I love this little piece of graffiti I found near the intersection of Nassau St. & Spadina Ave. in Toronto. As graffiti, it’s not great. File this one under “it’s the thought that counts.” Maybe this is the tag of a rebel book club. Who knows. Unfortunately, this scrawl has a sad association for me. It’s on Nassau St. not far from This Ain’t the Rosedale Library which suddenly closed when the sheriff shut the place up in distraint for arrears. Yet another indie book store bites the dust and we are all the poorer for it as we tumble into this brave new world of big box bookstores and big media publishing. There has always been a sense in which literacy has been subversive. Literacy has been the primary tool that has enabled people to challenge power. The word “books” properly belongs in spray paint on the side of walls. It doesn’t look right on a big sign atop a monolithic behemoth.
