Submitted by william joyce, Sep 23, 2007 09:34

The Gotham Book Mart was the last place in the U.S. where my books could be sold in the 14th century format, that is people could browse and take their time and feel at home in a real home for books. It is only the latest example of an empire trashing anything that is authentic and life-sustaining. Words are our life blood. In the cities they are all we have to regenerate and find new guides to a singing way of life as opposed to a marketing way of life. Now words are just to remind us we are minor items to sell and be sold. The demise of Mr. Brown and Gotham Book Mart is just one more reminder that the lights are going out. There is applause for their likes, but no real action. Words have been separated from deed, deed from any real priorities. Now come the bombers whose ammunition will blow up everyone. Oh, NYC is such a sophisticated place but wasn't it Yeats who said, The best lack all conviction but the worst are full of passionate intensity.

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