Loan Sharks and Vape Shops

An odd title for a post which was drawn from the disappointment of my favorite bookstore closing recently. In the last 20 years or so we have seen many of these payday loan type shops set up here offering criminal interest rates to the desperate! The rich get richer and the poor get beaten down even further than when they came in the door. Those that can't afford it the most pay the highest premiums, that's how the system works. We recently had one of our photography stores, Henry's Photo and Video, close down and the location is now housing a vapor shop! I can tell you more but don't get me started.

AFTERWORDS BOOKSTORE

Over the last 30 years I bought hundreds of books from this store but I feel that I could have done more. There were times when I dropped by and didn't buy anything because I was out walking, taking photos and didn't want to be carrying books around with me knowing I'd be back. This is a personal loss as well as a blow to our community. Fewer used book stores means we are faced with the likes of $30 soft-cover books at Chapters, Coles or Amazon which means fewer people will read. But perhaps most biting is losing what had become the unofficial literary center of St John's. A place you could go to find the works of Orwell, Sagan, Joyce and many of the great literary giants and thinkers and you wouldn't have to empty your wallet to enter their world! Or you could visit and enjoy a poetry reading. When the provincial government was looking at closing libraries and taxing books David and the crew at Afterwords stood behind education and a more vibrant and dynamic society!

	And all of this is going on while the Business of Superstition flourish with tax breaks! Sad times.

With the people of Newfoundland and Labrador already overburdened with taxes and high prices we have the hydro development at Muskrat Falls looming in the shadows with electricity rates expected to double (some say we will be paying more than that). These sad times are our own doing.. Only education and a sense of community can save us.