Some of this, some of that
We're at Chautauqua Institution, NY, one of my favorite places. Jonathan received huge kudos from me on our first date when he knew what it was. If you haven't heard of it, check out the link to the right.The big change this year is my favorite restaurant, Sadie J's, has poofed out of existence between last season and this one. It's now a huge real estate office. I am drooling remembering their gooey cinnamon rolls, moist cappuccino muffins with a black coffee chaser, the morning egg sandwiches, the veggie melts and the pita sandwich with the pesto on it. Sigh... of course those food items will become even more mouthwatering in my memory as the years go on. That's the nature of something that you've had once or dozens of times and can never get again.
My favorite sign of the day was for a business we passed on our route. It advertised T-shirts, ant farms and pastries.
Gary and Marisa's wedding festivities start tonight. Cross your fingers, turn around twice and send wishes into the sky about there being no rain tomorrow for the outdoor ceremony. Of course, since a hurricane hit our wedding weekend back in 2003, we know the show will go on anyway. But a gorgeous, sunny day would be amazing.
posted by Laura the Writer @ 4:36 PM
3 Comments:
Twenty years ago, a decent cup of European-style coffee came at a steep price: You had to venture into shabby bohemian dens of free inquiry to get one, and you had to endure dissident cranks debating, oh, the dialectics of postcolonial identity formation. Then, Starbucks realized that, to millions of Americans, $3 lattes would actually seem like a bargain in comparison, as long as they could savor them amidst the ambiance of a modestly upscale shoe store.
This insight made Starbucks billions of dollars, but for some reason, the company has never been satisfied with its success. Or, more specifically, it has never been satisfied with its customers. For years, it has tried to convince them that they are brainy public philosophers, the kind of people who, ironically, Starbucks customers go to Starbucks to avoid.
In Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz's mind, however, his baby is heir to the great European coffeehouse tradition of the 18th century, when latte-sippers helped foment the French Revolution in Parisian cafes and Isaac Newton dissected a dolphin in a London coffeehouse. Thus, Starbucks' 1996 attempt to sell the paper version of Michael Kinsley's wonky paperless magazine, Slate.com. And its 1997 attempt to sell Oprah's Book Club selections.
Both efforts bombed -- Starbucks probably would have had more success selling dolphin frappuccinos. Even so, it remained convinced its customers were latent bibliophiles, and in 1999 it introduced the quirky and eclectic Joe magazine, which emphasized ideas and fine writing rather than celebrity profiles and lifestyle trends.
"Starbucks customers are interested and curious and a perfect audience for a magazine that explores the important, the beautiful, the funny and the provocative," said managing editor Scott Mowbray at Joe's premiere, but as it turned out, Starbucks customers were mostly interested in exploring the important, the beautiful, the funny and the provocative via Starbucks-branded stuffed animals. Joe lasted three issues. Starbucks Bearista Bears, a line of cute and cuddly plush toys, have been released in more than 60 different versions since their 1997 introduction.
Last year, however, Starbucks finally found the perfect literary medium for its audience -- the coffee cup. Its "The Way I See It" campaign places original quotes from a sundry mix of famous and sort-of-famous Americans on its cups. Their thoughts (PR team do your stuff) "do not necessarily reflect the views of Starbucks."
Stylistically, the quotes are mostly the literary equivalent of Bearista Bears: sentimental, squooshy, with no aphoristic bite. "What a privilege to be here on the planet to contribute your unique donation to humankind," muses singer Shelby Lynne. "Each face in the rainbow of colors that populate our world is precious and special," observes civil rights leader Morris Dees. OK, sorry, Bearista Bears -- even you could come up with pithier quotes than those.
Still, Starbucks' customers are actually reading the cups, and in the great coffeehouse tradition of conversation and debate, threatening boycotts. In August, a cup featuring novelist Armistead Maupin's reflection that "(his) only regret about being gay is that (he) repressed it for so long" drew the wrath of the Concerned Women for America. Because the cup was too nice to gay people, the group suggested, it was offensive to conservatives and people of faith. A few weeks later, employees at a campus Starbucks at Baylor University, a predominantly Baptist school, purged hundreds of the Maupin cups.
But why boycott when you can integrate? Soon after the Maupin controversy, Starbucks confirmed that Rick Warren, author of "The Purpose-Driven Life," will join the ranks of its coffee-cup sages in spring with this bit of divine salesmanship: "You were made by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense ..."
Call it a craven attempt to mollify miffed Christians if you will, but since Starbucks' 33 million weekly customers include plenty of knuckle-dragging evolutionists, too, it's also a bold, self-destructive move. Indeed, what happens when people who have no interest whatsoever in what Jesus would brew get a shot of Warren's deep-roasted evangelism in their morning lattes? Starbucks will no doubt plead objective neutrality: It doesn't believe in God any more than it believes in happy gay men -- it just wants to carry on the great coffeehouse tradition of (inoffensive, conflict-free) conversation and debate.
But of course it's not that easy anymore. In these extremely partisan times, objective neutrality simply means that, eventually, everyone ends up hating you. Except the dissident cranks, that is, who must be feeling new-found admiration for the chain. Oh, what they would give to be able to alienate so many people at once.
Greg Beato is a San Francisco writer.
Hah, Jonathan... Robin was from Chautauqua... I used to hear about it every freakin' day in that shed she called an office. Maybe she went back there. Look her up. Tell her I say "Hi." ;-)
I worked for Sadie J's. It was the best job ever. The owner Louise was fantastic. Ahhh I miss Chautauqua in the summer!
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