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<td style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 14pt; font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,Serif;" rowspan="1" colspan="1" align="center">Vertigo Books at Risk<br>We need your help.<br>
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<td style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,Serif; font-size: 10pt;" rowspan="1" colspan="1"><font style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,Serif; font-size: 10pt;" color="#000000" face="Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,Serif" size="2">
Dear Friends:<br>
<br>
Vertigo Books is at risk. We have short and <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001HfHWS02AurXc8gkDWLFeqkxxwKvB9fEh6QsGClpRZUXssLz3AFoZ9_dFSqFtat8IRW_CYSyoMsZpupR2pM2mt9-N1-_upF0IhOdch1uufzhz0QMQ4NjO1G2hCumEwUQrBy-L_TB3uqHguBovn2nd4TcUN9b5OAjD5c_HxDpraxTvk_mgcUAFh2OE1OkTh8r-" target="_blank">long versions of why this is so</a>, but both end with the same request: <span style="font-weight: bold;">vote with your dollars <span style="font-style: italic;">now </span>if
you value our local economy and this store.</span><br>
<br>
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. <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001HfHWS02AurWCv7yW2_cBYZ1Y7L3UEs3WIURu8DSUB-BRXZ20Z5yAeMkqlCaMTRM4aju37LbMZOJU36Bllbops4ehHv7r6SvMPcwVnN0SnK1Zgqndx6gwy5apPy2dffEk4vy1zP8i5pS9iNE48XyNMA==" target="_blank">The math is simple and compelling</a>:<br>
Vertigo Books $4.50<br>
Barnes & Noble/Borders $1.30<br>
Amazon $0.00<br>
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.<br>
<br>
Why are we struggling? It may be a perfect storm:<br><ul><li>Market forces have not been kind to independent
businesses and competition from internet and chain booksellers is keen.</li><li>DC area residents use the internet more than
many areas.</li><li>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.</li><li>The area lacks a coherent Buy Local effort that
makes consumers aware of the real cost of chains. </li></ul>
Sales in 2008 are down substantially over last year. Vertigo
Books simply cannot survive only on good wishes and fond thoughts.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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 <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001HfHWS02AurWLdC5DMr4yR3ViDvwsbSIbvqGkYs1vWnU4DUTW_exRuewMk5Rs2BCZJ-8A2hDdE8PB9ayF8c1GXy0406AnJACgSa3EoeFWnMU-X4sTW8IuMw0AQxyQcvd8pFRA4fqWA6GhjmUH5Kjqsw==" target="_blank">build a healthy local and state economy</a> 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.<br>
<br>
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...<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
Todd Stewart, Bridget Warren &<br>
The Staff of Vertigo Books<br><br><span style="color: rgb(0, 51, 153);">
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. <br><br>And <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001HfHWS02AurWoKr4sCCTTmzLIMVOwm0vkjJNvZEYQ63GMJGCWmNFd4fv1YTZGJxIgxnn_AT58iOjYe5c2NJZeG9MFFN6DiFyDvY8jrz8IfFcyMuc7-m6Xro-pCWx3k6I5CdKAWg0uuTr2QAkYV7FDyA==" target="_blank">join us for an event</a> soon. If you'd like a signed book and you cannot attend, call and we can have it signed for you.</span><br>
<br><br><font style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153);" size="4">Upcoming Events</font><font style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" size="4"><font size="2"><br><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Brendan I. Koerner</span><br>
<span style="font-weight: bold;"> Thursday, October 30 6:30 pm</span><br><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a rel="nofollow" href="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=" target="_blank"> Sumner School, 1201 17th Street, NW (17th & M Streets)</a></span><br>
<span style="font-style: italic;"> Now the Hell Will Start</span> tells the remarkable tale of Herman Perry, a <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001HfHWS02AurU4nZzsGI-zhQhGTMriUY3jNwxc1LG7GpUrUuiDnLo-IvTrwdSkTbCjdzWX2Jg3EFoIIu5SrbDSK-lGSIiGPb6JyrCCA3h_Ovj6mKE1p05Qc02NHHZrrT0pa0d0uHwStGPz77YWABwwJJn1T1JnVY8kr58H0RtuG-iwzKJcqtyIYj79phCayoSdFBh_Y7ro2bW8MV3kRQ4FsQ==" target="_blank">smooth playboy from the streets of Washington, DC</a>,
