A Statement on the Human Condition



Photo by Krankie's Airstream. See
the original in all its museum-
quality artsy-ness on Facebook.

 Looking at this photo by Krankie's Airstream made me think about how great life is in North Carolina. We drive cars. We buy freshly roasted coffee that someone brews for us. We don't have to get out of our cars for it. We pay cash money and have enough left for a tip. The barista smiles and genuinely wants us to have a nice day.

Sure, not everyone in the Triad has a car or the disposable income for a $2 cup of coffee. Not everyone drives on beautiful Reynolda Road to work every day. Heck, not everyone even has a job to drive to.

But, if you're a coffee shop fan and a fan of this blog, chances are, you're doing OK. We don't live in a war-torn country or a dictatorship. We don't live in an impoverished land that's been stripped of its natural resources and devastated by an earthquake. We live in a community that's prosperous enough to help those among us who aren't.

If you have any doubts how lucky we are, take a look at the Winston-Salem Foundation's annual report. Much more than a year-end financial statement, this report showcases the amazing generosity of our city's founding families and the contemporary heroes who continue to give and sustain the legacy. Watch the video about Senior Services and Meals on Wheels on page 23. Do you see the preschooler pushing a cart of food? What a kid! What a mom to introduce him to giving at this age.

If you think you've had a rough day or things aren't going so well for you, stop thinking! Start looking! Look for the generosity that's all around us. Savor the luxuries we take for granted, like hot chocolate made with real milk and Ghirardelli chocolate (thank you, Coffee XChange!). And thanks to our Triad Coffee Shops and Smitty's Notes for reminding us how good we have it around here!

Hey, that was MY idea!

For years, I've peered into the artists' studios in Winston-Salem's Downtown Arts District and asked myself, "Why aren't there studios for writers? Where do writers go to write? I would like a studio!"

But did I do anything about it? NOOOOOO.

uploaded from
http://www.press53.com/CenterforCreativeWriting.html

Lucky for us, someone did do something! Jim Tedder, creator of Community Arts Cafe, offered Press 53 a spot in this building to represent the literary arts! So, Press 53 publisher Kevin Watson created the Center for Creative Writing to provide space for writers to work and gather. The Center offers a quiet room with  cubicles that writers can rent by the hour. It also offers a conference room, an open reception area, lending library, and access to literary journals and local magazines. It's just steps away from the coffee bar, an open cafe area, art galleries, music studios, and a performance theater.

Did I say it's just steps away from a coffee bar??? The literary arts are finally finding a place of their own in the City of the Arts. Whether you are a writer, a reader, or someone who wants to rub elbows with an author, you've got to check this place out.

And for you coffee shop fans in other cities of the Triad, please help CoffeeCat find other writer-friendly places.

Coffee, Animals & Books

Patrick McDonnell, creator of Mutts
http://www.muttscomics.com/

What more could we want from a Saturday afternoon? Although the rain seemed to keep people away, it also brought the first hint of official coffee shop weather: cool, rainy, fall days. The highlight of the day for me was seeing Patrick McDonnell, creator of Mutts comic strip, speak and draw his famous characters on a flip chart. YESH!

I escaped the rain and cool breeze by going into Chelsee's Coffee & More for hot cafe au lait and a blueberry muffin. That warmed me up and fueled me for the rest of the afternoon! It was so thoughtful of BookMarks to plan the festival around the coffee shop location!

It's great to see the literary arts celebrated in the Downtown Arts District.

Kick off the holiday weekend

There are more coffee shops
in downtown WS than you can
shake a biscotti at!

There are plenty of activities to kick off the holiday weekend for those who are staying in the Triad! Check out the updated events page. Friday night is packed full. In downtown Winston-Salem, we have a poetry meetup at a coffee shop CoffeeCat just posted on the Coffee Shops Guide, the first Friday gallery hop, and free wine tasting at Caffe Prada. Not to mention, our long-standing yummy coffee shops in downtown are there waiting for you with iced coffee & espresso drinks!

