Nikki McClure

I have just discovered a new artist through the CrimethInc website. Nikki McClure is a self-taught artist who makes beautiful paper cuts, from a single sheet of paper. She has done several covers of magazines, records and books. For more info, click here.

St. Arbucks: Patron Saint of Familiarity

Next time you are in Starbucks drinking your vanilla latte and doing the daily Sudoku puzzle in the calender section, I want you to take a minute to look around.

What is it that is so attractive about Starbucks (or any other chain coffee place that you may frequent?) Is it the calming shade of green? Is it all the pretty and over priced coffee mugs they have on display, different colors and patterns that change seasonally? Or is it the girl behind the counter who knows your name and drink order? When you walk in do you feel a sense of relief? Everything will be OK now that you've made it to Starbucks.

I find Starbucks habits to be fascinating. Starbucks is interesting because EVERY single one is the same. No matter what city you live in or what neighborhood you happen to be walking around, you know that exactly what you are going to get when you walk into a Starbucks (or St. Arbucks as my friend Dave likes to call it.) You know they will have your drink of choice. They have pastries, things to "eat". They have tables to work and chairs to lounge. There are relatively clean bathrooms and you can stay for hours on end. You can even sit outside to enjoy the sunshine and second hand smoke from your fellow customers.

THEY ARE ALL THE SAME. But rather than being a deterrent, I think that is what brings people back. I mean, we all have OUR Starbucks, the one we go to most often and where the people making our coffee look familiar. But we also know that when we stray from our typical neighborhood destination, the other one will pretty much be on par with what we are accustomed to. So Starbucks hooks you two ways: by at once being your local venue and also being your preferred choice when outside your typical nucleus because it reminds you of home. In fact for some, it is a kind of home away from home. A place to go and regroup before you continue with your day, or a place to kill a few hours in between appointments.

When it comes down to it, do (some) people go to Starbucks because they want coffee, or because they want familiarity? I'm sure you can find a Korean-run donut place in your neighborhood with better coffee for a whole lot less. But that isn't the point, is it?

Sometimes, a Starbucks can be the only thing constant in your life. I cannot study at home so I often go to Starbucks to work. Often their are multiple establishments in a three block radius and so I know that all I have to do is find a Starbucks. A moment of panic about where to go does not even have time to register because I know I will be safe at home in the warm embrace of my purple chair and grande percent mocha.

Compliments of Stella Mars

Poem X

Gwendolyn Brooks has always been a favorite of mine. Her poem, We Real Cool is one of my all-time favorites. As far as her credentials go, poetryfoundation.org puts it best when they say: Gwendolyn Brooks was a highly regarded, much-honored poet, with the distinction of being the first black author to win the Pulitzer Prize. She also was poetry consultant to the Library of Congress—the first black woman to hold that position—and poet laureate of the State of Illinois. Many of Brooks's works display a political consciousness, especially those from the 1960s and later, with several of her poems reflecting the civil rights activism of that period. Her body of work gave her, according to Dictionary of Literary Biography contributor George E. Kent, "a unique position in American letters. Not only has she combined a strong commitment to racial identity and equality with a mastery of poetic techniques, but she has also managed to bridge the gap between the academic poets of her generation in the 1940s and the young black militant writers of the 1960s.

I came across a poem of here I had not read before. Her style reminds me of a quiet morning when your thoughts are heavy with meaning and you see the world starkly-clear. She combs through difficult subjects without blinking at the beautiful ugliness of the reality in which she (and we) live.

a song in the front yard
by Gwendolyn Brooks

I’ve stayed in the front yard all my life.
I want a peek at the back
Where it’s rough and untended and hungry weed grows.
A girl gets sick of a rose.

I want to go in the back yard now
And maybe down the alley,
To where the charity children play.
I want a good time today.

They do some wonderful things.
They have some wonderful fun.
My mother sneers, but I say it’s fine
How they don’t have to go in at quarter to nine.
My mother, she tells me that Johnnie Mae
Will grow up to be a bad woman.
That George’ll be taken to Jail soon or late
(On account of last winter he sold our back gate).

But I say it’s fine. Honest, I do.
And I’d like to be a bad woman, too,
And wear the brave stockings of night-black lace
And strut down the streets with paint on my face.

Gwendolyn Brooks, “a song in the front yard” from Selected Poems. Copyright © 1963 by Gwendolyn Brooks. Reprinted with the permission of the Estate of Gwendolyn Brooks.

Welcomness

In the spirit of having spent all day at Jury Duty and it being the eve of July 4th, here are some insightful but rather sardonic commentary on the present state of our country's cultural incongruity. Or maybe its just a beautiful song.

"Going to Town", Rufus Wainwright from new album Release the Stars.