Black Friday

Drove mom to work at 5:30 am this morning (she's a nurse at a dialysis clinic -- patients await even before the sun rises) and took a ride by Maryville's big stores afterwards. Not surprisingly, the Wal-Mart lot was packed and both Staples and Target had long lines of bundled shoppers braving the cold to be there for door-opening sales. The "biggest shopping day of the year" in the US is called Black Friday because retailers herald it as the day their businesses begin to turn a profit (out of the red, into the black); in other words, capitalism's high holy day.

Thankfully, not every place in town is a madhouse. I'm sitting in a spectacular cafe in Maryville's downtown called Capitol Coffee. It's within the refurbished lobby of an old Capitol Theater lobby, and includes an art gallery next door and party room upstairs. The owner (and resident artist) Heath Claiborne was telling me they're in the process of refurbishing the old theater. If I wasn't returning to Australia next Tuesday I know for sure I'd be at the restored Palace Theater down the street on December 22nd when they screen It's a Wonderful Life, the greatest Christmas film ever made.
Outside.
Inside the cafe.