Confessions from behind the counter,
a letter from Natasha

Alas, 2008 was a hard year for so many.

It is a long story to tell how I personally reconcile my inner voices (to a degree) but there is a part of it I would like to share. From behind the counter I get to know my customers as people, not consumers, and I am thankful that most of you are intelligent, kind and conscientious people. I have grown to respect you personally, rather than collectively. I know that a lot of you have the same thoughts and struggles as I do about the spirit of the season, about how we give and who we give to. In the complex world of our mutual dependency our participation in the trading process has far reaching consequences affecting many lives beyond the obvious paradigm of buyer and seller.

In the case of my small business you have taken care of 26 of my employees, my two sons, Gene and me, and indirectly a Tuareg Tribe near Agadez in Niger (you have heard about the drought there on national TV), a family of carvers, and a small clothing factory in Bali, Indonesia who shared a large part of their profit with the survivors of tsunami. Indirectly you've helped craftsmen in Nepal, Butang, Mali, a school for children of Tibetan refugees in Northern India, knitters, weavers in Guatemala, Bolivia, Uruguay, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and China, potters and glass blowers in Morocco and Egypt, leather artists in Africa, Argentina and Greece, jewelers in Russia, Poland and many other people around the world. You have enabled us and our employees to donate to local arts, schools, public radio, and many noble causes people undertake.

Thank you for being more than our customers, for taking interest in our business, our theatre and us personally!
I never think of you as patrons, I think of you as friends.

Happy Holidays to all of you!
Natasha

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