Wannabe hipster

Yesterday, one of the top ten most-emailed articles at nytimes.com was this paean to a fixture of my youth. How delighted I was to see a feature about my beloved hometown, printed in one of the world's largest newspapers, for no other reason than to highlight something great about a small town.

The Record Exchange, as it is known locally, was a mandatory destination whenever I happened to be strolling downtown with my best friend, and that happened a lot. (Usually after coffee here. [FN1]) We loved the Record Exchange, not only because we could find fantastic music on the cheap, but because it just felt so. cool. to be there. Always, always we ran into friends doing the exact same thing as we: browsing the stacks but really hoping to be noticed and considered in-the-know.

Whenever I've brought the Captain back to Princeton I've tried showing him the Record Exchange, but we're always just a few minutes late. The article noted that locally owned music stores - that sell actual records! - are on a precipitous wane. My sincere hope is that the next time I head into Princeton, after who knows how long in San Diego, I won't find the store closed for good.

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FN1. Yes, I've only just discovered how to make links in my posts. And I think it's awesome.