“There are those to whom place is unimportant, / But this place, where sea and fresh water meet, / Is important. . . . ”from “The Rose” which he read to an enthusiastic audience at the Seattle World’s Fair in 1962Theodore Roethke is arguably the greatest poet to have spent a significant amount of time living in Seattle. His years teaching at the University of Washington (1947 until his death in 1963) put the region on the literary map. "The sixteen years of Roethke’s residence in Seattle changed the region’s literary maturity and taste."He is to the Northwest School of...
The Book Designs of John D. Berry
For over 25 years John Berry has been designing books, editing books and writing about typography.He was house designer for Copper Canyon Press in the early 1990s, and more recently has both edited and designed several books for Mark Batty Publisher, including U&lc: influencing design & typography. John Berry is also one of the foremost writers on typography and design. His first two Dot-font books are selections from the essays he has been writing for the last seven years in his “dot-font” column for Creativepro.com. In these direct, colloquial essays, he turns a critical eye on the role of design...
Southern Oregon County to Shut Down Entire Library System
In what seems like a surreal event the entire library system of Jackson County, Oregon is on the brink of closure. Their funding runs out April 7th and if nothing is done between now and then it will be the largest library closure in U.S. history. "I wish we could call FEMA; this feels like a natural disaster to me" says the county's interim library director Ted Stark.The 15 libraries that serve this rural community have lost $7 million in federal funding this year or nearly 80 percent of the system's budget and the Jackson County residents voted down a...
The Green Lake Poet
Sure sounds better than the Green River Killer.This is a poet on mission. Every Sunday Amy Allin sets up shop at Green Lake, a heavily trafficked man-made lake in North Seattle. She puts out a little table marked with big glass letters spelling out "P-O-E-T" and reads poetry to anyone in earshot. She began her quest in July and has been there every Sunday since. Her goal is to be there for 1 year. Allin doesn't own a car and walks four miles each way to Green Lake to perform her public service.Allin says: "If the world is run for...
The Bookshop as Sacred Space
We who love books know that spending time in a bookstore is, on some level, a spiritual event. The creative output that is housed at the bookstore is awe inspiring.A bookstore just opened in the Netherlands that is housed in a 13th century Dominican church. The church was built in 1294 and was recently converted.There are also people I know where going into a bookstore is a physical event. They get so overwhelmed by the bookish surroundings that they immediately have to go to the bathroom.Thanks to Kimbooktu for the lead