Good morning! I'm live blogging from lemonjellos, a funky little coffee shop in Holland frequented by "Hopies," i.e. Hope College students. As I walked towards the flyer-plastered double doors, I couldn't help but think what a different town this is than the one I grew up in. Signs for literary journals, concerts, and the Young People's Socialist League (!) allude to a certain liberalism and radicalism that was not at all visible in the 1980s and 1990s when I was a young person in this town. Now, there's also a sign for a Steven Curtis Chapman and Michael W. Smith tour, which is a remnant of the past Holland and the past dharmagirl.
This morning, I fight for a table against prospective Hope students, a smattering of faculty, and students, everywhere students, sipping coffee and being brilliant.
My question is, how do I help bring this college culture to my town? To my two-year school that still has a reputation of being the fifth year of high school, even though students return and tell us we're harder and better than the 4 year schools?
Begin with the coffee shops.
And now, I must stop procrastinating and work on *my* scholarly article, which I'm presenting in two weeks. And which is largely unwritten. Gulp.
Good luck with your article!
ReplyDeleteI love college town coffee shops.
Awww coffee shops and spring break! Enjoy yourself!
ReplyDeleteOhh, a lively coffee shop. We have on of those at my college. We go there, grab coffees and discuss everything from annoying professors to relationships.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, I was just in one 2 days ago with The French Club and we were practicing our french by talking about our spring breaks and sipping on cafe.
It was pretty great. And I like this post. You're a very good writer.