Border's to close stores throughout city and suburbs

You must have heard by now that Border's,which houses books,music,and cafes, have filed bankruptcy and will be closing all of their stores in Chicago and surrounding areas.

This is sad,really. Yes it was a big box that was sprouting everywhere and when the recession hit,so did visiting and buying from these kind of places.

 Ipads and other digital devices have also replaced buying real books in person.

But is it really the same experience? I would much rather purchase an actual  book or magazine from the store where I can turn its actual pages,cozy up on my couch,drinking my green tea. Or would prefer going to a cafe,picking up a few magazines and a java and spend hours flipping through the latest styles. It was my therapy.My favorite was the one on Michigan Ave.  I took Grad school classes at Loyola's Water Tower Campus across the street and before and after school would go there to study.

My interest in reading goes back as far as I learned how to read at the age of 5-my mom would take me and my brother to the library and we would check out books from there all the time. I would take huge stacks of books and would read them all in one sitting,I'm not kidding you. My first acknowledgement of my love for reading was reading 100 books in first grade and getting a trophy for it.

Barnes and Noble's have closed some of their stores but I believe they are still around. There are local bookstores around here that I may have to venture out-it's even better if you can support local businesses.

Internet has paved  the way we interact with each other now,and also includes the way we spend our free time whether it's reading from an e-book or shopping online. I really hope you can have a balance from both worlds so that these type of activities in person don't go away.

Hearts A Bluhm

   

I took this picture of this heart and others that are spotted all over Michigan Ave. It's part of a campaign to raise heart-health awareness from Northwestern Hospital's Bluhm Cardiovascular Center called Hearts A Bluhm. 

Various businesses and organizations came out to support this awareness through their contributions. To see other hearts(they are really cute!),if you have time,go check them out in person or check them out and the campaign at www.heartsabluhm.org