hanging out with rob eans

these days, i have a spot of time on my hands. i've moved back from memphis and am working on finding gainful employment. this means lots of hangout time. naturally, one must find places that are conducive to spending hours and hours occupied by oneself so as not to become a drone and sit in front of the TV. my spot? coffee shops.

sidenote: neighborhood thrift will be opening their own corner cafe in the next few months. (complete promo: please head over to the corner of olive and wilson in the coming winter months for some solid french press coffee. there won't be a better cafe in fresno.)

now, as i have done a bit of traveling in the past 3 months, i am always looking for good coffee shops along the way. i've got a thing for the ones with character and/or a good aesthetic paired with superb coffee; the small, hole-in-the-wall, warm, inviting meeting houses where eccentric people work, old men sit around for hours and hours, talking about everything under the sun, and espresso is served fresh. here are a few favorite places where i've sipped on an americano or eight:

1. the revue fresno, ca

my version of a local watering hole. while i will say the coffee isn't on par with some of the other spots, the design is phenomenal with lots of darker themes, old wooden benches and chairs in black and red and a touch of vintage french art. it also has a section for books and local independent media if you need something to wrap your head around. beyond that, there's a big community vibe; a steady stream of regulars, down-to-earth staff and the feeling that you'll more than likely run into someone you know.

2. republic coffee memphis, tn

located just east of midtown, republic coffee was the best spot i could find in memphis. i'd rate the americano a 7 out of 10, it actually kind of has this weird taste at the beginning of the cup that somehow works itself out in the end. design-wise, republic has more of a modern feel to it with a two-sided bar flanking the espresso machines, booths lining one side and couches on the other side for studying. it's often filled late at night with rhodes college and university of memphis students studying or playing games, so usually there's a chill vibe. if your rolling through memphis, definitely stop by.

3. late for the train flagstaff, az

smaller in size but packs a major punch coffee-wise. i was able to hit up the espresso bar located downtown, which has its' own really cool aesthetic going. i picked up the "dirty dave", or something to that effect, and it was easily the best latte i'd had in months, smooth from start to finish with just the right amount of espresso and milk. late for the train doubles as a coffee roasting company with online ordering available; if you're interested in great coffee, i'd recommend throwing a couple of bucks their way and picking up a bag or two of the whole bean blends.

4. coffee slingers oklahoma city, ok

the most urban design of the bunch, which is kind of ironic considering it's nestled in the midwest. when i visited in the late afternoon, there were hardly any folks in the cafe, so it may be one of those downtown worker/early morning places, with all sorts of business and yuppie-types crowding the space in the AM. it shares its' space with what looked to be a pretty successful bike shop, so if you don't mind the smell of rubber while you sip, go right on ahead. the espresso seemed to have an extra bit of kick to it and the cinnamon roll was phenomenal. from what i saw, they had a wide selection of pastries and tea, so if yerba mate, red velvet cupcakes or loose leaf tea is your thing, you'd feel right at home with coffee slingers.

5. intelligentsia chicago/LA

the granddaddy of top quality espresso/coffee; also, probably the most pretentious. intelligentsia has had some pretty major success in the US barista championships in the past, so maybe they have good reason to be pretentious. the broadway store in chicago had quite the line when i visited and it's no wonder why: the americano i had was absolutely smashing. while there were similar design motifs with the silverlake store, it has a more comfortable feel than its' southern california counterpart. bottom line: if your within 45 miles of an intelligentsia location and are in need of coffee, the trek there is worth it.

other locations that i hope to visit soon...

alterra coffee milwaukee, wi

kaldi's coffee st. louis, mo

stumptown coffee portland, or

every starbucks in fresno........just kidding

fixing my fixie

ok, i'll be honest: i'm kind of a wimp when it comes to alternative sports/physical activities.

traditional sports (read: basketball, baseball, tennis, hell, even golf) i'm fine at. i picked up footie (read: soccer) while i was in the uk. usually in the fall, i like to enjoy a game or two of american football with a few friends. i played and won a few games of ultimate frisbee duringintramurals in my college years. in that way, i'm just like a majority of young american males.

