A note from the editor:
Taylor Lewandowski, the owner of Dream Palace Books & Coffee and a Herron High School teacher, wrote this week’s Culture Journal. My Culture Journal gives readers a behind–the-scenes look in the week in the cultural life of an Indianapolis resident.
Day One
9 a.m. I usually read every morning. I recently started Diane Di Prima’s “Memoirs of a Beatnik,” which I thought would be like Anatole Broyard’s “Kafka Was the Rage: A Greenwich Village Memoir,” but it’s really a novel of “bohemian life,” aka detailed sex scenes. I’ve been thinking lately what would constitute a bisexual literary canon and di Prima’s “Memoir” fits the description.
3 p.m. I drove to Dream Palace Books & Coffee and yelled at the electrician standing outside: “Hey, Mike! I’ll be right there!” He yelled back, “Don’t turn left on Penn; there’s a million cops parked everywhere!” (Apparently two people were shooting at each other.) I quickly pull a U-turn and parked.
It wasn’t Mike, which was embarrassing, but he told me he gets that all the time. We’re putting dimmers in but after a second look, we don’t have the right hardware, so we reschedule. I answer emails and think about Charli XCX endorsing Kamala Harris.
4 p.m. A woman meets me at the store to drop off used books. They are mostly art books and a couple philosophy books. We were supposed to meet a few days ago, but her son fell down the stairs and had to go to the hospital. She says he’s fine, but apparently back at the hospital because he’s having brain issues. She tells me she was impressed at my rapid-response emails. I tell her I hate seeing a red notification on my phone. She laughs. I do too, but nervously.
5:30 p.m. I go to the gym, listen to tracks to possibly use in a mix, e.g. Kiddy.Wav‘s “Give It 2 Me” and DJ Gigola, Kev Koko’s “Trance Energy.” Also watch an episode of “Nana,” which I’ve been obsessed with recently.
Day Two
9:10 a.m. I meet the Dream Palace staff, Ozzy and Jaaz (Gabbie is out sick), plus my dad and grandpa at Dream Palace. It’s our first employee day. We planned out an itinerary of coffee shops and bookstores to visit.
I tell the staff, “Yes. Enjoy yourself today, but keep mental notes of every place we go to. What do you like? What do you not like? What works? What doesn’t work? How do we compare?”
9:30 a.m. Our first stop is Blue Mind. I love it here. I have a simple drip coffee. My grandpa and I sit outside. He can’t hear very well plus his ears are plugged up by a sort of sickness, I think, so I brought a pen and paper to communicate.
I run into David Pappas, head of the English department at Herron High School, where I teach, and David McAndrews, English teacher at Riverside High School. Pappas is sort of a guiding light for me at Herron.
Jaaz is really stoked on Blue Mind’s A-frame outside and insists we create one for Dream Palace; I agree.
10:15 a.m. Our second stop is Golden Hour. Sara has done a great job of curating a new bookstore that has basically everything (to some degree).
She tells me she’s expanding the genre section in a couple weeks. She comments on how many events I program — we’ve hosted around 100 writers and artists since October. This is exactly what I hoped for in the beginning: a place that brings Indianapolis together but also one that is integrated into the Midwest as a whole and one that harkens to New York City and beyond.
I buy John Ganz’s “When the Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s” and Geoffrey Mak’s “Mean Boys.” I tell Sara I’m friends with John, which isn’t really true. I just met him at Anika Jade Levy‘s birthday party a couple months ago. I’m not even sure if he liked me.
10:30 a.m. We go to Kaffeine near Mass Ave. I try to order off their tiny-font menu. I run into Ken Honeywell. I forget what we talked about, but I always love running into him.
I did mention the hopeful literary festival in partnership with Indiana Humanities, but I feel bad because I am not technically organizing it, so it’s strange to recruit and advertise when I’m outside the circle. I hope it happens. It has the potential to be a really special annual event.
