Monthly Archives: September 2023

I’ve been going to the store since it opened in Chicago in the early 90s. I’ve been consigning books and zines there for well over a decade. As of last week I’m no longer allowed through the doors. I rub lots of people the wrong way. I say what I think at the wrong times,Continue reading “Banned from the Bookstore”

She tells me she’s been coming to this bar since 1996, when she was fourteen. She stows an unwieldy cloth bag with what looks like most of her worldly belongings on the seat of a booth already occupied by someone else. She laps the bar in exaggerated dance-like steps. All this within a minute ofContinue reading “Flat Earth”

Monday I get a late start. I bartended the night before so I try to sleep in. The forecast promises high 80s so I’m dreading the 13 mile bike ride. I get to Buena Vista around 2pm, pouring sweat, and sit and stare at the blank wall about half an hour. The idea to fillContinue reading “Blank Slate”