Recently I noticed this short blurb in Thisweek and sent it to my wife to alert the members of her Farmington-based mom’s group that college aged girls misrepresenting themselves as approved by ISD 192 were attempting to sell books to families in the city. Afterwards another mother posted her personal experience with the girls from Southwestern Company who are trolling neighborhoods in Apple Valley, Farmington and Rosemount from their home base in Rosemount this summer:

I was at a friends house today when this happened. Apparently the girls are college students that are studying to become teachers from Texas AM and doing an ‘internship’ this summer for Southwest books. I asked her some blunt questions (if you know me this isn’t out of the ordinary) about the program. She was careful to say that they aren’t directly related to the school districts–but seem to know a lot about them. They are educational hardcover books for your kids. Nothing really special about them. They aren’t too cheap either. Their goal is to talk to 35 moms a day about the books.

The biggest issues those who have encountered the Southwestern Company booksellers are that they continue to claim they are affiliated with the district when they are not including saying they are interning for the district itself, are selling books recommended by Farmington School District teachers, and that these reps go to great lengths to get information from others in the neighborhood to sell more books to families who really don’t need them.

Basically the representatives of this company prey upon unknowing parents in areas all over the country hoping to use information provided by other parents in the neighborhood to sell books. According to this article in the Decatur Daily News, one sales rep in Alabama took nearly $300 from a family living in a trailer-home who admitted that shopping for books at Wal-Mart was too expensive for them.

From what I understand these Southwestern Company representatives ask questions of all neighbors in a particular neighborhood and learn kids’ names, what grades they’re in, what friends they have, etc and then use that information to coerce others into buying books they really do not need. While small little notes come out from the school district and appear in a paper few people read you end up getting blindsided by a group of young and savvy salespeople who average over $8000 a summer.

According to the Decatur Daily article these sales reps spend 80 hours a week working and their “day off” meeting with other regional sales reps to exchange ideas on how to take people’s money. Southwestern sounds almost cult-like:

Working for Southwestern is more than overcoming fear of rejection. It’s an almost nonstop, 80-hour week that begins with showers at 6 a.m., breakfast and self-motivational reading by 7 and knocking on the first door by 7:59. The knocks, generally 45 households per day, continue till past 9 p.m. Then it’s home to finish paperwork before heading to bed in the home of a host family.

[...]

At breakfast, the sales trio reads books like Oswald Chambers’ “My Utmost for His Highest,” Og Mandino’s “The Greatest Salesman in the World” and even “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” by Dr Seuss. The latter is to remember not to take yourself too seriously, they said.

After this article came out in the paper alerting residents to Southwestern Company’s tactics, my wife called the Farmington PD to check and see if the girls roaming the neighborhoods of ISD 192 had a valid license from the city. As of her last check the Farmington PD representative she spoke with noted that these Southwestern Company sales reps do not have a license and anyone who encounters them should call the Farmington Police Department’s administrative number directly at 651-280-6700 to report the violation.

But even though they don’t have a valid license they sure do appear professional. According to one Farmington mother, “The girl that I saw did have a badge around her neck, but I only could see the picture of her, it didn’t look like a permit.” So even if they show you something be sure to call the police and double check and make sure they aren’t peddling their wares illegally.

Have you encountered Southwestern book selling reps in the South Metro? If so what was your experience with them? Do you agree that these representatives sound shady and as if they are taking advantage of unknowing parents? Do you believe your neighbors would share your family’s personal information with these representatives? Whatever you have to say, please share your thoughts on the Southwestern Company reps who are attempting to sell unnecessary and expensive books around town.

According to the Rosemount City Council agenda for last night’s meeting (pp. 3-5), the city is looking to begin a common book project centered around A Long Way Home from Chicago by Richard Peck. Residents will supposedly read the book and then many city events will occur which are somehow related to the themes covered in the book. The money for funding a portion of this project (the purchase of books for those who cannot afford them) will come from Taco John’s.

From the agenda:

We are working on a list of activities for the entire month of October 2010. These activities may include: book author visit (Richard Peck), big band and swing dancers, time capsule, National Guard gun drill, gangster talk, kids event to include pie eating contest, jump roping, hopscotch, yo-yos, board games, marbles and jacks games. We also would like to have an antique car show, a radio program, a professor speak about the Great Depression, a panel discussion about history, tap dancing, quilting demonstrations, a 30s fashion show and a community food drive. Program and event themes would include topics such as truth, justice, ethics, the Great Depression, the 1930s era, travel, the Midwest, small towns, humor and imagination.

Sounds completely and utterly boring and that comes from someone who enjoys history, reading books, eating pie and playing board games. I can only imagine what a bunch of kids in 2010 would think about playing with yo-yos, marbles, and jacks.

