A Student in a Bookstore

I wonder what people think–

They ask, where do you work? What do you do? Any degrees? Who does that make you?

I offer up the truth, or at least a response mottled by some truths:

I have an undergraduate degree in oil painting, a master’s in creative writing. I’ve been a pastry chef, a librarian, a construction worker, a seamstress. I make a cold, sharp lemon drop martini.

My hands are my work. Sometimes they’re painting or typing or whisking, more often they’re clinging and splaying and searching.

Who does that make you?

I’m not sure any of us have an answer. Perhaps, then, I am a student. I’m a student in my mother’s kitchen, a student in a row of bookshelves, a student in the woods. I’m a student of light, of texture, of words.

At Yer Mom’s, I am the Bookstore & Events Manager, I am the Writer In Residence. I curate books, programming, and original written content. I design displays, work with publishers, and execute events. I order books, and order some more. Mostly, though, at Yer Mom’s, I’m a student.

Aren’t we all, in nearly every way imaginable, students of the world, of our environments, of each other?

I’m not sure what else to want, to crave, to hold tightly under my arm. I plan to be a student forever, as long as I’m paying attention.

My hope, now that I think about it, is not to offer explanation, not to wonder what others think, but to incite curiosity. To foster community. To ask you, politely, to step into the soles of a student.

At the end of the day, none of us knows what we’re doing, who we are. At the end of the day, we’re just haphazardly bumping into each other, teeth grinned or bared. The least we could do is sit down together, read a book, learn in harmony, and drink some wine.  

-Cassie Tatum, Bookstore and Events Manager / Writer in Residence