Baker's Books

WE’RE HIRING a Program Director!

Are you or is someone you know a highly organized,
super engaging, mountain-loving nature nerd? We’d love to hear from you!

This permanent full-time position is a remote hybrid position working from a home office in or near Hope plus out in the field at various locations in and around the Hope region.

The Program Director’s key responsibilities are three-fold:

1) planning and delivery of monthly education-focused beginner and intermediate level outdoor recreation programs to the public;

2) management and support of environmental education school programs and the staff who coordinate and deliver them; and

3) planning and delivery of our Go Grizz wildlife conservation and advocacy program.

Read all the details on the job posting at https://www.hopemountain.org/jobs

Position will begin as soon as the right candidate is found so candidates are encouraged to apply as soon as possible. Please submit your resume along with a cover letter in a single document file no later than September 2, 2024 by email to Kristine Pérez de León at [email protected]

Spread the word!

It's been interesting sitting in this chair over the years and watching folks come and go. It can be like a slow drip on my forehead wearing down my spirit. It can also be hugely rewarding watching faces get ignited and curiosity being explored. There was a significant period in my life when I was quite depressed being here. I have always had a good amount of foot traffic, especially in the summer but when there isn't much sales it can wear you down. Someone would come in the door and I would greet them and they will walk around and I would think, oh boy, gonna sell some books. They would walk right out the door and I would think, shoot what am I even doing this for? Those days still creep up on me from time to time but I have for the most part let them go. Now I just enjoy myself here; I will put some good music on and get lost in the shelves myself, I will get some food and watch some tennis, sit out front with a friend and chat and watch Ogilvie loose the evening sun. Life is good. I still welcome others to enjoy my space but I don't measure the success on the transactional business of finance. I don't need to measure my success with how much money is in my till at the end of the day. I tried that and it's a depressing way to live, especially if you own a bookstore in the 21'st century. I measure my success much differently now, what does my day look like. Did I engage with it- or did I let myself slip into drudgery. There is a fascinating world to explore, even inside these four walls of the store. I get to explore it on a regular basis. Oh what a lucky man I am.

I have always found our relationship with money as odd. Folks say that we need it to survive but I have always found that deceiving. Money is a tool that can get us some services that can make life more comfortable and provide other resources but it will always be a tool. We can't eat it, it doesn't love us, it doesn't keep my feet warm when I play disc golf. Don't get me wrong I can use the money to buy me most of that stuff (the love one is still up for debate) but it itself isn't worth anything. Even more so these days as we don't even have physical money too often and money is just an abstraction on some server. Some code of 1's and 0's that define our 'worth'. I think the distinction between being able to use it versus being able to purchase something we can use is an important one. It seems we have fallen in love with the tool, which is a bizarre concept. It is odd to compare stacks of tools as opposed to being excited about the things you can build with that tool. There is definitely a love with some of the lavish things that this tool can acquire for us but those things often become status symbols for how many tools we have. Boy you must have a lot of tools to be able to buy that car! There is the classic old adage that the best things in life are free, and while I don't agree with that completely; for example I have been enjoying the smooth feeling of raw sushi fish sliding down my gullet lately and that s**t is expensive. I do agree with the adage to a point though, as long as our basic needs are looked after (and I think a large percentage of North Americans have their basic physical needs looked after) the best things in life are free. To love and be loved has to be the greatest experience on this planet, even better then a fresh slab of salmon with just the right amount of soy sauce. Not to mention the joy I found marveling at the natural order of this planet as I watch swallows fly or the sun set from a mountaintop, or watching salmon swim upstream as they head to my local sushi restaurant. That joy is free. I don't have to use the tool of money to get those things. Sure we need money, especially in the time and place we find ourselves, but don't confuse it for the things we get for it. The tool is not the product. Money is for spending. Its literally it's function. It's not and end in itself but a means to an end.