starbucks ruules

[Paul Mackin]

Away little more than two weeks and some 400 p-list postings
to read. Goody-goody.

Great resonance for me in the Starbucks controversy.. Here in Northwest D.C.
(along the Red Line between Friendship Heights and Dupont Circle) the question
is not simply WHERE DO YOU DRINK COFFEE, but WHICH BREAD STORE, 
ICE CREAM EMPORIUM, OR NATURAL FOOD OUTLET do you frequent.  

The toughest choice is among coffee shops. More of these than
there are pubs in Dublin. An estimate in this morning's Washington
Post put them at one every fifteen yards.

Also from the Post:

The dilemma in this part of the world is how to spend money in a way that won't
make you  look like vulgar Republicans. One way to do this is to spend
extravagantly on things that used to be cheap, like coffee, bread, water
and casual clothes. That way you don't look like Donald Trump, just upscale
grad students. (end of quote)

Personally I'd give all this up for one good neighborhood bar. Guess I could
move to Dublin. Quite a generation gap here I'm terribly afraid.


But lovingly still,

				P.