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Stories from the global community
Come along on the journey!
Day 54: Saving Books in Portland, Oregon
Destination:
Portland, Oregon
Portland sits at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the Willamette Valley in the Pacific Northwest. It is 173 miles south of Seattle and close to 80 miles east of the Pacific Ocean.
Portland summers are short, warm, dry and mostly clear. The winters are cold, wet, and overcast with an average of 42" of rain. Over the course of the year, the temperature typically ranges from 36°F to 84°F.
Fun Facts:
Portland got its name in a coin toss! Asa Lovejoy and Francis Pettygrove, two of the city's founders, used a coin toss to name the land they had recently acquired. The winner got to name the land after their hometown. Pettygrove, who was a native of Portland, Maine, won the toss. If Lovejoy won, Portland would have been named Boston, after his Massachusetts hometown. And by coincidence, Portland is at about the same latitude as Portland, Maine.
Art Form:
Attic Journals
Attic Journals are repurposed books containing the covers and the first few pages of the original book plus around 75 blank pages that can be used as a journal, a sketch book or for any creative ideas.
Working with schools and libraries around the country to harvest their discarded books and upcycle them, the goals of Attic Journals are three-fold: funding community education, keeping significant tonnage out of landfills, and giving people a place to tell their own story.
Enjoy this short, cute animated video about the story of Attic Journals by Jessica Chen
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| A story of Attic Journals |
Have a little more time? This interview with Michelle is thoughtful and informative, not only about Attic Journals, but also about their choice to live in the Lents neighborhood of Portland. (13 minutes)
The Company: Attic Journals
Owned and operated by the
husband/wife
team of Michelle
Sanders and Miguel Salinas, Attic Journals is committed to sustainably offsetting the book discard pipeline by upcycling as much of the book as possible in their diverse line of gift and decor items.
As a native Portlander, where the ethic of recycling is revered, Michelle received formal training in high school and college on the impacts of humans on our planet's ecology. With a natural knack for crafting, she started to investigate and experiment with how to offset the way books were discarded and work on a way to divert them from the landfill. In 2004,
Attic Journals, a company committed to innovative engagement with the byproducts of book production, was born.
Miguel - fearless book hunter in the wild
In 2008, Miguel became a part of the team, initially as the love of Michelle's life.
Having been raised in southern Mexico by a mother who is renowned in her region for the mole sauces she sells, Miguel was ardently aware of the work ethic & logistics necessary for running a family business. Together Michelle and Miguel's backgrounds and experience allow them to be environmentally aware and innovative.
(From Jan: Last evening, Michelle posted a new blog that is powerful in its expression and exactly the kinds of words I have needed to hear as I sort out my own feelings about the grief and anger expressed in the last 2 weeks. Her words are particularly appropriate as we in Brookside prepare to welcome a "Kneel for Nine" peaceful family demonstration of solidarity this afternoon. See more details in my letter below.)
"Outcries"
"The past few weeks have been rife with outcries from hurting humans, in particular in the Black community. As a family, even a multi-racial family, the pain and suffering that we thought we were used to witnessing, addressing, and lamenting because of what we perceive to be our own powerlessness, has come into focus almost like it's new. The anguish that our black friends have shared has been deafening... absolutely deafening. And the fact that it has been so startling to hear their hurt in this way, makes us wonder if we have ever been listening at all."
"As peddlers of small notebooks made for people to put their stories, their hurt, their wonder, and daily dreams we have spent the past two weeks fairly quiet, turning instead to our own journals, working out bits of our own culpability, frustration, and eventual hope for what is to come for all people in our country. As a family we've talked about what we dream will happen and what steps we need to take to insure that those dreams take shape . . ."
"We're committed to striving for love and care and infectious hope to be what we spread, especially now, as a global pandemic is pulsing around us. We're not entirely sure how. We're aware that there are liabilities to our blind spots. But we're hoping that somehow, stumbling forward, we'll help more than we harm."
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Shopping . . .
Are you ready to explore
what we have in our store?
Having trouble deciding what to give to that special man or fathering figure in your life
for Father's Day?
A journal for writing or sketching or doodling might just be perfect!
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Don't forget to stamp your Passport!
Click on the
"stamp" to add to your "passport."
We keep track of your stamps for you!
"Collect" at least 12 different "country" stamps during the third 20 days of our around-the-world trip to
be entered
into the drawing for a $25 gift card.
At the end of our 80-day
Around the World
excursion, all eligible travelers (minimum of 48 country stamps)
will be
entered into a drawing for . . .
a Grand Prize
$100 shopping spree gift card!
Thanks for traveling with us today.
Where to next? Stay tuned!
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Like so many other companies and organizations, we've spent the last two weeks watching, listening, and reflecting on the state of our city and our country, and our place in all of it. The mission of our store has always been to be a bridge and connection point between world artisans and our customers, a place where "the creativity of human mind, spirit, and experience is celebrated every day."
We believe Black Lives Matter. We stand in support of racial justice throughout the world. And we want to help elevate Black voices. We want to listen carefully. Our actions are important and our participation is vital. But this is also our time to listen, learn, and support the wisdom and experience of Black voices.
We are posting these words:
Listen with respect
Listen with love
Listen for change
Act with respect
Act with love
Act for change
We'll prop open our front door this morning when we open at 11:00. Our Brookside store is open today (Saturday) through Sunday. Our current hours are posted below my signature and we look forward to seeing you!
For those of you who cannot or choose not to shop in our Brookside store right now, we thank you for your continued online shopping support.
And I can't say it enough times -
YOU are an important part of what makes World's Window so special! THANK YOU!
World's Window
"Nobody can define you like you."
P.S.
We are glad to be on this around-the-world virtual journey with you and delighted that you are traveling with us. We hope you are learning some new information as we travel along.
If you haven't already done so, invite some friends to come along! There's still room on this journey!
Send an invite
P.P.S.
We're keeping our trip "log" up to date. If you think you've missed a day or are new to our journey, click
here
to review where we've visited the last 53 days.
CLOSED Monday and Tuesday
OPEN Wed through Sat, 11 am to 5 pm
Sunday, 12 noon to 5 pm
As always we are "sharing the world" through clothing, jewelry, folk art, textiles and hand-selected gifts -
and
buying locally-owned is a gift to your community!
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A gift card is always a perfect gift.
We have 2 options for
World's Window gift cards.
In-store gift cards can also be purchased by calling
us at 816-361-2500.
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See what's happening on our social sites:
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