Memoirous

So this week I’ve been focused on the end of the world. How it’s all going to end. And, in case you missed it: the end of Pier 1. Pier 1 Imports bankruptcy: Chain files for Chapter 11 as it continues closure of up to 450 stores I remember going to the Pier 1 at the Dayton Mall. Back when there was such a thing. It was the kind of place a teenager with a meager allowance could spend a few bucks. Candles, little enamel lacquered boxes that opened like treasure chests. Imports from Africa, wooden beads, parasols from the Orient. I wove stories—even if there is no Orient, but a figment of the imagination. It wasn’t about geography—more a place of mind. A key chain from which dangled a leather Moroccan shoe with an upturned toe. Reinforced stereotypes. It might have all been junk made in China. But to a fifteen-year old from Centerville, Ohio it was exotic. Worlds I could hold in my hands. Without getting on a plane I could go instead to Pier 1 and travel long distance...