Starbucks Baristas Organize
Wow, the coffee shop I love to hate is organizing! Now I have a really great reason not to go to Starbucks and pay exorbitant prices for an iced chai (I hate their coffee—not that I'm a big coffee fan anyway, but theirs is burnt, not roasted). The Wobblies (IWWW) are organizing the baristas and the Organic Consumers Union has already organized the roasters in Washington state. Considering the company's expansion into the music business, about which I feel sort of ambivalent, it seems like a good time to be unionizing.
McSweeney's Opens Superhero Storefront in Brooklyn
Despite the hype and envy surrounding Dave Eggers, and no matter how pretentious you think McSweeney's and The Believer are, you gotta admire the way he puts his money where his mouth is. He's brought the 826 Valencia concept to NYC now through the opening of another storefront, this one a "superhero supply store." The gimmick, chosen by kids, draws them into writing workshops and other programs. I only wish it had opened in a neighborhood like Bushwick or Bed-Stuy or even Sunset Park, or up here in the Bronx instead of Park Slope. It's not like Park Slope is an underprivileged area. And their overhead would have been cheaper, too. Still, it's definitely a great program. They have in-school and drop-in tutoring at the storefront, writing seminars for kids and adults and a quarterly publication with their work in it, supported by volunteers and the storefront. If I were still living in Brooklyn, I might even volunteer. Of course, everything cool happens when I leave. Sigh. Story of my life.
Off to hang curtains now. No irony here. No sirree.
Comments