Some weeks are harder than others.  This week, I found myself continuously distracted and saddened by the closure of my favorite independent bookstore, Adventures for Kids (AFK).  Located in midtown Ventura, AFK simply became unable to compete against megabooksellers (online and retail), and a lackluster economy. 

Even before I became a parent, I was a loyal customer.  AFK is a two block walk from my house, just down the street and through the alley, and into their back door.  I knew many of the people who worked there well, through my professional work, church and other community activities.  Those who worked at AFK usually did so on a part-time basis: in their other lives, they were journalists who wrote about books and writing, school teachers, college professors and school librarians.  They love and breathe books in the same way we do. 

The day my pregnancy was confirmed nearly thirteen years ago, the first place I stopped on my way home from the doctor's office was AFK, where I purchased a Sandra Boynton book.  After years of purchasing books for expectant friends at AFK, I was eager to begin a book collection for my own child.  And collect we did; over the years, we purchased dozens and dozens and dozens and dozens and dozens of books at AFK.  Some months, especially when I was earning a Masters in Education at UCSB, a significant portion of my paycheck was spent there. Those months, we ate modestly, but I was fed by re-engaging the literature of my youth, and in turn, sharing it with others.

From an early, early age, Natalie played in the store; she attended book readings there; she learned about science in messy, hands-on and fun ways in AFK's back parking lot; and she made friends, not just kids, but adults.  Sticky fingers were welcomed, touch anything, sit and read, play...it was a great place for a busy toddler and a sometimes stressed mom.  JK Rowling signed a couple of Harry Potter books for us at AFK...imagine an author with that degree of commerical success coming to small Ventura, to a humble bookstore.  A humble bookstore, but a place so central to the community. And come the authors did, and we amassed an enviable collection of signed books.

In the last couple of years, Natalie befriended the store's new owner, Barbara O'Grady, who frequently solicited her opinion on books.  She attended writing seminars there, working with a group of other literature-minded kids at a table in the middle of the store. In the last year, Natalie was permitted to walk to AFK alone with her friend, Mallory. Invariably, they'd pool their money and come home with an armful of books to be shared.  This week, they repeated the ritual, but it was a sad and final act.

Barbara, who was known to us in her previous career as the person responsible for the not-just-your-ordinary-company-cafeteria at Patagonia, talked to Natalie, just talked, book lover to book lover. And Natalie would always want to go visit her good friend Geoff Godfrey, a retired school teacher and the husband of Marilyn Godfrey (whose work on the Ventura Unified School District's Healthy Schools Project I've blogged about before).  These are good people: a few months ago, the store hosted a talent show organized by Natalie's friend Matthew that raised enough money to purchase malaria nets for 30 African families. The talent was a line-up of mostly sixth grade friends from Cabrillo Middle School. On a Sunday afternoon, more than a hundred of us crowded into AFK, marveled at the growth of our kids, and experienced real community. 

A huge Harry Potter fan, I visited the store one year at midnight in my pajamas and bathrobe to get my copy of the latest HP adventure.  The store was packed, even at midnight, but no one spared a second glance for the middle-aged woman in the fuzzy green bathrobe.  I stayed up all night reading that book.

So, I blog about sustainable food systems and gardening...what's the link with the increasingly common story of a locally owned business going under?  Well, there are many links.  The folks at AFK partnered with us to promote literature that supported the notion of agricultural literacy.  They sponsored book showcases of important literature related to this topic when we had our teacher trainings.  Their adult section contained excellent titles about sustainable food systems.  And several of those who worked there have been involved in gardening, nutrition education and sustainable food systems activities in our community. Book lovers and gardeners have lots in common.  Book lovers till the mind and feed the heart; gardeners till the soil and feed the soul.

So I've been in a funk this week. My husband, Bill, and I talked about the changed landscape of our midtown neighborhood, of all the stores and businesses dear to us that have disappeared in the last twenty-one years we've lived here.  About the people who've worked in those businesses, or owned those businesses - some of them neighbors, like Barbara - and how our lives intersect with them, and how their inability to thrive in this economy threatens all of us.  Today, I got my hair cut at the salon that has shared the building with AFK, this salon owned by a friend who lives two blocks away.  The sadness lingered there, too, and the uncertainty: could the space be rented? What might come in? Would it be a locally-owned business that could be integrated into our neighborhood?

When we don't patronize local business they go away.  Local businesses include farmers.  Sometimes even when we do patronize them, they can't compete against mega-businesses.  And now, more than ever, eating locally seems to be even more important, an antidote to what's occuring.

"A Garden for Everyone.  Everyone in a Garden."