands today?). Feel better, KT? Have you picked first e-books for your new kindle? Here’s a link to a all-is-not-lost piece for your thoughts –
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-weinberger/whats-irreplaceable-about_b_366762.html

What will the people of Laredo do for go-karting?

My deceased dad was a librarian and my mom famously said, “I’d rather read than eat.” I am always in the middle of a biography or novel or inspirational nonfiction. (Currently reading Schultz and Peanuts. Very interesting) Heck, my grandmother used to read while churning butter. The more interesting the book, the slower she churned! That’s all to say that books make us experience things we ordinarily wouldn’t get to do. Is there anything better than a bookstore? This makes me sad.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Enough_at_Last

Fantastic episode spob. The scene at the end when his glasses break…totally heartbreaking.

…have reading rate issues been around awhile? Peter Drucker’s “Innovation and Entrepreneurship” in 1985 mentioned ambiguous reading / book buying #’s in US and Japan while profiling early retail book chains (no names dropped but B Dalton is among them). What raised my eyebrow were store locations – independent bookstores were located near universities but chains opted for malls and high foot traffic.

Here’s another depressing story:
.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34464665/ns/world_news-americas?GT1=43001
.
Whole lotta good Barack’s yukking it up with Silva has done . . . .

Seems more a function of changing retail landscape than some dire result of declining literacy in America or Laredo, TX. Between Walmart, the big B&N/Borders stores and Amazon there’s just not much room for the old style chain bookstores like these any more, and they’re disappearing all over. Same with “record” stores.

And while smaller, independent (and even specialized) stores can survive in larger urban areas even larger general bookstores can’t compete any more – i.e. Stacey’s in San Francisco, RIP.

If the citizens of Laredo are serious about wanting a bookstore they should look into working with B&N to find another spot or find a way to accelerate the 18 month wait on their proposed location in exchange for keeping the old store open until the new one is compete.

I don’t think even the biological father is surprised at that ruling. I read an article yesterday on this case. The father hadn’t traveled to Brazil because he figured this would happen. Sad, but not unexpected.
And not in any way Obama’s fault. He has no control over the Brazilian court system.

It’s not Obama’s fault, but he raised this issue specifically with da Silva, and apparently it’s not a priority for Lula. Relations between Brazil and the US should not be normal while this travesty is going on. And certainly, there should be no foreign aid (of any kind) while this is going on.
.
Obama got the Heisman here. And don’t think that people don’t notice.

From the link:

The [Laredo] city’s library system was already planning to open two more branches over the next two years to meet demand. That’s in addition to the two-story main library painted in bold, Mexican-inspired colors that serves about 400,000 visitors annually.

Nice to know that there is an affordable public (library) option when the private sector fails to meet people’s needs.

I don’t know Laredo’s retail situation but nationwide mall / shopping center vacancies are soaring, so I’d bet a cheap lease (temp. or perm.) can be signed fast. But vacancies were sprouting like mushrooms long before the media caught up, this aside from spring 2008 –
http://www.cnbc.com/id/24777784/
(you may have to scroll down, it’s archived and not loading correctly)
KT, how is the retail landscape there?

Unfortunately this is not all that uncommon. At least Brazil has signed the Hauge Convention on international child abduction (I assume). Not all of our allies have however. As in this recent case:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/11/11/japan.custody.battle/index.html?eref=ib_topstories

Tragic yes. Should we cut off dipolmatic ties with Japan until the matter is resolved? No. Neither should our overall relations with Brazil be affected by the case you site either.

When POTUS makes a stink about something with the head of state of another country and the US is plainly in the right, and we get blown off, there have to be unpleasant consequences. It’s that simple.

You and I both agree that this is a terrible situation. And it appears we are both pulling for the biological father in this case. But I cannot agree that the United States should withhold foreign aid or concoct some other punishment until the Brazilian courts bend to America’s will. I am pretty sure that this exact situation is happening in reverse as well. That somewhere out there is a loving, well meaning parent who’s American parent has kidnapped the child and is residing in America with that child. What should that country’s response be to America as those types of cases wind their way through our protracted legal system?

As a man suffering from chronic/lifelong bibliophilia [I sleep with dead authors' ... books], I second the library plugs. Even moreso, used bookstores. Though no longer in driving distance to mecca, the Portland Powells, I still shop online exclusively for used product. B&N, Borders are anathema to me. Like Starbucks is to the groovy coffee joint.

That said, as someone who taught junior college (composition) in the US for years, it’s not merely a reflection of what’s happening in the publishing industry … it’s a direct correlative to what’s happening to the literacy of American youth. If you’ve never been in the habit of reading, well good luck with the writing. And I’m no snob–some of my better writers were bred on comic books. A sense of narrative can come from there too.

We have an obligation to uphold treaties. I doubt the same is going on here. Brazil is a serial violator of the Hague accords. Sanctions need to be imposed. Personally, I would support clandestinely kidnapping this stepfather and putting him on trial here in the US. He belongs in a US prison.
.
Obama personally interceded and has gotten the Heisman. He should not take that lying down. I wouldn’t if I were POTUS.

So does Japan. So do most of the countries in the Middle East where the Saudi, etc. parent grabs the kids and runs back to their country. Let’s withhold aid from Iraq, Afganistan, Kuwait, Japan, etc.

Maybe that is the way to stop the war and it will be spob’s idea. Great!

You are correct spob, Brazil seems to be a serial violator of this paticular accord. They signed onto it, they should do more to hold up their end. I still don’t see that sanctions or an illegal abduction of the stepfather would be the prudent course of action here though. This is what you have diplomacy for. And all is not lost anyway. This child might well be sent to America in the end. Is it unfair for the American father to have to wait even one second longer then he already has? Of course. But you cannot resolve every international difference by picking up your toys and walking away in a huff.

If B Dalton was their only bookstore, they didn’t lose much. The public library’s selection of crappy, throw-away books may be smaller, but it’s appropriately priced.

queencersei: “.. abysmal literacy rate?”

Let us see (a view from the couch of the obese and very hard-working, health-insurance-free Americans.)

Elementary, my dear queencersei. Literacy is misoverrated, so Bush#43 may say.

Down with bookstores! [Up with Amazon ..]

KT It isn’t about the publishing business it is about readers. 250,000 people cant keep a book store open? That is Texas for you. I can tell you it wasn’t the Kendall.

I agree — for the first time — with spob. Brazil is crappy with these cases. I have worked on many Hague Convention cases and they are one of the worst. This story makes me sick and I wish the Administration would do more to force the Brazilians to follow the treaty they signed.