Thursday, August 14, 2008

Time to go to work

I got up early (for me) today and went to check out stone spiral coffeehouse on Sutton behind the Shop-n-Save in Maplewood.

yellow ashtray

Adorable! And open 'till 9pm (and opens its doors at 6am, perfect!), so I have a place nearby where I can do post-work work and pre-work whatever -- of which I have plenty to do. One project being this blog, of course. I was reading through the local interest section of the "book collective" (oh pretentious coffeehouse pseudonyms, i really do love them) and there's a section on local interest. Reading through some of the books, it occurs to me (and plenty of others) that st. louis needs to re-find its identity. We used to be a "city of gabriels" as one book was titled (it was about jazz), full of weird history, r&b, street culture and of course beer. It's not all high schools - lord knows how that all started (though I still ask, guilty).

NOLA's really harnessing its need for (re)development (code word for HELP) by forming an identity around it (even though it's taking our bricks, wtf) -- and is becoming a center of social entrepreneurship, aided by the awesome websites of the Canary collective. (all of which is inspiring me to revisit web development, whoa lofty goal)

Not that "center of social entreprenership" is necessarily taken, but I gotta wonder - what could be an identity for St. Louis' that would encompass what's already happening and what needs to happen? The way NOLA seems to be doing?

Oh no, I used the word encompass. Euw.

So, there are more than a few things I'd like to talk about and more than a few projects I'd like to see come together in the next couple months. October, as usual, will be exciting if all goes as planned. I'll keep you posted.

Also, the inter:play interactive festival is coming up in conjunction with play:stl festival -- this could be fun. I hope to see details soon!

Oh man, I love it when what began as a few sentence "i'll just write something" post turns into a journey into my thoughts. Promises of more congealed posts may sound empty, but I make them just the same!

in other news of note, I finally went to a Get Born poetry reading at Duffs not long ago...and it was more amazing than I thought it would be.

My dream? Cafe Soul and Get Born co-show at casa loma (the cafe soul draws a BIG crowd, as does get born). Oh man! that would be so cool.

(i just noticed how i titled this post, "time to go to work" - true on a couple levels looking at it from the end of the post, and about a half hour later. ha.)

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I went up there at 10:45/11, but may have missed you. It's a nice bike ride from my crib, and the coffee was STRONG. Cracked out strong. Say hi to the sweaty bike girl if our paths cross

Lolololori said...

Aw, I did miss you. I was outta there by 8:30. I am a fan of strong coffee, but I got the brewed stuff and it was perfect.

Didn't have to drink work coffee all day because of it. :)

If you haven't already, check out the local interest book section - I made sure to move TS Elliot over. i am sneaky!

H. Alan Scott said...

sounds cute

Lolololori said...

The coffee shop? It is cute. It is very coffee-shoppy and that's a good thing.

I wish it had a cat living there, and maybe ONE colored wall (too much beige). Ultimately it wins points for being walking distance from work, and I heard today they're gonna start having bagels.

I have some pictures of it, I'll be sure to post'em up soon.

Anonymous said...

I think your Casa Loma idea sounds like a winner,let's talk...

Lolololori said...

Ok, why not? I guess we're going to Cafe Soul on Nov 28th @ Lucas Park...you guys wanna sign up to read???

Anonymous said...

Hey Lori,still interested in setting up a reading together.Get in touch!

Anonymous said...

Hey Lori,still interested in setting up a reading together,get in touch!

Lolololori said...

born beat you should talk to diana benanti? You know this lady? email me at lori.e.white at gmail and let's work this OUT. its important. better late than never.

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