Aside from the aforementioned issues with the events surrounding the book, my biggest issue is with the idea of a common book project in the first place. While working at Century College a few years ago I was stuck with a free copy of Persepolis during their inaugural common book project. I also ended up reading one of the passed over selections for their second common book, Ishmael Beah’s A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Solider. I thought that Persepolis, being a graphic novel, was a ridiculous choice for college students and while people can swear up and down about how great the book was, I thought it was absolutely horrible–although my open disgust with the idea of a graphic novel being the focal point of a student’s entire curriculum for a year, regardless of subject, may have played a big role in that.

While I have not yet read A Long Way Home from Chicago, I have checked it out in audiobook format from the Minneapolis Public Library and plan to listen to it after I finish my current read. Even if it’s a great book, which it may very well be, I just can’t imagine that this is a good idea based on my experience with other common book projects. The City of Rosemount should really have better things to be worrying about other than supporting a city-wide book club. Can’t we leave this sort of crap up to the individual rather than making it a city wide campaign?

But enough about what I have to say… What do you think about this one? While the agenda information only really covers how the Taco John’s donation will be put forth to purchase 438 copies of the book, I wonder how the other events will be paid for. Will this be Rosemount tax dollars or will other donations be found to cover those costs? While Rosemount’s taxes are lower, and rightfully so, it’s because they generally don’t have to waste money on nonsensical garbage that the other South Metro cities seem to love. Is this a good idea? Would you or your kids like to take part in the event list? Whatever you have to say about this go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear what you have to say.

A week or so ago I received a copy of The Minnesota Table: Recipes for Savoring Local Food throughout the Year written by Shelley Holl and B.J. Carpenter. I was asked to give it a review on the site. After doing so I figured what better way to get the word out there but to give a copy of it away to one lucky reader. Read on below the review for the ways to enter!

While I am no cookbook (or any book for that matter) reviewer, The Minnesota Table is published by Voyager Press and comes in a nicely bound hardback edition and includes an interesting assortment of recipes, bright photos, illustrations and stories about those interested in keeping their tables filled with local and seasonal ingredients–all things which are near and dear to my heart.

The book is broken up by month and offers more than 50 different recipes which take advantage of what will likely be available to you at that time. As the months stretch on into the deep and dark winter of the Northland, the recipes become harder to find, mirroring the vegetables which only exist either in your freezer, tightly sealed Mason jars, or spice rack. Being that I received this book in June I immediately went straight for that chapter looking for something which I could pick up that week at the Minneapolis Farmer’s Market and make for this review. Unfortunately while all of the recipes sounded nice, many were not really my style. With “Sorbet of Bailly Vineyard’s Ratafia”, “Minted Sugar Snap Peas”, and “The Perfect Pot of Tea” making up four of the six recipes I was left with some pretty tasty concoctions: “Grilled Rainbow Trout with Lemon Pepper Butter”, “New Potatoes with Chive Butter”, and a delightful sounding “Strawberry-Rhubarb Sunburst Pie”.

While the remaining recipes sounded fantastic I had a few problems with my setting about making them. First lemons aren’t native to Minnesota (I have been trying my best to stay 100% local and in season) and I have no easy access to trout so that recipe was out. The new potatoes with chive butter would certainly work but I was so busy making rosemary potatoes with the overabundance of the herb in my garden that I didn’t bother with that one, and the strawberry-rhubarb while one of my absolute favorite desserts involves baking, something which I am not exactly known to do well especially on my first attempt.

Looking ahead to July I saw that The Minnesota Table offers a pretty straightforward BLT recipe, a listing for “Nick’s Devilish Eggs” which also seems pretty standard as it’s almost exactly how I make them, and a “Raspberry-Blueberry Cream Cheese Shortcakes” recipe which looks like a mess on the page but probably is quite yummy in your tummy.

Overall I loved the stories of the people, the artwork and the various recipes which really spoke to me. While I wish the book included more food and less talk this is clearly not only about recipes but more an all around Minnesota food experience! With that in mind I am sure that you will love it and urge you to check it out for yourselves even if you don’t win the contest.

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Now for what you have all been waiting for: the give away. This time it’s going to be slightly different than how it’s been run in the past. I’m still going to allow you to enter via a comment and via RT (re-tweets) on Twitter but in order for you to get your third entry via Facebook, you’ll have to like this wall post. If you’re not already “liking” Lazy Lightning on Facebook you may want to get on there, ‘like’ the site and then ‘like’ the post as the last contest was won by two ladies who only participate via Facebook.

So go ahead and comment on below, share the link via Twitter (make sure you include the link to this post), and/or like the post on Facebook and get your three entries in. Contest entries will be allowed up through Sunday 6/27 at 11:59:59 PM. Winners will be selected by random and convoluted MySQL code sometime on Monday morning and announced on all three sources. Good luck everyone!