Tag: FreshThyme

Margerumalia – Survey Country

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – February 13, 2026

Drawing by Eric Margerum

Did you read my drawing credit? I drew that! I’m pretty excited by how it turned out. 

Granted, the top of the signpost is either in a different universe from the base, or it was made from a branch that suffered a difficult youth from which it never fully recovered.

But I had bemoaned my inability to draw just a couple of weeks ago, and that’s not a bad attempt! My cousin Hugh is an excellent artist (hughmargerum.com) and he could probably give me a few pointers, but for now I’m gonna take the win.

Welcome to Survey Country

How many times do you get asked to fill out a survey each week? Last week I had three.

And here’s the thing.

I’ve done my share of rating people over the decades, and I’m pretty good at giving compliments. I taught a lot of classes both as a professor and as a dean for twenty-four years. I also directed plays—as many as five in a school year, but always at least one. I know that people need supportive words to encourage them and to embolden them to keep making progress.

As a dean, I also had to write performance reviews for every faculty and staff member under my supervision. I’ve done a lot of evaluations. 

So why would I fill out yet another survey? I mean, the others were part of my job. I was getting paid to write evaluations.

After I had my teeth cleaned at the dentist last week I got an email asking me to fill out a survey on their service. I feel guilty when I don’t fill out the survey because I’m afraid they’ll only hear from the folks who were unhappy.

Oh, sure, I could complain because my usual dentistry had a burst water pipe and they had to reroute me to another location a few hours before my appointment. But am I gonna throw them under the bus for that? No.

They gave me the same appointment time and I didn’t have to wait. And they were so friendly. Especially to the young woman who was training on a new computer system. The fact that they treated her well, boosted my confidence in how they would treat me.

Okay, okay, I’ve just convinced myself. I’ll fill out their survey as soon as I finish writing this.

When my wife came back from Fresh Thyme Market she had a receipt asking for a survey response AND it offered a chance to win $250 for doing so. That’s not a guaranteed payment but at least they’re offering a tempting incentive. 

Besides, Fresh Thyme let me set up a book signing table in their store and I sold four or five books to their customers. They are also really friendly. I already filled out that survey. 

Many survey requests are just a ploy to get your compliments posted on social media. CVS expects one every time I buy a package of dental floss.

My Science Friday podcast reminds me to rate and review them every episode. But only if it’s positive, haha.

I see where experts on how to sell your indie book, say I should be asking you to post a favorable review of my book on Amazon or wherever you buy books. Apparently that’s the way the world turns. 

So I’ll rate the dentist and maybe score a few more karma points to get some nice ratings for myself.

Welcome to Survey Country.

TTFN

* * * * *

My middle grade novel, The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles is available through The BookBaby Bookshop at https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-most-amazing-museum-of-los-angeles

Margerumalia – Is An Acronym A Word?

Eric Margerum

Newsletter  June 21, 2024 

MAMLA is an acronym for The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles but is it a word? I’m asking for a friend. A friend who suggested that MAMLA is, in fact, my third addition to the English language — after hypernataldigitation (newsletter 5/03/24) and Margerumalia (newsletter 6/14/24). Maybe the origin of the museum name will help to suss it out.

But first: selling a book in a grocery store.

Fresh Thyme Market is an organic grocery store just three blocks from where I live and we often shop there. They keep a neat, friendly atmosphere and were very accommodating to my book signing table. I got to see neighbors, strangers, and a high school friend from years ago. I’ve also gotten pretty good at my elevator pitch for the book, describing just enough of the plot to intrigue potential readers. 

All in all I sold about half as many books as I did at the public library or Barnes & Noble, but—as I reminded myself while packing up—this is a food store, not a book store. Half as many books sold is pretty darn good, I’d say! And I left the store with a fresh perspective (pun intended). 

Next stop, the county library, date TBD, and Main Street Books in Lafayette on July 13. The Saturday Farmer’s Market on Fifth Street brings browsers to the bookstore. 

Back to MAMLA. It was inspired by MOCA, the Museum of Contemporary Art, where I spent an adventurous afternoon several years ago. I had just missed the cut-off for student rush tickets at the Ahmanson Theatre in downtown LA and found out that my parking fee was good for several hours but not good for a refund. The MOCA caught my eye and I walked a few blocks to see what I could see. 

I walked through many contemporary art exhibits, some of which bored me, like the big hall of six foot fluorescent lights hung up in as many different combinations as you can imagine. Actually, I think you could imagine several better ones. There were no colors, no sculpted neon-styles, just things like three horizontal lights and two vertical. Ho-Hum. And those fluorescents do hum!

A different exhibit really captured my imagination, though. It had huge geometrical shapes, each one painted in a solid primary or secondary color. I intended to glide through this hall but was surprised to feel vibrations emanating from each shape, almost like a musical tone. If you’ve made it to Chapter 16 in MAMLA, you’ll recognize The Gallery of Shapes and Colors. I was amazed to actually experience intrinsic emotions from each shape. That’s when I decided then to name my museum The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles. MAMLA.

Word (noun): a speech sound or series of speech sounds that symbolizes and communicates a meaning usually without being divisible into smaller units capable of independent use (Merriam-Webster.com). 

Yeah, I think I’m going to claim MAMLA as the third word I’ve contributed to the English language.

TTFN!