Anthropologist Margaret Mead once said, "A city is a place where there is no need to wait for next week to get the answer to a question, to taste the food of any country, to find new voices to listen to and familiar ones to listen to again."
When not trying to sound profound, Mead would have undoubtedly added that it's also a place where it's possible to avoid the fires of purchasing purgatory — the mall — and still get your holiday shopping done.
Right, but who's got the time to find those nooks and crannies? In keeping with Independent tradition, a couple of us interns humbly answer: I guess we do.
We filled up the gas tank and pounded the pavement — as did our photographer, Sally Piette — and now present to you our 2009 Gift Guide: Hidden Gems Edition. Of course, it's a pretty small gas tank, so if we missed a place that deserves some attention, let us know.
As for the little-known books highlighted in "Redefining rogue," consider shopping for them at one of the city's oft-overlooked independent bookstores.
Otherwise, gift on, my brothers and sisters, and don't forget the nog.