Stop five: Rounding out the crawl is Tomorrow Bookstore in Indianapolis, IN. A quaint-but-always-busy kind of shop in downtown. Relatively new shop with all new books. Every time I stop by, I leave with book(s) in hand & a dozen photos of books TBR. 10/10 experience.

Stop four: Dream Palace Books & Coffee in Indianapolis, IN. A hybrid coffee & used books shop. Vibes are immaculate. Didn’t snag any books this time around but last time I visited, I got enough for three visits. 10/10 on the window painted sign alone.

Stop three: Loudmouth Books in Indianapolis, IN. A cozy, all-new shop that specializes in banned books. As I pulled a book off the shelf that I’ve wanted for a while, the store person said, “we have one copy left of that signed by the author, let me get it for you.” 10/10 & will be back soon.

Stop two: Irvington Vinyl & Books in Indianapolis, IN. My favorite book place in IN. Mostly used records & books, zines & prints & handmade odds & ends, buttons, vibes. The store cat, Violet, passed recently & they built a shrine in her honor. 10/10 every time.

Birthday Book Crawl 2025: stop one, Wild Geese Bookstore in Franklin, IN. A historic-house-turned-bookstore with a nice selection of new books in small town Indiana. First time here. Felt like I was inside someone’s home library with a bunch of strangers who could be friends. 10/10.

Shared with me privately from twitter & bears repeating: there will be a guise of freedom sold to us. I think it’s important to ask -who- has access to freedom right now & who’s freedom will be taken away for the same reasons noted here.

We can call it free* but it should have an asterisk.

Hi, hello everyone 👋🏻

My name is Rob. I'm from Flint, MI but living in Indy, an educator, PhD student in Global Leadership, & curious tinkerer/wonderer. Looking for the things that will help improve people's material conditions. Everything for everyone.

Here's a picture of me touching a tree.

He is a North Star for me.

Bluesky now has over 10 million users, and I was #2,159,749!