Coffee Shops are Cradles of Civilization

                Here in the halls of Chicago’s Harold Washington Library, stacks to my front, State Street to my back, I invested some time into a book called “Groundswell.” Published in 2008, this result of Forrester Research’s Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff delineates the trend of people to turn to each other for information, goods, and services traditionally provided by classic organizations. While this social trend is a staunch reality for most all reading my text, it nevertheless is an enlightening read* and promises to be an invaluable, timeless guide for entities seeking to dance with (capitalize on) the “groundswell.”
*Disclaimer: I’ve only read Chapter One.

                Now as I wrapped up the first chapter, I considered the condition of “The Coffee Shop,” a delightfully original Café run by Tammy and Richard. Now I can’t speak to Richard’s character, as I may have briefly met the man once, but it’s safe to say that Tammy fits the maternal bill for the block, fitting, because The Coffee Shop is nestled off of Sheridan and Broadway, right on the bustling corner of Loyola University in Chicago’s North Side. The local students will always find a sense of belonging there, not because any physical elements align with the “identity” of a student. On the contrary, the shop décor is such that each visitor is granted enough of a mental canvas to interpret whatever they please. There exists something else in this space, a layer of metaphysical atmosphere that compliments the open-canvas feel. This extra goodness I contribute to Tammy’s personality: a constantly present, maternal yet no-holds-barred smile of a Jewish woman.

                All this was apparent enough to me before I began writing this post. Now what began stewing in my mind upon finishing the first chapter of Groundswell is the idea of The Coffee Shop serving as a people-driven news outlet. Tammy is currently in the process of revving up her social media presence. So my thoughts are now left with now is a blend of social engagement, groundswell, and coffee shops. The coffee shop is emblematic of community blending. It, the idealistic form of a “coffee shop,” is where people gather on the surface level to engage in a market transaction. Even so, there is a deeper reality to its essence; the coffee shop is an incubator of relationships. The act of sipping coffee, tea or munching on a sandwich in public is a tradition. When multiple people come to celebrate their traditions under one house, the coffee house evolves a cradle of civilization. Any form of thought or revolution may grow from this shared experience.

                So I thought, “what if The Coffee Shop housed a community radio? What would that look like?” Given the dense student population, there surely would be enough time and interest in matters for people to engage, right? The “radio” could take many forms, perhaps it would be more of a publication, blending offline news blurbs posted on-site with a blog online. In terms for Tammy, a significant question would be “what is my voice?” and “Where do the interests of my community fit into my model for growth?” Regardless of whether Tammy would want her space to evolve into a center of community discourse, the principle idea remains in my thought-space: “How does a physical locale come to keep the community pulse?” This community pulse is the intrigue, passion, and events of the local population. What does a new outlet look like that reflects the agenda of a small community? Thirty years ago, this question was quite a different animal. In today’s world of globalized ideas, the challenge enters the territory of convoluted integration shared by theoretical physics.

                Obviously the idea is still in formative stages of “stewing.” I imagine this one will take years of preparation involving study, collaboration, and trial-and-error in community settings. The end result, which truly is just the beginning of our next social age, is modeled by this challenge from economist Daniel Cohen: “A post-industrial economy is actually the union of two opposing terms: the world of images and ideas, which are globalized, and the world of direct relationships, of F2F[Face to Face], which are localized.”

There are many ways by which local gathering places can be made more relevant to the lives and interests of local community members. Some of these ways involve the space bending its identity to allow local citizens a degree of autonomy in shaping the direction the space(business?) pursues. I’m very interested in what this looks like, both in terms of strengthening community-wide identity and bridging emotional connectivity gaps between local spaces and the “ether” of the internet. How can this train of thought lead to a people more enabled to aggregate around issues, pool resources, and effectively drive change on local and global issues? That’s the gold, right there. Dig it up so we may all be enriched!