826 Denver?

Last night I had the great joy of meeting a couple good friends at the Tattered Cover in LoDo to listen to Dave Eggers read from his new book (Zeitoun) and speak about reading, writing and democracy. The crowd was what one would expect: young, hipster, ambitious and a little nerdy. There was one teacher working on an oral history assignment with their students, another trying to help his students read Zeitoun. There was also, of course, the crazy-haired guy who hovered near the door and cornered Dave right before the book signing.

What was so great about Dave was his passion for supporting youth to think critically about their lives and their world, to not accept the status-quo so easily. He spoke about civics (including the duty to pay for newspapers if we want a real democracy) and oral histories (the seed of Zeitoun), the choice for students to choose their reading materials and how his students don't connect to JD Salinger anymore (gasp!).




I was there with my friend Beth and we have always had the inner desire to start an 826 Denver. It seems way too daunting for the two of us so we were delighted to hear that there is already a contingent of Denverites looking to start an 826 in Denver. Each 826 has a "front" store: in San Francisco its all about pirates, in Brooklyn superheros can purchase all their supplies. So the question on my mind today: what would we sell at 826 Denver?