Isn't it romantic...

Happy Valentine’s Day weekend… did you get your sweetie something nice?

I’m just glad the gift I picked out for The Husband arrived on time. Happy Meet-Cute Day, everybody.

Emmett Till slept here

For Black History Month, you know what would be really cool? I’d love to see more cities preserving significant sites related to the Movement for Black Lives. Maybe city leaders across the country could follow Chicago’s recent example.

Chicago’s city council has granted landmark status to the apartment building where Emmett Till once lived, up until he was lynched in Mississippi in 1955. Breonna Taylor’s life deserves to be remembered too. The tragedy of Emmett’s murder launched the 1960s civil rights era; Black Lives Matter activists continue to demand justice for people like Breonna. You might remember a Kentucky grand jury refused to bring murder charges against the Louisville police officers who shot her as she slept.

Here’s the thing that really gets me: that grand jury announced its decision exactly 65 years after Emmett Till’s murderers were acquitted in Mississippi.

Breonna’s memorial has since been moved to the Roots 101 African American Museum in downtown Louisville. If you’re in a position to support them, please consider donating to help the museum preserve Breonna’s memorial. If Mississippi can memorialize 51 sites connected to Emmett’s death, and Chicago can commit to protecting one building from being torn down, it should be comparatively easy to establish one permanent museum exhibit in Kentucky.

Wearing the smell of old books

A legendary bookstore says they’ve captured the smell of old books — in a perfume! Our prayers have been answered! Right?

Well… I don’t know about that.

I inhale the old-book scent regularly, as I rummage through my paper stash for collage materials. Lucky for me, my friends and collectors enable my habit; I just received a delicious haul from Tess the other day. Perfect timing to find out how “Powell’s by Powell” unisex fragrance holds up to The Real Thing.

You might be familiar with the chemistry behind old-book scent: it’s even been formally studied in a lab. But this quote from “Perfume: An A-Z Guide” is far more evocative:

Photo credit: Patrick Tomasso/Unsplash

And yes, the Powell’s fragrance does smell like vanilla, with some woody notes — but not like a favorite old book. It did, however, bring a vivid image to mind. This must be what it’s like to chew an overflowing mouthful of vanilla-scented sugar crystals, followed by a shot glass of wooden splinters. It doesn’t transport me back to libraries I’ve loved, or books I’ve read until they fell apart in my hands.

I want to love this fragrance… I really do. But it would be more satisfying to drive a few hours and then walk into the actual Powell’s Books, just to hyperventilate the air inside. The perfume is missing something. Maybe a hit of printer’s ink?