[RP TownTalk] Fwd: Vertigo Books in College Park needs us and we need them!

Thu Oct 30 00:43:20 UTC 2008

  Vertigo Books at Risk
We need your help.
     Dear Friends:

Vertigo Books is at risk. We have short and long versions of why this
is so<http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001HfHWS02AurXc8gkDWLFeqkxxwKvB9fEh6QsGClpRZUXssLz3AFoZ9_dFSqFtat8IRW_CYSyoMsZpupR2pM2mt9-N1-_upF0IhOdch1uufzhz0QMQ4NjO1G2hCumEwUQrBy-L_TB3uqHguBovn2nd4TcUN9b5OAjD5c_HxDpraxTvk_mgcUAFh2OE1OkTh8r->,
but both end with the same request: vote with your dollars now if you value
our local economy and this store.

Where you spend your money affects the world in which you live. For every
$10 you spend at locally-owned businesses, $4.50 stays in our community. The
math is simple and
compelling<http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001HfHWS02AurWCv7yW2_cBYZ1Y7L3UEs3WIURu8DSUB-BRXZ20Z5yAeMkqlCaMTRM4aju37LbMZOJU36Bllbops4ehHv7r6SvMPcwVnN0SnK1Zgqndx6gwy5apPy2dffEk4vy1zP8i5pS9iNE48XyNMA==>
:
Vertigo Books   $4.50
Barnes & Noble/Borders   $1.30
Amazon  $0.00
The money you spend with us continues to circulate as we pay employees, buy
supplies and pay taxes that are used to provide basic services to residents.

Why are we struggling? It may be a perfect storm:

   - Market forces have not been kind to independent businesses and
   competition from internet and chain booksellers is keen.
   - DC area residents use the internet more than many areas.
   - An entire generation has grown up believing that Barnes & Noble,
   Borders and Amazon are the only places to buy books and this matters in a
   college town.
   - The area lacks a coherent Buy Local effort that makes consumers aware
   of the real cost of chains.

Sales in 2008 are down substantially over last year. Vertigo Books simply
cannot survive only on good wishes and fond thoughts.

If you believe, as we do, that bookstores are more than places of commerce,
but places of community, conversation and ideas, we urge you to come in and
shop. We'll recognize more than your credit card. Frequently we'll know your
reading tastes (if not your name), ask how the new job is, whether your mom
is doing well and lead you to the new book by your favorite writer. There is
no log-in, no password required: just walk in the door.

You vote with your dollars as you shop, so please reflect a moment before
you purchase books for friends and family online. Support retail diversity:
shop consciously. You will do more to build a healthy local and state
economy<http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001HfHWS02AurWLdC5DMr4yR3ViDvwsbSIbvqGkYs1vWnU4DUTW_exRuewMk5Rs2BCZJ-8A2hDdE8PB9ayF8c1GXy0406AnJACgSa3EoeFWnMU-X4sTW8IuMw0AQxyQcvd8pFRA4fqWA6GhjmUH5Kjqsw==>by
shopping with locally-owned businesses--even in this gloomy time.
Independents live in your community, support your causes, pay taxes, find
your book like no search engine can (when you can only remember the
color...and that turns out to be wrong :) and bring you outstanding value
and events.

We enjoy serving the community we live in and have always told new employees
our customers were the best around. But without your renewed support...

Well, in the spirit of optimism, let's just close with our thanks for your
commitment to keeping thoughtful bookselling, with a little irreverence and
independence, alive here on Route 1.

Todd Stewart, Bridget Warren &
The Staff of Vertigo Books

PS-In thanks, we'll offer a galley (a book in prepublication form) to those
who purchase $25 or more while supplies last. Quantities and selection
limited.

