Day 15

Name: Ann Gilmore

Profession: Teacher, Maimonides School

Location: Brookline Booksmith, author Chris Farrell visit

Question: Why are you here?

Answer: I’m a regular

In the cellar of the independently-owned Brookline Booksmith, Ann Gilmore sat among roughly twenty other adults in plastic fold-up chairs. These fold-up chairs, almost all occupied, were organized in neat rows facing a wooden podium, and behind that podium and between the colorful collection of used Mystery novels stood a man, Chris Farrell, and his book, The New Frugality: How to Consume Less, Save More, and Live Better.

“I’m here because I think this—the Great Recession, as he calls it—gives us a lot of great opportunities to share ideas about how to get back to our core values,” Gilmore said. “I feel like we’ve really gone amuck with trying to acquire things and trying to find meaning in consumerism. I’m really excited about the opportunities this economy has for getting back to basics and getting more with people, less with things. So it seemed like that was going to be the topic of discussion.”

Though the topics of the evening ranged from university expenses to environmental sustainability, a major discussion led by Farrell (who most probably know from NPR’s show Marketplace Money) was concerning retirement and social security.

“I’m a teacher and I hope to never retire,” Gilmore laughed. “I love it. I can’t even imagine— I have a brother and a sister-in-law who were the old-fashioned kind of ‘work for the single company from age twenty to fifty five.’ They retired about five years ago at the age of fifty five, and they’re getting pensions, and I usually visit them for vacations. They live in Florida. But they just sit around the swimming pool and talk about where they’re going for dinner! I just feel like, ‘Woo!’ That doesn’t excite me.”

What does excite the Maimonides School teacher?

“I’m excited by the world of ideas and people and I’m very intrigued by his thoughts about thinking a lot about giving back through either your money or your time or your talents,” she said. “I think that, for me, was the most interesting idea that came out of tonight that I hadn’t really thought about, because it’s true. If you think about what you can give, you don’t need all this stuff. It kind of makes you realize how fortunate you are and I like that. That’s a new idea. I’m glad I came tonight, just for that.”

Gilmore stops by once a week to attend an event of the store’s Writers & Readers Series. However, this rarely leads to a purchase.

“Being the frugal person that I am,” she said, a little ashamedly, “if I hear about a book that they mention, I go home and get a used copy on Amazon.”