Saturday night, the Astanza Project is playing at Tate Street -- if you're wondering what "world music" sounds like, well, get off the couch and go listen!

It's officially September, so get out there and take advantage of all the events crammed into the busiest month of the fall! If you know of more events this weekend, post 'em here for everyone to see!

World Peace at your local coffee shop?

NASA photo uploaded from about.com

A coffee shop is its neighborhood.

To be successful, a coffee shop has to have something in common with its neighbors, something that attracts them to come in, come back, and spend money. My neighborhood doesn't have a locally- owned coffee shop, so I enjoy trying out other people's neighborhoods.

For example, I enjoy The Coffee Break, Tate Street, and Coffeeology, all located in the UNC-G neighborhood. All of these appeal to students, professors, and the professionals who live in the surrounding neighborhoods. Even so, each shop has a different look & different energy.

iCoffee in Summerfield is in the neighborhood of Lake Brandt, so it appeals to people on their way to the lake. It's also a hub for the Northern Guilford community and reaches out to the students and families through student art displays, concerts, and gatherings for sports teams.

Sitting on the patio of Krankie's in Winston-Salem, I noticed that the county detention center and one building of the Piedmont Triad Research Park rise over the old industrial city block on which Krankie's is situated. What kind of neighborhood is made up of a jail, a biomedical research building, railroad tracks, and a coffee shop in an old warehouse?

Spend some time listening to the poets and musicians who perform at Krankie's, and you'll feel the neighborhood. It's the neighborhood of innovation, energy, and creativity. It's a crossroads of artistic, scientific, and ordinary people. Some poets rhyme about life on the streets and how it landed them in that jail across Chestnut Street. They're using their energy and creativity to innovate new, better lives for themselves, and they're not afraid to get on stage and let people know.

Other poets rhyme about diseases and human conditions that are being confronted head-on at the research park. While scientists in those labs develop new, life-saving drugs and grow human organs to replace diseased organs, a poet named Eurycide White shouts a poem called, "**** you, cancer."  The disease took people she loved, and across the street, strangers are taking on disease. Does it get any more real than this?

Coffee shops don't rate the same coverage on front pages and newscasts as health care reform, Middle Eastern peace talks, or the war in Afghanistan. You and I know that. But real life is happening in and around Triad Coffee Shops. Take some time to explore your neighborhood coffee shop, or someone else's. You never know - you just might be within arm's reach of world peace or a cure for cancer.

UPDATE: See Life in Forsyth's wonderful photo

Coffee Shop Lovers' Treat

One of the great things about coffee shops is they attract people who like to read. Many coffee shops have a bookshelf for patrons to browse while they visit. There's usually a copy of the daily paper for anyone to enjoy. And there are games like Scrabble and Scattergories, which show that word lovers gather in these places.

So coffee shop lovers, in my book, are going to love the BookMarks Book Festival in the downtown arts district of Winston-Salem on Sept. 11. It's not just that it will be packed with best-selling authors, book-related activities for kids, workshops for aspiring writers, and places to buy books. It's also within walking distance of Chelsee's Coffee and Brew Nerds, and not much further away are Krankie's and Caffe Prada. CoffeeCat is anticipating an iced coffee drink!

Among the authors scheduled to attend is the wonderful, talented, funny, and animal-loving creator of Mutts comic strip - Patrick McDonnell. Yes, in Winston-Salem {Sept. 5 update: McDonnell has posted on his blog about the festival}! I recently subscribed to the Daily Mutts by e-mail so that at least once a day, I'll have an e-mail that makes me smile!

For coffee shop fans anywhere in the Triad, BookMarks is worth the drive to Winston-Salem and can double as a Coffee Road Trip. Fans, tell me who you can't wait to see at BookMarks!

