Coffee Shop Chronicles: The Details of People

Great Lakes Coffee Roasting Company

Detroit, MI

July 2015

Here I am.

How dependent we are on our electronic devices.

I love that the baristas here write names on the for-here mug.  I feel personalized.  I’m drinking the Brazil, so this reminds me what cuppa of coffee to get next : this or try something new.

Wi-Fi here keeps flickering, and I can’t connect my tablet to the network.  So I’ll write here, in my journal, by hand.  There’s no going back now.  It feels personal.

Speaking of, I just had a conversation with the man next to me.

I always wonder what motivates a man in a business suit, complete with a tie and tie clip, to be in a coffee shop at 3:10pm on a Friday afternoon.  Me, I’m done with work for the day, and I’m waiting for a storytelling event nearby.

The man has an accent.  Middle-Eastern, I think.  It’s a soft voice, casual and smooth.  I would never know that if the Wi-Fi wasn’t jittery.

I met with my editor the other day.  She commented that she can run her entire magazine from her laptop at a coffee shop.

I agree.  It’s pretty amazing.  I can write for any publication anywhere and talk via email to anyone.  However, the life you write about is up there, beyond your keyboard, above your laptop screen.

Staring at my screen, I’d never have noticed his light blue, long sleeve shirt.

He would never have seen me smile at him.

4 comments

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    • Sue Remisiewicz on October 30, 2016 at 6:27 pm
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    What a nice encounter. I, too, would like to know what happens next.

    • Karen Kittrell on September 25, 2016 at 12:00 pm
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    Diana, you’re making the rounds on the coffee shops. It makes writing less isolating when you have so many people around you.

    1. Absolutely! I work best with background noise. Silence freaks me out. I can’t concentrate with nothing around.

    • Kelly Bixby on September 23, 2016 at 10:23 am
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    I would love to know what happens next.

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