Ah yes another piece for which I must write a disclaimer!  To whit: “my opinions here in no way reflect those of anyone else on staff, or, indeed, on Earth.  Also, they don’t reflect Debra’s, yet she is still kind enough to print them.  Cheers.”

Did anyone else catch that article in the New York Times[1] about how what you eat, and where you buy it, predicts how you’re going to vote in the presidential election?  Good stuff.  To be honest, part of me resents the way the spin-meisters and sales consultants intrude on our privacy, observe and record, cut and splice everything we do, for the sole purpose of turning it back on us.  But an even bigger part of me is simply fascinated. (more…)

The day we finally bought our space and became masters of our own destiny, it occurred to me: we have 68 different kinds of lip balm.

The day before, when everything was still up in the air, it occurred to me: this place feels like home. On that day, a customer came up to me and told me that the store was an “anchor” in her life, a safe place, a constant. She could always count on us to be there. And by that, I gather, she didn’t just mean be in a place, but to be there, for her, in ways that were unnamed-able.

I told her I felt the same way. (more…)