Something interesting happened to me after work today. I work at the Trojan Travel office, a small office that plans trips for USC alumni. It's a b.s. work study job that allowed me to work a bit over the winter break, something badly needed to help pay for my MFA. The office is across the street from campus, which everyone knows is not the best part of LA. It's considered South Central. The office is in the University Village, a strange mall whose clientele is a mix of USC students, middle and high school students, and poor, mostly African American folks. There's a food court, foot locker, radio shack, Wendy's, Subway, a tiny movie theatre, a store than sells car accessories, a crappy music store, a real shitty overpriced super market (big surprise--poor folks pay MORE for food than rich folks), and a Starbucks.

The Starbucks is the nicest place in the village, by far. The Denny's next door looks like a war time erected cafeteria. Now, I have my problems with Starbucks, being a corporate monolith, drastically overpricing their drinks, bullying their coffee suppliers, but I have to admit the innovative drinks Starbucks has developed - the Frappachino, the gingerbreak latte - those are some good tasting drinks. And that's why I sometimes go there.

So today, to celebrate the true beginning of my xmas break, I decided to indulge in a gingerbreak latte and LA times. Inside Starbucks, there's this big line, in front of me, an African American man wearing natty clothes - he could've been with Marley and the Wailers if it were the 70s in Kingston, but it ain't the 70s and South Central aint Kingston, so he looked liked a borderline bum. He was in front of me, with an LA times in hand (I've noticed a lot of the poor folks living on the north side of USC eating at subway, wendy's, etc. often are reading the LA times - moreso than the USC students I interact with. Why is that superficially less educated - this is obviously a completely racist and judgmental thing to say, but likely true in the context of the environment - read the newspaper more than the college and graduate students? Hmmm.

In any case, not to get off track, this guy is in front of me, nattily dressed, me in my GAP suede jacket and Levi's, looking like a preppy film student, standing in line together in Starbucks. He goes to the counter and has trouble (like me) reading and understanding the starbucks menu. It's clear he doesn't come in here often (like me), or ever, and ends up ordering a regular coffee.

Part of me thinks, dude, you shouldn't be buying a regular coffee at Starbucks...it's too expensive for regular coffee - and implicated in that, too expensive for YOU, a judgment I often find myself making on other people who look not very well off....likely more a reflection of my own poor spending habits than my true concern for others. Not that I would ever say anything, but I corrected myself for thinking it.

And then I realized that he wasn't buying the coffee because Starbucks coffee was the cheapest coffee, nor was he buying it because he loved Starbucks brand coffee vs. other coffee (tarantino's I buy the good expensive shit, because I like the taste...), he was buying the Starbucks because it was the NICEST store in the University Village. It is the same reason one likes to go out and be served a nice restuarant every once in awhile, paying a little more for service and presentation. That's what he was buying. I was buying the gingerbread latte, but I related, because I too was going into Starbucks because it was nice and comfortable and you feel like you're treating yourself well. I know it's a weird thing to think about...but as evil as Starbucks may be to some, here's this guy, clearly not wealthy, but he's treating himself as good as any 98% of American's are treating themselves right in that moment when he's purchasing that cup of coffee from Starbucks. I mean, it's a nice coffee shop. And Starbucks doesn't give a shit about that. They just care that people are buying their coffee....their motivations are strictly profit...but as an external benefit, here you have this semi-perfect example of an intergrated community. This upper middle class hapa MFA student, next to this poor African American rasta dude, both treating themselves to a Starbucks and LA Times. A little thing, I know, but it felt good, for some reason....and it made me think about 10 years ago, the LA riots after Rodney King and all this racial tension that seemed to be simmering and then the Newsweek photo of the OJ verdict contrasting Howard Univerity vs. Yale University student reactions to the verdict: Howard cheering, Yale saddened.

Living in LA, I don't feel the tension these days. I live right about K-town, where the Reginald Denny was killed. I go to school in South Central and it's undoubtedly a poor neighborhood. But it's tough for me to imagine anything like the LA riots happening. I have no sense that the Kobe trial will be anything like the OJ trial in terms of different reactions from different racial groups - Kobe's a weird one, because in his soul, he's more of a pretentious white boarding school kid than anything else - but nonetheless, that black white thing, while not gone, just doesn't seem to be as contentious these days.

Anyhow, that's my story. Exciting, huh?