shift the conversation to skateboarding, wakeboarding, BMX bikes, motocross, paintball and i will gladly bow out. i had an ill-advised love affair with skateboards for several months during the 7th grade. the height of my accomplishments: ollie-ing once and maneuvering my deck on to a rail that was approximately 6 inches off the ground for a quasi-boardslide. my loving fatherwas gracious enough to cobble together my rail out of extra wood and some PVC. hardly the stuff of legit skating. rewinding earlier, i became enamored with BMX during 6th grade. i'd ogle the really expensive frames, devising plans to mow enough lawns to buy one. i ended up getting a steel DYNO that i mainly rode before school. my ideas of a trick? standing on the pegs. i've never gotten up on a wake-board. i played paintball once and my friends shot me while i wasn't playing. motocross? come on.

needless to say, i usually like to stick safely to the side when it comes to these sorts of things.

until now.

i'm making a foray back into the alternative activity universe by setting myself up with a fixie. at the encouragment of a few friends, i've converted my old schwinn collegiate into a fixed gear bike. i know its the hipster, 'in' thing to do but whatever. i like it. without any more pomp and circumstance, meet my new friend DUBYA. he and i will be great friends.

social business, moustached men and arbitrary rankings

boom.

first of all, lets get this out of the way: you need to be listening to these boys.

i just finished creating a world without poverty: social business and the future of capitalism by muhammad yunus. excellent read, a visionary response to some of the economic and subsequently social/political problems on a global scale. the most compelling idea for me was the shift in the way we think about people. currently, most profit-maximizing businesses under the bottom-line eye of capitalism essentially view people as one-dimensional tools of production; their primary purpose is to be a link in the chain of making as much money as possible. as a result, we've got people obsessed with consumption and excess personally and being reduced to machines in their jobs, not to mention growing income inequality that reaches around the globe. not a good path or environment. enter mohammad yunus. seeing that the global economic system wasn't helping those in his native bangladesh, he decided to think of a better way, a more holistic approach in giving the poor access to the global economy. starting with microcredit in the 1970s, yunus has helped to create an environment in which the poor can lift themselves out of poverty and, most importantly, recognized that humans are multi-dimensional beings that deserve respect, value and access, creating economic infrastructure accommodating this. this distinction, that people are more valuable than their production capacity, resonated deeply within me. its an idea that needs to take root if we're to start addressing some of the gross injustices currently afflicting people around the globe.

moving on, started where i lived and what i lived for by thoreau. BOOM. love me some transcendentalist literature.

also, another item that sparked some solid discussion was the daily beast's study of america's smartest cities. where did my lovely hometown of fresno rank? dead last. in the study, there were only 5 cities that scored below 50; fresno was the only to come in with a single digit score. brilliant. after a couple of interesting conversations with friends who have bachelor's degrees and/or master's and are from/currently living in fresno, several things were pinpointed:

1. lack of a city hub/(sub)urban sprawl

downtowns been in arrested development for decades now. multiple efforts have been made to revitalize it from housing development to bringing in large businesses to putting a stadium downtown. all have seen mediocre results. to be honest, there hasn't been smart, sustainable thinking going into city planning. building csu fresno far, far away from downtown could also have something to do with it. universities should be at/near the city center and taking that away from downtown was to the detriment of the city as a whole. issues like public transport, housing, economic development would follow if we solved this problem first.

2. a leadership vacuum at the top

as my friend @justajust said, 'the people that have been running this town, their parents ran it and their kids will run it'. it might be time for some fresh ideas and to slow down the brain-drain fresno currently experiences, keeping young creative types here. (full disclosure: i say this fully realizing i'm part of the problem by moving to other places.) there has been some momentum, thanks to a few developers.

3. very little engagement from the people with the majority of resources

in many ways, fresno's a tale of two cities: the rich, comfortable, suburban north and everyone else south of shaw. while there are beacons of hope, the majority of folks in the north part of town aren't engaging with the problems simply because they don't have to. at the moment, fresno could be used as a prime example of what might be happening in the rest of the US: while the large majority of the population eeks out a living, those with the wealth and comfortable lifestyle turn a blind eye to the real problems at hand.

until we become aware of and take action to care about our neighbors literally, fresno will stay stuck in the cycle of poverty, stratification and no one caring. we can be the change the city needs.