Grief is never easy.
In the fall semester of 2024, LPC coped with the loss of a loved one. With contents remaining on the table. Stories left unread. Chapters untouched. A reliable friend with an infinite amount of words. Wise ones, at that. Always knowledgeable, and never speechless.
In the process of grief, people lose track of who they are and forget who they need to become.
Throughout this loss, students have been left astray. Acting out of character. Committing crimes. Shuffling through everlasting excuses, becoming inconsistent.
On Sept. 23, 2024, the most inconvenient death happened: the death of our school bookstore. Without it, students were left to fend for themselves in the wilderness of the internet. Due to LPC’s declining revenue, a bookstore turned into a ghost town.
LPC students had to find an alternative way to get their books in order to excel in their classes. Whether that is paying an overpriced fee, for temporary letters used to succeed in a worldwide scam. Pirating books if they’re trying to save a buck to survive semesters of insanity.
Empathetic professors posting links to free and affordable books in their syllabuses were the first cause of death. As it slowly diminished the bookstore’s existence.
“We have a few folks that say, ‘well, it’s cheaper for them (the students) to buy books through Amazon, so I’ll just tell the students to go there to buy my book,’” said Dale Wagoner, Chabot College’s vice president and administrations director.
Out of all the resources LPC has to offer, they lost the significant tools that helped build the careers of determined undergraduates by blessing students with supplies, books and benefits. While deconstructing our resources, students simply cannot succeed without the materials they need.
“We understand that students, although we have a bookstore on campus, are diligent and resourceful and find other ways to find the books that they need,” President Dyrell Foster said. “We’ll be thoughtful about school supplies, and how to make those available to students on campus.”
Though the life of a typical college student nowadays is online. Homework. Classwork. Quizzes. Depending on how they learn, lectures are via the internet or in person.
“When I can come in person and talk to people,” said Jake Nevas, a first year at LPC. “ It’s a lot easier than searching through websites”
For students who run on a digital screen, the most convenient way to obtain a book is through a digital copy. In contrast, this is the least convenient way for students who prefer learning through a physical copy.
As LPC acknowledges a new reality of life with the loss they are finding new ways to move forward. Moving on to bigger and better things, we now have an online bookstore.
Acceptance. When you no longer resist the reality of a situation. An ageless bookstore. No longer with us physically, yet never forgotten.
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TOP ILLUSTRATION: The bookstore on campus closed Sept. 30, 2024. But its void is still felt. (Illustration by Mel Llamas/The Express)
Sydney Breckenridge is a staff writer for The Express. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter, @SydBreckenridge.