And join us for an
event<http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001HfHWS02AurWoKr4sCCTTmzLIMVOwm0vkjJNvZEYQ63GMJGCWmNFd4fv1YTZGJxIgxnn_AT58iOjYe5c2NJZeG9MFFN6DiFyDvY8jrz8IfFcyMuc7-m6Xro-pCWx3k6I5CdKAWg0uuTr2QAkYV7FDyA==>soon.
If you'd like a signed book and you cannot attend, call and we can
have it signed for you.

Upcoming Events
 Brendan I. Koerner
 Thursday, October 30 6:30 pm
Sumner School, 1201 17th Street, NW (17th & M
Streets)<http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001HfHWS02AurVDgzugvyw4AtsQIWe6o8rrT-x92F78bYjp2E_IG0EJgZSnxxP49bETmVFCC5Ty4V-UD9OU-dX85lxFIEG9AiC95PdEWba_JMQT0I_0Sg-ui_ZpKSmt0i2e_CbkyohBVM6Ubyka48KI0g2VZnmLAM2mOQ1MUxiWMaxF4IwVHMuI1deGRCB7FGpcl-dujymqINxgAILwzzDo9BHb-jmURQUTvcjKOaggRuSDYLvu_zLjv_P2J8alCWycpicKvXZqADlhesrFnhkIl2HiFOKkoirpncIvxwH4XwUTFR4t3w-scwYo8bIUzGXijUJQBOyrsrxHq3MHH1lupDEOl25pb8fH5TVqKToOCbouv_jpro9kv_Kq5SgLkjMOklY9im4yqCQPDQ5Wk1fqwDOvGdgscvuiTvvdVRmQCnnjrC7wGw-cFvhsiLY_I3fKYp7uEsMaMOT96syKuLav2tV9CPEGYQB42iEiAdpHoM4w9FlXYRPLb1JkZA4it5WCAhcYmpNIE9HhJnji66DB_lLiA856QrHgKSZN4qMCzeQ=>
 Now the Hell Will Start tells the remarkable tale of Herman Perry, a smooth
playboy from the streets of Washington,
DC<http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001HfHWS02AurU4nZzsGI-zhQhGTMriUY3jNwxc1LG7GpUrUuiDnLo-IvTrwdSkTbCjdzWX2Jg3EFoIIu5SrbDSK-lGSIiGPb6JyrCCA3h_Ovj6mKE1p05Qc02NHHZrrT0pa0d0uHwStGPz77YWABwwJJn1T1JnVY8kr58H0RtuG-iwzKJcqtyIYj79phCayoSdFBh_Y7ro2bW8MV3kRQ4FsQ==>,
who wound up living with a hill tribe in the Indo-Burmese jungle to escape
the United States Army's greatest manhunt during World War II. Perry was one
of thousands of black soldiers dispatched to build the Ledo Road, a jungle
highway beset by monsoons, malaria and flesh-eating insects. Perry collapsed
under the jungle's brutality and the Jim Crow Army. When he shot and killed
a white officer, Perry fled into the jungle. Deep in the forest, he married
the daughter of the chief of a fearsome tribe of headhunters. Local black
soldiers called him the Jungle King.

Starting off with nothing more than a ten-word snippet culled from an
obscure bibliography, Koerner spent nearly five years chasing Perry's
ghost.  Koerner is a New York-based journalist, Wired contributing editor
and an columnist at Slate and Gizmodo.

Audrey Kerr
Wednesday, November 12 7 pm
In The Paper Bag Principle: Class, Colorism, and Rumor in the Case of Black
Washington, D.C. Kerr treats controversial issues with great sensitivity and
insight as she considers the function of oral history in shaping community
dynamics among African American residents. The Paper Bag Principle looks at
the divide that has existed between the black elite and the black "folk" and
how belief systems influenced the black community's institutions,
organizations and neighborhoods. Kerr records lore related to the "paper bag
principle," investigates the impact this "principle" had on the development
of black community consciousness and links this material to the power that
results from proximity to whiteness. Audrey Kerr is associate professor of
English at Southern Connecticut State University.

