BOOKSHOP STAFF PROFILE: Adrienne Mages

So, I love books. Especially those on politics, science, and social justice issues—and I love any opportunity to talk at great length about these topics with anyone willing to listen. My last five years here at Bookshop Santa Cruz have given me ample occasion to engage in these interests/borderline-obsessive pursuits, and I have loved every minute of it. My current responsibilities at work are Floor Supervisor and Buyer and Supervisor of our Used Book counter. This means, yes, you may have chatted with me if you have any special requests, complaints, or problems with our bathrooms, and yes, I probably facilitated your annual house-clean-out or enabled your ongoing addiction to buying books with store credit. This is my story.

I fervently believe that bookstores are a crucial cultural element of any community. They should encompass a plethora of identities, and be places where people can seek information, education, or entertainment. They should facilitate lost ramblings down cramped, book-lined aisles and provide haunts where we can hide from the world, alone or with companions. They must be (and I am adamant about this belief) meeting houses for those engaged in all types of literary pursuits: poets, artists, writers, and social justice and community activists. I want my community bookstore to be filled with people smarter than me who can tell me what I need to be reading on any subject I can muster an interest in (and I want them to be friendly, quirky, and genuine). I work incredibly hard to help provide this environment at the Bookshop.

My time at Bookshop Santa Cruz has had many unforeseen benefits (aside from the enlargement of my own private library). I have met, quite literally, almost everyone and their mother. Working for the proprietor of what seems some days to be the only public bathroom in the county, I have probably seen and talked to you during an intimate needs moment. In addition, I use this store as my own private soapbox—I want people to want to talk to me about anything political (I yearn for heated discussions and have great contempt for those who wallow on the fence about anything). I love knowing the names of customers and now have the honor of calling some of you my friends. Others of you I love for the fact I can bend your ear about my own personal interests.

I have loved and continue to love my time here, and I am grateful every day for having the privilege and the opportunity to be a bookseller. I want to thank everyone during the last five years I have met, befriended, offended (in good humor), bored to death by my ramblings (in good humor), or received a kind word from. I am thankful and delighted to be a part of such a special store and unusual community.