Thanks to everyone who joined us this past Saturday at Bookmans Speedway for our Spring Craft event!! We worked together to create an amazing variety of personalized "watering can" planters. Kids of all ages got crafty with this decorative project and created lasting works of art that help celebrate the beginning of Spring!! Then everyone was encouraged to continue the fun at home by selecting a packet of seeds to plant and grow!! Please check out our Flickr site for additional photos of this wonderful event.

 

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a guest blog by Mrs. Green (a.k.a. Gina Murphy-Darling)

What if more businesses decided to create more trade situations? Example: Bookmans in Mesa, Arizona. Not only do they have a cafe with great food (Mrs. Green has not tested it yet but stay tuned) and fair trade coffee, they accept trade-ins for food and drinks. I think they may be the first cafe in the country (maybe even the world!) to do that. Know of any others? Please post if you do.

And just running the numbers: Bookmans Entertainment Exchange has bought 21,951,188 items since January 15, 2005. I can’t get my head around how much “stuff” that would look like but talk about waste reduction!

In honor of our arts and crafts month, Bookmans  Mesa hosted an adult themed craft we called "Button Fairies" Our very own Tina from our book department, taught her offshoot project of the wildly popular mixed media/altered art genre.

Everyone had a ball organizing their buttons, adding their own pictures, or using pictures provided. Using a mixture of wire, thread, paint, glitter and beads, we let our imagination run wild to create a unique hand crafted ornament. Everything from spirit fairies to mermaid fairies.

Who has two thumbs and loves everything from film, comics, and video games to costume design, books, and art? This girl right here! Now in it's eighth year, the Phoenix ComiCon has become a a definite contender in conventions not to be missed. Now dubbed “the signature pop-culture event of the southwest”, I have to be honest, I enjoy it even more than the San Diego ComiCon. In the last five years I have attended PCC, I have seen the convention outgrow it's current venue and continue to get bigger and better. The level of programming and professionalism has continually blown me away every single year. While not one to normally "fangirl" I have to admit I am incredibly excited about Felicia Day, Will Wheaton, and James Marsters.

We started reading, if you can call it that, just after Maxine was born, with picture books of baby faces, photos of animals, and lift-the-flap books. I rarely read the actual words of the book (until she was close to 1-year-old) and tried to keep everything interactive, or at least active. Some of our favorite first books were Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Where is Baby’s Belly Button?, Daddy and Me, and Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? I make lots of gestures, faces, and animal sounds, to the point of embarrassing myself in the Bookmans kids’ room and at the public library!

SXSW Interactive Blog by Tracy Mueller (@tracymueller)

At the 2009 SXSW Interactive conference, I think I heard the word “monetize” roughly 17 times a day. As in “That kitten is cute, but how can we monetize it? What’s the ROI on scratching its tummy?”

Good grief.

Ready? Set? Fold! The nice folks at the AZ Origami Society teamed up with Bookmans to teach two Origami classes on Saturday. The morning class was geared toward adult beginners who are just learning the basics of folding but that didn’t stop them from creating some gorgeous paper flowers made up of rich, vibrant colored papers. The afternoon class (which meet every month at Bookmans) took paper folding to a new level and worked on projects with a much great difficulty level to produce truly amazing works of art. Check out the photos to see their beautiful creations yourself. Some of the pieces looked had such clean crisp lines, that from a distance, you can’t even tell they are made of paper!

Last night Bookmans Phoenix was taken over by the third graders at Madison Simis Elementary. With the help of their Art teachers, Mr. Bilger, the students created amazing paper mache sculptures that our Phoenix location will have on display all month long. During the month of March we are celebrating all types of arts & crafts. Paper mache is just among the many! Each student was asked to create a sculture of a new species that combines the qualities of tow animals. They also drew an illustrations of their animal and wrote an article explaining the fascinating facts about each of their new found creations!

Bookmans is truly an amazing company. I didn't plan to start by saying that, but I feel as though it is something I have to say before I can even justify saying anything else about the company. The way Bookmans has jumped in and saved the employees of the Flagstaff store is nothing short of spectacular, and I cannot express the extent my gratitude.

Rain or shine, thousands of Phoenicians came out to visit the 2010 M7 Street Fair! Awarded with the honor of “Best Neighborhood Street Festival” by the Phoenix New Times in 2009, the 9th Annual Melrose on 7th Street Fair was full of fun, family, and community! Starting on 7th Avenue and Indian School everyone walked down the street filled with a local market of artists, food, children's activities, live music, street performers, and a collectible car show. Walking down the street I spotted Kimber Lanning of Local First Arizona, Kathy Cano-Marillo, the “Crafty Chica” and local celebrity Brad Perry performing live music in front of Two Hippies Breakfast Joint. I tried so hard to resist the mouth watering smell of kettle corn, lemonade, and pulled pork sandwiches.

It is no secret that wolves in this country have endured their share of both legal and illegal persecution. Organized wolf management in the United States is longstanding, and has often targeted this animal as a hated opponent of human beings. While reading the history of management actions in the United States, one quickly comes to the conclusion that an all out war has been waged against this magnificent creature. Whether competition for food source, a danger to livestock, or inhibiting the increased sales of animals like moose, caribou, and sheep, wolves have, perhaps, been mostly viewed as a threat to our pocketbooks; a crime that management policies show is most consistently punishable by death.

I won’t lie: I idolize her. I’ve read every word the woman has ever published. I recently listened to an NPR interview where she explained her writing process, and it was enlightening. I knew her language was as tight as 80’s stretch pants, but I didn’t realize Didion not only sleeps in the same room as a book she’s writing, since she claims “somehow the book doesn't leave you when you're right next to it,” but she also retypes the entirety of what she’s written each morning before continuing. She claims this process helps her maintain the continuity of the work. She’s also much more attentive to craft (putting the “literary” in literary nonfiction) than the majority of memoirists.

It was a crazy weekend at our Phoenix-metro area stores! First, at Bookmans Mesa we had Amy Van Dyken from 98.7 The Peak's morning show "Chris & Amy" in-store, reading some of her favorite Dr. Seuss books to the kiddos, including "The Cat in the Hat," "There's a Wocket in my Pocket," and of course, who can't resist "Green Eggs and Ham." The kids gathered around and listened to Amy's great voice and wonderful storytelling talents as she brought each wacky character to life.