Am I the only one who doesn't know how to answer the question "how are you?". I need context - do you want to talk about the weather, work, or how I'm actually doing?

Sure, I want to talk about things... but I have no practice at this. How do you talk about yourself without worrying about oversharing? I'm not being cryptic on purpose, I literally just don't know how to say out loud how I'm feeling.

My head hurts. I'm not good at peopling.

#mentalhealth #sociallyawkward #help #rumination

4 ways to stop overthinking your social interactions, according to a clinical psychologist

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.upworthy.com/4-ways-to-stop-over-thinking-social-interactions

Protecting the Literary Zeitgeist of Hyde Park’s Indie Book Scene

“A good bookstore sells books, but its primary product, if you will, is the browsing experience…One of the great benefits of the act of browsing is the rumination it evokes.”Source: Jeff Deutsch, “In Praise of Good Bookstores“

If there is a neighborhood in Chicago that reaches for the pinnacle of a book lover’s nirvana, it has to be Hyde Park. Surrounding the University of Chicago and situated just south of the Loop, this epicenter of learning, education, and literature is a bibliophile’s wonderland of Indie bookstores. 

However, just when it felt like the dust had settled from years of fighting off the tentacles of Amazon’s loss-leading blitzkrieg on bookstores, a new threat has set up shop right in Hyde Park’s very midst. This time it’s not a digital menace, but instead a big-box goliath — Barnes & Noble.

Yes, in a free market, competition is supposed to benefit the consumer. But, and this is a big but, at what cost? Price is not and should never be the sole factor, especially in the book realm. What about the value of the experience? What about service? What about variety? What about the discovery of the unexpected? What about home-grown? What about locally owned and operated? What about sanctuary-like ambiance? What about a delicate mix of existing independent bookstores who live and operate as a cohesive draw to Hyde Park?

“The value is, and always has been, at least in the good and serious bookstores, in the experience of being among books–an experience afforded to anyone who enters the space with curiosity and time. And the yield is discovery, not of what we think we know we want, but of that which we have yet to encounter.” Source: Jeff Deutsch, “In Praise of Good Bookstores“

Typically, a big-box store will not draw people from far outside the local vicinity when it has dozens of locations spread all over Chicagoland (21 at last count).  Meanwhile, a unique and varied collection of Indie bookstores can and will do just that (draw customers from further afield) because of the collective experience they offer — and that sublimely satisfying pastime known as “browsing” where one can wander, wonder, discover, ponder, and partake without interruption. Such a unique labor of love [browsing] can never be truly replicated in a big box. Imitated maybe. Replicated, never.

“Big-name box bookstores have installed cafes and armchairs precisely because people like to hang out around books. Next time you’re in one of those cavernous megasellers, see for yourself how they’ve worked yo create ambiance. Look at the shelf placement, how they’ve been arranged to mark off cozy little reading nooks. Somebody’s tried very hard to make you forget you’re in a warehouse.” Source: Wendy Welch, “The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap”

Call & Response, 57th Street, Powell’s, Seminary Co-op, University of Chicago Bookstore, and Build Coffee & Books all combine to fulfill a literarian’s needs in this special corner of the Windy City.  Why, other than to disrupt the curated zeitgeist of Hyde Park, does B &N really need to be there?

Hopefully, over time B &N will find itself out of place in Hyde Park and move on to greener pastures elsewhere. And if they do hang around for longer, it’s as a cohort versus a predator.

My guess is the good people who shop the existing Indie bookstores in and around Hyde Park will continue their time-honored tradition of supporting the stores that germinated in and around Hyde Park and avoid the intruder. May it be so.

In the interim, either the individual store websites or bookshop.org offer easy access for all of us who cannot be physically in Chicago on a regular basis to assist the Indie bookstores in Hyde Park. All of them, except the campus bookstore have a presence on the bookshop.org site (57th Street through Seminary Co-op).

Peace, happy reading, and great browsing!

“Every great bookstore allows the reader to get lost in it.” – Source: Jeff Deutsch, I”n Praise of Good Bookstores“

#57thStreetBooks #books #bookstores #browsing #BuildCoffeeBooks #CallResponseBooks #Chicago #competition #history #HydePark #indie #literature #opinion #pondering #PowellSBooks #reading #retail #rumination #SeminaryCoOpBooks

Challenging Some Predictions

I had some reactions to Simon's most recent post, LLM predictions for 2026, shared with Oxide and Friends.

#llm, #rumination, #simonwillison, #openai

Co-rumination: Why venting about the same person or problem over and over again causes trouble

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.upworthy.com/co-rumination-why-venting-about-the-same-topic-or-person-over-and-over-again-can-be-trouble

#autistic #rumination :
i have a difficult time describing things without having very specific idea in mind (i think i might have partial #aphantasia )....i was trying to describe to my therapist what i felt like during autistic rumination. the best analogy i could come up with is:

when i was a teenager, i had a lot of male friends who were very open about stuff with me (makes sense since i am #genderqueer / #nonbinary )...but they would tell me about looking at porno mags (its was the mid 90s GEEZ) and rotating the pictures around to see more of anything.

its *extremely* childish to think that you could see more nudity if you rotated a 2 dimensional picture but thinking about it now, a memory is a linear and flat thing. no matter how much you rotate it or turn it around or look really closely, it stays the same unless you have more information. without more information, all you can do is rotate the memory over and over trying to find something else until, well, youve been up for 72 hours thinking about the same thing (and this doesnt happen to me anymore because drugs).

i guess i could have used the rubic's cube metaphor but this story is more fun to tell.

#actuallyautistic @autistics

RE: https://mastodon.world/@BrianJopek/115618676798679809

if you ruminate like i do, just having having someone else realize youre doing it and attempt to distract you is very helpful.

#actuallyautistic #rumination

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#Yoga #RestorativeYoga #SelfCare #Rest #Stress #Worry #Rumination #FreeYoga