11 a.m. We walk to The Whispering Shelf. A gorgeous spot! We run into Marlowe, the manager, who is perhaps the best bookseller in the state of Indiana. I think she can sell anyone a book at any time. I love watching her doing her thing. I also thought it was funny to watch her bully Lena, the owner, into getting a pet for the shop. I’m not sure if it’s going to work, but she had some persuasive reasons.
11:30 a.m. We eat lunch at Yats and debrief. We get into a conversation on expanding the children and young adult section in the bookstore. They are not my niche and I didn’t really anticipate Dream Palace as a bookstore for children, but the coffee shop and proximity to Herron changes this.
Noon: We visit Tomorrow Bookstore. Everyone’s here to see the cat, which I understand, even though I’m not really a cat person. It’s good to see Jake and Julia. I’m always so impressed by Jake’s energy and entrepreneurship. I’m always taking mental notes. I buy Mary MacLane’s “I Await the Devil’s Coming.”
Day Three
9 a.m. The night before I read Johanna Fateman’s essay on Andrea Dworkin in Amy Scholder’s anthology, “Icon.” I am a huge fan of Fateman. I think she’s one of our best critics. But I loved her essay so much, I started reading the anthology from the beginning with Mary Gaitskill on Linda Lovelace, which I will not go into, but what a complicated essay!
10:30 a.m. I watch the documentary, “She Said Boom: the Story of Fifth Column” while on the elliptical at the YMCA.
Day Four
7 a.m. I up and drive to an estate sale in West Lafayette.
9 a.m. I walk through the stranger’s house. There are a lot more people than I thought. I find several books, which are now available to purchase at Dream Palace. It is always strange, haunting to package a person’s old books. I fantasize about the time it will happen to my books in my house. Good luck.
10:30 a.m. I drive to another estate sale, mostly military and airforce books. A little disappointing, but they had snacks and drinks like a real estate sale party!
11:30 a.m. I have lunch at a dumplings spot then go to Von’s Bookstore for the first time. I love the basement. I love how jampacked it is. We don’t have many bookstores like this left in Indiana. I find another copy of James Purdy’s “In a Shallow Grave” and learn about Mary Lee Settle.
Day Five
10:30 a.m. I work at the bookstore. Sell around 15 books to strangers, and generally clean up the store and price books that have been sitting around for way too long. Explained “Brat Summer” to a regular.
5 p.m. I walk into Jes Nijjer‘s show at Re:Public on 10th street, curated by Alyse Tucker Bounds. Alyse and Jes had a packed art talk at Dream Palace. They’re also practically regulars at this point. I also meet the owner of Commissary, a coffee shop I adore.
10 p.m. I usually write at night, so I write at my desk in the dining room for two or three hours.
Day Six
8:30 a.m. Show up at Herron-Riverside High School gymnasium. Surreal to see people you haven’t seen in several months, but have worked with over the last three years. We have a long day of professional development ahead of us.
Noon: We have lunch provided by Riverside — a sort of deconstructed taco salad situation. Very good.
Day Seven
9 a.m. Listen to the school insurance plan, which feels much more complicated than it ought to be. Heard some teacher gossip. Another teacher tells the table how she’d like to talk to her cats and I respond, “You might not like that since you won’t be able to project as much,” which was probably the wrong thing to say.
11:30 a.m. Teacher asks me to buy Paulo Freire’s “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” for the store. I wonder why I haven’t read this text and decide to buy a couple copies for the store.
Noon: I eat lunch at The Amp with other English teachers. Some of them talk about early MTV reality shows. One of them said, “I would’ve done anything to be on ‘The Real World.’”
4 p.m. I stop at the bookstore and talk with Ozzy. Jaaz’s friend, Naseem, stops in — I can’t wait for their open mic on August 9. They show me an old video of Jaaz talking about coffee. I show them the CoffeeCons video of Dream Palace where one of the guys reads the Bible, which I’ve always found odd and goofy. I tell Jaaz and Naseem they should start their own coffee video account. I hope they do.
7 p.m. I meet a friend at AMC Castleton to see M. Night Shyamalan’s new movie, “Trap.”
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