CAMPAIGN FOR AMERICA’S LIBRARIES
Whoa! I’ve learned that Laura Bush and I have something in common – and it’s not that we both spend a lot of time talking about her hubby.
What we share is an enthusiasm for the work of one of America’s most valuable institutions: public libraries. These are not merely buildings with books, but genuine community centers providing knowledge, information, insight, entertainment, discourse, awareness, involvement, and more free of charge to everyone who enters, no matter what their wealth or background. Libraries are deposits of democracy.
They are also enormously popular, with more than 60% of Americans making use of them. Nationally, libraries circulate an average of six books a year for every man, woman, and child in America.
Incredibly, however, libraries all across the country are under constant assault by boneheaded politicians wielding budget axes. Even at the federal level, where $250 million a year is authorized for a library literacy fund, Laura’s husband and Congress are holding back more than 90% of the money each year. Meanwhile, governors, mayors, and city councils too often raid library budgets as a way to balance their budgets, making deep cuts that result in reduced days of service, staff layoffs, and branch closings.
But there’s good news, too – grassroots people are fighting back in city after city. In Philadelphia, for example, the mayor and council tried to cut library branches, hours, and services this year, but there was a spontaneous combustion of public outrage that simply could not be ignored. The politicos retreated, restoring full funding for all 55 branches of the Free Library of Philadelphia.
Join me – and hey, even Laura Bush – in the Campaign for America’s Libraries. Maybe we can even get her husband to stop impounding our library money. Call 866/4LIBRARY.
LOCATING CORPORATE-FREE COFFEE
Starbucks, the global giant of the caffeine-slinging world, set out years ago to become the McDonald’s of coffee shops … and has it ever succeeded! Starbucks is now as widely perceived as McDonald’s to be a global symbol of ubiquitous, corporate uniformity.
But let’s not be negative. Instead, let’s celebrate the indomitable spirit of America’s grassroots, independent coffeehouses and the people who support them. I’m one of those people – wherever I go, I seek out the unique, lively, sassy, colorful, funky, and fun joints that are locally owned and representative of an actual place.
If you are interested in being Starbucks-free and finding local shops in your town or in your travels, there’s a handy Web site for you called the Delocator. It’s the creation of three artists who had a caffeine-induced epiphany a couple of years ago while visiting New York City. Emerging from the subway in search of a genuine Big Apple coffee experience, they found themselves in Starbucks hell. The chain’s cookie-cutter outlets were everywhere … and no local latte purveyors were left.
Rather than just wail or rail, the three launched the Delocator, a Web site that helps folks find locations in cities all across America where Starbucks is not, and where good, independent houses are. It’s a simple site – enter a zip code and up pops a list of local shops within a five-mile radius, as well as a list of any Starbucks in the area, so you can avoid them.
The Delocator has been a lightning rod for coffeeheads angry about corporate intrusion, standardization, and shrinking of choice. It has had more than a million hits and has an ever-growing database of several thousand independent places to get a corporate-free cuppa jo. You’re invited to add your own favorite and make comments.
The site, www.delocator.net, is a direct way for anyone to strike a blow against the corporate machine.
This article appears in September 9 • 2005.