 Paperback Dreams Screening with
Producer/director Alex Beckstead
 Thursday, November 13 7 pm
Paperback Dreams is the story of two iconic West Coast independent
bookstores and their struggle to survive. The film follows Andy Ross, owner
of Cody's Books, and Clark Kepler, owner of Kepler's Books, over the course
of two tumultuous years in the book business. In the last decade,
competition from big chains and the internet has put booksellers in a vise.
Half the independent bookstores in America closed in the 1990s. But in the
1960s independent bookstores committed to free speech redefined intellectual
life and democratized literature. Publishers put the classics into cheap
paperback editions for the first time--literature was suddenly affordable
for the masses.

Independent bookstores function as literary laboratories, and publishers
rely on passionate booksellers to champion new and controversial
works. Paperback
Dreams celebrates what local stores offer communities and mourns the
cultural loss that comes when a good bookstore closes its doors. Beckstead
is a San Francisco-based documentary filmmaker. His last film, Trailer Park
Blues aired on public television stations across the country.

 Sandra Tsing Loh
 Thursday, December 4 7 pm
Tsing Loh says that when she hit her forties, "THE WHEELS CAME OFF." She
threw her frantic energy not into illicit affairs or shopping binges, but
into the harrowing heart of contemporary, dysfunctional L.A. life. The
catalyst? Her realization that she couldn't afford private school for her
daughter. In Mother on Fire: A True Motherf%#$@ Story About Parenting! Tsing
Loh uses her fierce, funny, and self-deprecating voice to document what she
describes as "the year I burst into flames" and became a public school
activist<http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001HfHWS02AurWPgOvfSGg2lnLoMmtISJ-tjHQNByJd31lLLEnx5r86P_wcP_1OwyleIucjdcK_yFlnhIkqPyFInk5Zw6-CdhgMfzSjR6ZrhKA_LTdAYk4HGlxZ6wxbTg6xUi3PwypSiTJH4Av7ga3q7lXP4HCcXvYDVhBiaD4mwO39e2QASWT60CHTqcQYfTel6XffmQBg6u7SM38jgWu9bg==>.
Her books include A Year in Van Nuys and Depth Takes a Holiday. The original
solo stage version of Mother on Fire ran for seven months in Los Angeles.
She has been a regular commentator on NPR's Morning Edition, Marketplace and
This American Life.

All are welcome to attend our readings but if you wish to have a book
signed, it must be purchased at Vertigo Books, rather than at a competitor.
    Vertigo Books<http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001HfHWS02AurVCZz3-X9sGxOED6Ek96048np4bE15ojLOYzW-hX3JwOO5c7iExRt_w11hbAVBIhTfwmFrk4QZc4DU-EJYjAOSC4GBsPA0KJ8STWKB_HqC4QAYsp6et8D62>
  Find
Us<http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001HfHWS02AurX6rH8NP7RhgGpT_z_dyn1IBq8DOECmc4XzeQgSE85MMSCoLHU2mD84iYnEGnp4Vk1Ua7SVn3Num0vpbuvvuptkWr442yiPwYmNGR5BxyyZnvk81akY9uxGPuvpIJmZNyM=>
7346 Baltimore Ave.
College Park MD 20740
301-779-9300
A short walk from Metro (exit west toward the residential neighborhood side)
& one block south of campus on Route 1.
Mon-Fri 10-8 Sat 10-7 Sun 12-5

PARKING TROUBLE?  Please try the parking lot one block south of Vertigo
Books, at the corner of  Hartwick Rd. and Rt. 1.  This lot is near
Applebee's and Kinko's and less congested than the parking immediately in
front of our store.  However, this lot is also metered.
Vertigo Books | 301-779-9300 | www.vertigo-books.com | 7346 Baltimore Ave. |
College Park | MD | 20740

-- 
Sarah Wayland
sarah.wayland at gmail.com
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