afro-in books and cafe

Well it looks like the Liberty City Link is going under way and I've been given an assignment.

After doing some very light research on the area, I found some notice of there being a book store in Liberty City. There being a book store in this area is already a good story idea, and the fact that it's primarily an African-American/Carribean bookstore made it even better.

So on the way to school, I took the time drive by the address. It took a while to find it since it's sort of hidden on NW 7th Ave, or the 7th Ave corridor. I finally found it and it looked pretty decrepit. But a lot of the business establishments in the area looked pretty run-down as well, so I didn't really think anything of it. There was a gate around the store and a sign that said "No Trespassing". Odd. Didn't look like anyone was inside and there weren't any cars parked on the front or rear. This was pretty strange.

Though, I neglected to look at the store hours on the side of the store. I drove to the store on a Monday, and it's closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Well that day we had to submit some budget lines for the first run of the newspaper. As Professor Reisner looked at the budget lines on the screen, he seemed to really like the idea of running a story about the book store. We decided to go with an angle that showcased this bookstore as the only bookstore in the area. It already sounded appealing.

Well I kind of slacked on the story until Professor Reisner asked how it was progressing. I told him I was going to visit the store after class since I'd be going during hours of operation. He didn't seem to happy. He asked me if I had the place's phone number and I didn't. But I got the number and got the motivation to do some really heavy research using FIU's library resources.

Over the past couple of weeks, I've been learning a crapload about the library's news databases and it's become really helpful. I looked up any articles I could find in the Herald about the place so I could get a real sense of its history. I guess I missed the Miami Times article that said it closed down 5-6 months ago. Before driving to the place, I called the phone number and it said it was disconnected.I had to physically drive there to find the place wasn't open during its business hours. Found that kind of weird, but I asked a local about the place and he said that there are usually people walking in-and-out all day. All of this was odd to me. I decided to call Professor Reisner since, y'know, he is my editor. He told me to try to get in contact with the managers. I already jotted down his office number (he works with the Miami-Dade County Community Relations Board), so I got into my office at the radio station and give them a call. It was like 6 p.m. so I knew I'd get a voicemail. So I left a message.