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Hey folks,
A lot
of changes have been taking place lately. For example, I just
got a new job at a psychological counseling center. In the
course of my job, I work with the files of all our clients,
which affords me a near-pornographic view into their personal
lives (which occasionally weighs pretty heavily on my soul).
But, I have noticed that a large majority of people say that
they will read in order to help them cope with whatever difficulty
they are currently going through.
And that
makes sense to me. Lord knows I do the same thing (when whiskey
and casual sex simply aren't enough). Whenever I'm feeling
stressed, I'll cordon off a section of time where I can just
fill up a bubble bath (yes, I am secure enough in my masculinity
to publicly admit I take bubble baths), and immerse myself
(pun intended) in whatever literary world in which I'm currently
involved. That simple act of breaking up the cycle of our
daily stresses, anxieties and concerns by allowing our minds
to concentrate on and imagine the narratives created by these
authors is enormously restorative. It's a unique benefit that,
I feel, TV can't compete against. Relaxing with a book is
much more engaging than the simple, crude shut-down television
often provides—not that I need to twist your arm to convince
you that books are better than TV.
Of course,
the preponderance of book-reading among the clients at my
work could simply prove that readers are highly prone to psychological
disturbances. But anyway...
In the
realm of more national changes, there's an election coming
up. No one's really been talking about it, so it is easy to
forget (sarcasm). So, with the Democratic National Convention
happening right before our update, and the Republican National
Convention happening as we're updating, we've decided to offer
a few politically minded articles, just to get into the spirit
of being civically-minded. There's not a whole lot, but we
do have a few reviews of books (both fiction and nonfiction)
that consider issues such as the war, debate, and the political
career of Jesus. We also have not one but two different articles
about politicians' books—Dorothy Parka skewers the inanity
of the stupid ones while Chris Mackowski gives us the history
of the important ones (and some of the stupid ones, too).
While
I can't speak directly for all HBC staffers, I would think
they'd all be with me when I strongly encourage you to go
vote. Chances are that anyone reading this website probably
understands the value in voting, but just in case...please.
Go vote. Now, we're not going to tell you who to VOTE FOR,
BARACK OBAMA or John McCain or any of the other capable third
party candidates. We wouldn't be so overtly partisan. That'd
be crass. But, if you're not registered to vote, you can go
to websites like Rock
the Vote to fix that (and hurry, there are deadlines for
registry if you want to vote in the November election). And,
if you're at all worried that you're not registered, call
your local Registrar of Voters to make sure. And then, of
course, you can check websites like the League
of Women Voters or On
the Issues to stay informed.
As always,
thanks for supporting our site. If you're in college, please
consider buying your textbooks on Amazon or Powells after
clicking our links. We will, very literally, love you forever.
Try and stop us.
<3,
Kyle
(September,
2008)
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