Coffee Shop on the Big Screen: Post 2

Coffee fans, if you missed the premiere of Everything We Forgot We Remember And Forget . . . sorry! Some of the funniest lines were delivered in the Cafe Roche scene.

"You brought wings in here?"
"Yes, they don't sell them here!"

And, "that was lie."
"That was a lie."
"That was a lie."

If you're thinking you had to be there . . . you're right! But writer/director/barista Tim Hall is giving everyone a chance to be part of his feature film, Ordinary Wilderness, by donating to the production costs. People in Winston-Salem are making things happen in & for this city, so let's CHIP IN!

Top 10: Why coffee shop entertainment beats the opera

Tyler Nail, July Shuffle winner

Live from the Winston-Salem Shuffle at Krankie's
1. Wear whatcha want
2. Get there when ya want (just don't miss the whole show)
3. Getcher caffeine fix anytime
4. Local talent honing their chops - where else can you hear performers on guitar, ukulele, piano, keyboard, and an 11-year-old singing "If I was living in space?" (BTW, if he lived in space, he sang, "I'd have lasers in my pants, just in case")
5. Judges chosen from audience - no professional critics, no gong!
6. No intermission - get up and move around when you want to stretch or mingle
7. Did I say, getcher caffeine?
8. Entertainment, drink & dessert for $10
9. No age limit - performers & fans ages 11 and up!
10. CoffeeCat can blog live from the coffee shop!

What are your top 10 reasons to enjoy coffee shop shows?

Discovering the coffee shop

I first discovered coffee shops when I moved to Winston-Salem in 1993. Suddenly, I learned that coffee wasn’t just for mornings. My sister, friends and I enjoyed poetry slams at the Horse’s Mouth in the heart of downtown and listened to up-and-coming bands at Morning Dew on Burke Street in the West End. Tate Street Coffee in Greensboro was an attraction where we took our out-of-town friends. In coffee houses we found the opposite of the smoke-filled, strobe-lighted, eardrum-bursting nightclubs that were “the” night life for college students. At the coffee house, everyone could get a grown-up yet non-alcoholic drink, stick to a tight budget, and hear the conversation.


More than a decade later, as a graduate student, I rediscovered coffee houses in the Triad. I appreciated calm but busy coffee houses like Café Roché in Winston-Salem and The Coffee Break in Greensboro. They provide a great place for coffee and reading by day, and conversation with friends by night. I’ve also discovered that coffee shops are much more than a place to gather for lattes and chai. New shops such as Krankie’s, Brew Nerds, and Chelsee’s, all in Winston-Salem, are putting a new spin on coffee shops and welcoming new concepts and new customers of all ages.

Winston-Salem’s Brew Nerds on Hanes Mall Blvd. is a glass, brightly-lit, ultra modern hot spot for Wii tournaments and trivia contests. The owners of Krankie’s transformed an old warehouse into an arts and entertainment destination where customers can watch documentary films, shop at a weekly farmers market, and visit nearby galleries and shops also housed in what they now call “The Wherehouse.” Krankie’s customers give it props as a good place to drink a glass of wine on Saturday night and read the newspaper over coffee on a Sunday morning. Some Saturday nights you can find gospel concerts at Juicy Java in Kernersville. iCoffee in Summerfield offers bluegrass music some nights and a gathering spot after Friday night football games.

The desire for good coffee and a place to enjoy it is universal. Coffee shops are great places to drink tea, smoothies, and even beer. And since people come to coffee shops for different reasons, you can be sure there’s a place and a time for any of them. To write your great novel, most coffee shops would be the perfect place on a Sunday morning or a Saturday afternoon. To meet new people, try Friday night art openings, concerts almost any night of the week, or Saturday mornings while walking your dog. To enjoy the literary arts, there are poetry slams, book signings, and scrabble tournaments.

In this blog, I’ll tell you about upcoming events at Triad coffee shops. Want me to visit your favorite coffee shop? Want to promote an event? Let me know about it.