For
some time now, I’ve pondered what to say about my neighborhood, just two
kilometers closer to the city than where I grew up. I live in the worst suburb
of Minneapolis: https://www.roadsnacks.net/these-are-the-10-worst-minneapolis-suburbs/
The criteria we
were judged by are listed below. (“FYI: We defined a suburb as being within 30
miles of Minneapolis.”)
- High unemployment rate
- Low median household incomes
- Low population density (no things to
do)
- Low home values
- A lot of high school drop outs
- High poverty
- High rate of uninsured families
So, extrapolating,
Brooklyn Center has the highest unemployment rate, the lowest median household
income, the lowest population density (nothing to do), lowest home value, a lot
of high school dropouts, the highest poverty, and the highest rate of uninsured
families in the Twin Cities Area.
So, that’s of the
suburbs surrounding Minneapolis. How about the rest of the state? The city of
Bemidji is poorest and according to the same survey group, it’s also the WORST
place to live in Minnesota. (Brooklyn Center is the sixth worst. Yay.)
As far as the US, no
city in Minnesota ranks in the lowest 50…so again, yay.
Why am I writing
about this? The main reason is that while you can buy books at Target and
Walmart, check them out at Brookdale Library in Brooklyn Center, and maybe find
a few at a thrift store (one of which recently closed…), the only REAL
bookstore pulled up stakes and fled “the hood” on June 13, 2009, a decade ago.
Currently Humans in
Brooklyn Center can eat, shop expensive, shop cheap, get their car tabs renewed
and get marriage licenses, go for great bike rides, work out “at the gyms”,
eat, and get cigarettes. That’s about it. Oh, they can buy booze from the city
or a brand new private source. Yay.
They might be able
to buy or check out the latest best seller, but they have to go to another
suburb to get anything beyond Harlequins, Thrillers, or the most recent
celebrity expose or presidential slap down. It’s unlikely you’d find a science
fiction novel, and Walmart doesn’t have a “Philosophy” section; though you CAN
feel like you’re up-to-date with the latest British royalty scandal and next
week’s soap operas.
Erudition has been
eliminated in favor of food, tobacco, alcohol, and “stuff” (not that books aren’t
“stuff” – I have the magnet above on my bookshelves that my daughter gave me.)
But, once Barnes and Noble evacuated its premises, it pulled down the walls of
learning. Granted that they weren’t selling enough books to make a commercial
go of it, but I wonder sometimes why it didn’t make any attempt to become a
niche distributer.
What if, instead
of closing and claiming that “everyone” was reading ebooks – or not reading at all…
“…traits that
characterize non-book readers also often apply to those who have never been to
a library. In a 2016
survey, we found that Hispanics, older adults, those living in households
earning less than $30,000 and those who have a high school diploma or did not
graduate from high school are the most likely to report they have never been to
a public library.” (https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/09/26/who-doesnt-read-books-in-america/)
…bookstores or
libraries tailored their offerings to the community. I don’t mean that people
could say, “Oh, Webber Park doesn’t need any Shakespeare, W.E.B. Dubois, Octavia
Butler, or Renita Weems! They’ll be fine with ESSENCE Magazine, Pete McDaniel,
and Bill Reynolds!”
But I think they’d
draw more people if they TAILORED the books they sold. Also, I had an idea when
the store I was working at was about to close around me – everyone knows
B&N discounted books. They also know that there were Clearance! tables. But
what if someone had created a B&N Outlet store? It certainly seems to work
north of where I live – Levi’s, Hanes, Crocs, Adidas, Mrs. Fields, Subway,
Sunglasses Hut, and an uncounted number of others – everyone I know makes a
trip there a field trip! They come back with food, clothing, shoes, kitchen
stuff, and who knows what else?
I know what they
come away with OUT: books. There’s no bookstore anywhere near the Outlet Mall –
in fact with two exceptions, there are only two books stores inside of a
thirty-mile radius…
Sad, eh?
Does that mean the
people near Albertville read ONLY electronic books? According to the survey: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/09/25/one-in-five-americans-now-listen-to-audiobooks/,
that’s unlikely.
Does that mean the
people near Albertville ONLY buy their books online? Again, though I can’t find
anything specifically about it, some of the other studies indicate that online
buying, while important, won’t ever overtake “brick-and-mortar” shopping
completely.
What I DO wonder
about is that as the number of people reading – science fiction, fantasy,
horror, or ANYTHING – has been decreasing, the number of people arguing loudly
and with shaky intellectual foundations and facts, seems to be increasing. At
least, I have yet to hear, “A book I was reading recently by an unnamed
philosopher pointed out…” on a nightly news broadcast. Sound bites seem to have
overtaken thorough, personal, directed research as the source of information: “Well,
I saw on the news last night…” or, “I was looking at my Snapchat, and I saw
that…” appear to be a more frequently quoted source than “I was reading Ibram
X. Kendi’s newest book, HOW TO BE ANTI_RACIST, and he noted that…”
According to Lisa
Cron points out in her book, WIRED FOR STORY: “We’re wired to turn to story to
teach us the way of the world…As readers we need a notion of the big picture,
so we have an idea where we’re going, why, and what’s at stake for the
protagonist. This not only triggers the sense of urgency that catapults us into
the story, it’s also what allows us to make sense of what’s happening from
beginning to end…It’s a tall order, but why not try to follow John Irving’s
admittedly glib suggestion: ‘Whenever possible, tell the entire story of the
novel in the first sentence.’…Ask yourself: What is the scope of my story? What
journey will my reader take? Have I made it clear? Don’t be afraid of ‘giving
it all away’ on the very first page. Be specific, be clear, don’t hold back.
Remember, you’re giving readers what they crave: a reason to care, a reason to
be curious, and enough info to understand what the stakes are.”
As speculative
fiction writer, I’m worried about this
trend and our behavior in public today…and I'm worried about what happened in the sixth worst city in Minnesota (and the worst SUBURB of Minneapolis/St. Paul...) without any sort of real bookstore...
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