Next weekend, 13 June 2015, there is A BOOKISH AFFAIR planned to take place at the Roswell Public Library.  It’s an event to celebrate reading and writing in Roswell.  I love reading and writing in Roswell.  It’s just some of the time I get pretty frustrated with how separate we all are from one another.

I was visiting with a friend yesterday in a restaurant–Big D’s.  I apologize to the woman at a nearby table who gave me a dirty look for being too loud.  I live with someone who is hard of hearing, so my volume tends to be set at FULL BOAR!  Ha!  Anyway, we were talking about how Roswell is like an island.  It’s really about 150 miles from everywhere, a geographic oddity, as they say.  I like that it is an island because an island can be comforting.  Nothing is too big or too mysterious.  We’re all in this thing together.  We should be, anyway.

I wish the writers in this town could get more respect from the readers in this town.  It’s hard to get people interested in the work of their neighbors.  That seems odd, doesn’t it.  We’re all up in each other’s other business!  We discuss our neighbors and friends all the time–births, deaths, triumphs, scandals.   All of it is endlessly fascinating, like a long and delicately varied poem, yet I rarely hear of a book club choosing a local author.  Why?

I’m as guilty of this as anyone, I suppose.  “Oh,” I think.  “If they’re from here, who are they?  What could they do that would be of any interest to me?”  Why does a thousand miles of difference in time or place or culture mean that something is more worthy than the restaurant at the north end of town?  Why must mountains or oceans be present for something miraculous to be happening?

Here’s the challenge.  Go to the Anderson, or RMAC, or the Historical Museum, for that matter.  Look closely. Linger.  Dive into Roswell.

Next weekend, come to THE BOOKISH AFFAIR.  Win a door prize.  Buy a book.  Listen to a panel.  The doors open at 11:00 am, and the panel discussions start at 1:00 pm.  Ask some questions.  Offer some insight.  Give us all something to enjoy, and if you don’t enjoy it, I will personally refund you.  It’s free to the public.