I’m recovering from post-State Fair fatigue. Note to self: in the future, it’s probably a good idea to avoid going to the Fair on the last Sunday before Labor Day, especially when it’s hot and an odious melange of fried grease, sweat, and livestock flatulence permeates the whole place. But I still go once every year because I get a kick out of playing “Spot the Abusive Relationships” and eavesdropping on the profanity-laced conversations of others. It’s enough to re-affirm my faith in the basic goodness and decency of humanity. 

If you happen to be in Minneapolis on Sunday, September 23rd, consider attending the VSA arts of Minnesota Autumn Silent Auction. VSA is local non-profit that promotes access to the arts for people with disabilities. I sit on its Board of Directors and this is our third silent auction event. There will be plenty of interesting items to bid on, like original artwork, theater tickets, gift certificates to restaurants, etc. And there will be plenty of food and drink to keep you happy while you empty your wallet in support of a good cause.

Here’s the vital information:

VSA arts of Minnesota Autumn Silent Auction
Sunday, September 23rd, 2:00-5:00 p.m.
12th Floor of Macy’s, 700 Nicollet Mall, Downtown Minneapolis
Tickets: $30 apiece if purchased before September 18; $35 after September 18

You can order tickets on-line or through me. All proceeds benefit VSA. You’ll have a good time, I promise. And when have I ever disappointed you?

This week’s City Pages includes a feature profile of Christopher Harmon. Christopher has a rare neurological condition that has left him deaf, legally blind, and in a wheelchair. The article details Harmon’s efforts to come to terms with the severity of his disability, as well as his aspirations to become a writer. It also describes his struggle with the county to maintain funding for the sign language interpreters who help him communicate with the rest of the world on a daily basis.

I’ve run into Christopher a few times at various functions, but I don’t have the privilege of knowing him personally. I hope he’s happy with the article; I think it’s wonderful.

According to a recent AP poll, 25% of Americans didn’t read a book in the last year. Over at the Guardian Books Blog, it’s posited that capitalism is to blame for the mass aversion to the printed page that so many Americans seem to have developed. I think that’s an oversimplification of what’s really going on. To be sure, reading–and I want to emphasize that we’re talking about books here–has never been a popular American pastime. Credit the vociferous anti-intellectualism that took root here as soon as the Puritans dropped anchor. Credit the agrarian economy that dominated the first half of the nation’s history (reading can’t be a priority when there are crops to be sown). Books might have become mass entertainment if the industrial revolution hadn’t been immediately followed by the advent of radio and then television.

Some might point out that the Web and videogames and television turned people away from books. Maybe. Perhaps technology finally reached a point where it could satiate a human brain hungry for visual stimulation. Why make the effort to process words into images when the TV is sitting right there, ready to mainline all kinds of pretty pictures into our cerebral cortexes? The siren call of the TV is hardwired into our neural pathways. The decline of reading is just as much about biology as anything else.

But books and the reading of books will survive. Despite the best efforts of a broken educational system and a mass culture that is becoming ever more hyper-visual, a significant minority of people–yes, even Americans–will continue to take refuge and solace in books. A certain kind of person will cling to the permanence of the stories and ideas presented in books as a way to keep one’s bearings in an age of ephemera and disposability.

Lee Child puts his own spin on the lone-hero archetype in The Hard Way, one of the latest books in Child’s series of books that feature Jack Reacher. Reacher is an ex-military cop who has a knack for finding trouble. In this book, Reacher gets involved with the investigation of a mercenary’s trophy wife. Reacher soon discovers that said mercenary doesn’t possess many redeeming qualities, even for a mercenary, and Reacher begins to suspect foul play.

The narrative moves along at a brisk pace without inducing seeming far-fetched, which is a common pitfall for the thriller genre. There isn’t much in the way of character development, but that really isn’t the point in books like these. It’s all about plot twists, which Child delivers in a well-crafted manner. When I’m in the mood for another breezy read, I’ll be happy to return to the world of Jack Reacher.

Next up is The Store, Bentley Little’s critique of consumerism disguised as a horror novel.