Enthusiasmos: The Official Comics & Classics Chronicle

This is our first post on Enthusiasmos and I feel compelled to explain where our blog title came from and why it was chosen. Enthusiasmos means the state of being "filled with the gods." It's the feeling of being pumped up with power and excitement and zest for life and for what you love. It is carpe diem and eating good chocolate and being in love (or lust) all rolled up and bursting forth as a raw, emotional fireball. It's what we hope for every day but rarely encounter. It's what my husband and I needed a good shot of about a year ago. So instead of giving up on excitement or turning to substance abuse or taking it out on each other, we did something risky, we decided to create our own enthusiasmos, throw caution to the wind, take out a home equity loan (thank you soaring home prices) and open a comic book/bookstore/art gallery.



Okay, so an ordinary person would have settled into their quiet despair or had an affair or taken a vacation, but we needed a bigger life change - something more permanent. I quit my job (16-year stint as a teacher...stories about that life may be forthcoming) and started reading everything I could about opening a bookstore. My husband (after much coaxing from me) agreed there was never really a good time to risk it all and start your own business. I think really he did it to shut me up at first but since has come to see that we could really do this.



We designed Comics & Classics as the bookstore we always wanted to visit - a fun mix of comics (his love), graphic novels, manga, pulp & mainstream fiction, and literary classics (my love). Then we threw in comic art just for fun. Neither one of us can paint our way out of a paper bag but we appreciate those who can and want to work to promote local artists working in the genre.



So, now we feel enthusiasmos and getting up in the morning doesn't suck as much (well it's still morning ... it hasn't turned us in to "morning people" freaks or anything). But, we have that passion and zest and carpe diem feeling we were looking for. Now if we can work out how to get rich off doing it, or at least not lose our shirts, we're taking enthusiasmos plus some!