and the Frankoma pottery mug I got for myself. I love the mug's "plainsman green" glaze--the clay shows through more than you can see here. Frankoma (Frank + Oma) was established by John Frank in 1933 in Oklahoma, making use of local clay.
I think the mug is from the 1980s.
I got her an AP stylebook yesterday too.
And, if she wants it, she can have Garner's Modern English Usage (rec by Michael of OCA)--the rest are for me.
Seems like eventually every book gets donated to the store.
Other books in my haul:
•The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm is a translation by Jack Zipes, who was in my printmaking class! (He's an esteemed scholar, retired from the U here--he's 87.)
•A customer yesterday recommended Love Wins, by Christian pastor Rob Bell. The customer had grown up with a blood and brimstone fundamentalism and said Bell, in contrast, teaches empathy. He seems kinda Oprah-friendly? Marz wrinkled her nose, but I have no dog in the race--I'll give him a a try.
•I'm interested in the force of charisma and religion--so, The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and People's Temple (2017)--something I've read a lot about already, but not this book.
•Kirsten had recommended Quilters: Women and Domestic Art, an Oral History.
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Thrift Violence
The news from the thrift store last week--a customer pulling a machete because clothes prices were too high--was disturbing but funny.
Yesterday's was just plain bad. [That's my WARNING]
I hate to even report on this sort of thing again. The day before, someone murdered a young man in the parking lot in the middle of the afternoon-- shot him to death. Quite likely related to the drug trade across the street? There've been several murders there, but never one right on our doorstep. One of the volunteers is a retired doctor, and she tended to the victim, but he went fast...
"There was a lot of blood."
Some of my coworkers were upset, but others took it in stride.
One told me, "I've become so numb to this, my first thought honestly was worrying that I wouldn't get my lunch break."
We laughed.
I TOTALLY GET THIS.
I wasn't particularly upset either. I mean, the tragedy of lives destroyed (and destroying) is there to see every day. It is par for the course in this neighborhood, though I'm very glad I didn't actually see the dead man.
But of course the pain and the fear of violence affects you. It's like you live inside a hard rubber ball to protect yourself:
bouncy! but it doesn't let in light and air.
I was so angry and thin-skinned, those years after the murder of George Floyd, a mile from the store.
I used to keep a thriftstore diary, but I stopped recording daily, it was too upsetting. Hm--my last post with that ^ tag was less than a year ago: it was about how I hit someone at work!
I was especially angry at the complacency of middle-class life, (partly why I'd had such a bad reaction to bloggers complaining about their hired house cleaners last year).
I'm much calmer now... that happened pretty quickly once I quit the store and got into the light and air.
I'd wondered if I could reenter middle-class normalcy, but it's been easy. There're plenty of highly distressed kids at the high school, but there's a lot of support––by law!––for people under 18. Like, the state legally has to supply kids with a place to live, even if it's a hotel room.
It makes a big difference when the workplace is empowered to help.
Once you're over eighteen, you're on your own.
Heavy stuff. I'm volunteering again today--my BOOK's replacement is away, and I can power through a lot of donations--I love to work alone there. Zoom, zoom, zip, zip.
Feels good to help get it out.
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By the way...
I checked, and Ancestry does coordinate with FB, so that is likely how FB linked me to my cousin. I can't think of any other link, since we've never connected online (not being in touch since the 1970s).
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