I have no clue concerning when I will be able to fit it into my reading schedule, but I happened upon the most amazing deal two days ago, and today finally purchased my William Shakespeare: The Complete Works from an independent Northampton bookseller. The collection was on sale, and with taxes was only $22.03. The bookstore is not one of my usual haunts, as 85-90% of the political and social works populating the shelves are marketed toward liberals, so it was lucky that I happened to stop by. Judging from my observations that most of the books appeared to be, essentially, exposés of the sins of Bush and the neocons (many, if not most of which find equally steadfast opposition from traditional conservatives), or treatises on environmentalism, being a liberal of letters must be intensely boring. With this purchase, I am freed from the need to buy textbooks for any Shakespeare class I may take at Assumption (if they try to hook me with an introduction exclusive to the edition at the campus bookstore, I can always borrow a friend's copy). At Barnes and Noble, where The Complete Works goes for twice as much, I recently saw a collection of just the Bard's sonnets for $6.00. And best of all, now that I have the complete works of the most celebrated author and playwright in history, I merely need to work my way down!

Naturally, the reading and becoming knowledgeable is another story (most of my Shakespeare reading thus was, well, assigned). But at least I saved some money. Which brings me to an interesting method of assuring that the usurers who throw unneeded credit at our poor and financially ignorant daily will waste a ton of money as payback for their dubious dealings. Or more accurately 8 pounds shipped via the USPS worth of their money. I am speaking, of course, about mailing bricks to junk mailers. As readers of the blog know, I return all of the postage-paid envelopes Capital One et al send my way, empty, but I often feel dissatisfied knowing that it only forces them to relinquish about 10¢ of their ill-gotten gain each time. But mail an 8-pound brick to one of those credit card companies you love to hate, and presto! they owe the postal service $25! The website assures readers that it is legal, and while different sources across the Internet give different replies as to whether or not it will work, the above link gives several testimonials from people who were told by the postal workers that their packages would be duly delivered, and the author of the page himself received a few test bricks at the business he worked for, which issues postage-paid envelopes. So while the whole thing may be hit-or-miss, once in a while the brick may land on the green.

True, I have no ready supply of bricks, or of mailing boxes, and my own folks probably would not approve of an anti-credit card bricklaying industry in their own home, so it will have to wait. But, dear reader, you may have the time for this, which is practically a work of charity. Not only will it throw a stumbling block in the way of the usurers (distributism in action!), but it will make a small part of the tax burden shift to the immoral corporations that are asking for it, without punishing the wealthy who make their dough in reputable, benevolent industries, and if done often enough would encourage the USPS (one of the best of our institutions of government, long lines nonwithstandng). If there has been a better lazy man's method of doing good, I have not heard it. Pave the road to a more moral, Catholic future- with today's bricks!