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. <br><br> 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. <br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Audrey Kerr</span><br>
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Wednesday, November 12 7 pm</span><br>In <span style="font-style: italic;">The Paper Bag Principle: Class, Colorism, and Rumor in the Case of Black Washington, D.C.</span>
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. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Paper Bag Principle</span>
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.<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Paperback Dreams Screening with</span><br><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Producer/director Alex Beckstead</span><br>
<span style="font-weight: bold;"> Thursday, November 13 7 pm</span><br><span style="font-style: italic;"> Paperback Dreams</span>
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. <br><br> Independent
bookstores function as literary laboratories, and publishers rely on
passionate booksellers to champion new and controversial works. <span style="font-style: italic;">Paperback Dreams</span>
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, <span style="font-style: italic;">Trailer Park
Blues</span> aired on public television stations across the country. <br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Sandra Tsing Loh</span><br>
<span style="font-weight: bold;"> Thursday, December 4 7 pm</span><br>
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 <span style="font-style: italic;">Mother on Fire: A True Motherf%#$@ Story About Parenting!</span>
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 rel="nofollow" href="http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001HfHWS02AurWPgOvfSGg2lnLoMmtISJ-tjHQNByJd31lLLEnx5r86P_wcP_1OwyleIucjdcK_yFlnhIkqPyFInk5Zw6-CdhgMfzSjR6ZrhKA_LTdAYk4HGlxZ6wxbTg6xUi3PwypSiTJH4Av7ga3q7lXP4HCcXvYDVhBiaD4mwO39e2QASWT60CHTqcQYfTel6XffmQBg6u7SM38jgWu9bg==" target="_blank">a public school activist</a>. Her books include <span style="font-style: italic;">A Year in Van Nuys</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">Depth Takes a Holiday</span>. 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. <br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">
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. </span></font></font><br></font></td>
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<td style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,Serif; font-size: 10pt;" rowspan="1" colspan="1"><font style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,Serif; font-size: 10pt;" color="#000000" face="Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,Serif" size="2"><a rel="nofollow" href="http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001HfHWS02AurVCZz3-X9sGxOED6Ek96048np4bE15ojLOYzW-hX3JwOO5c7iExRt_w11hbAVBIhTfwmFrk4QZc4DU-EJYjAOSC4GBsPA0KJ8STWKB_HqC4QAYsp6et8D62" target="_blank">Vertigo Books</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001HfHWS02AurX6rH8NP7RhgGpT_z_dyn1IBq8DOECmc4XzeQgSE85MMSCoLHU2mD84iYnEGnp4Vk1Ua7SVn3Num0vpbuvvuptkWr442yiPwYmNGR5BxyyZnvk81akY9uxGPuvpIJmZNyM=" target="_blank">Find Us</a><br>
7346 Baltimore Ave. <br>College Park MD 20740<br>301-779-9300<br>A short walk from Metro (exit west toward the residential neighborhood side) & one block south of campus on Route 1.<br>Mon-Fri 10-8 Sat 10-7 Sun 12-5
<br><br>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.</font></td>
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</tbody></table><br><font style="font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 8pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" color="#000000" face="verdana,arial" size="1">Vertigo Books | 301-779-9300 | <a href="http://www.vertigo-books.com/" target="_blank">www.vertigo-books.com</a> | 7346 Baltimore Ave. | College Park | MD | 20740</font>
</div><br>-- <br>Sarah Wayland<br><a href="mailto:sarah.wayland@gmail.com">sarah.wayland@gmail.com</a><br>