Cambridge/Capitalism

I am sitting in a Starbucks, drinking something extremely warm, sweet, creamy, and minty. It's bustling and warm in here, and their Christmas decorations are still up. The baristas are all cute in girl-next-door ways (the pudgy indie girl, the bespectacled brunette, the delicate-boned middle-aged lady).

This JASCy photo was taken outside the original Starbucks in Seattle! (60th JASC Seattle site wooo.) My dumb grin in this picture is immortalized in JASC publicity materials!

I'm here because I got a Starbucks card as a holiday present (yippee), but I don't think I'll come back. Not because the coffee isn't delicious (it's sooo goood--please see the following YouTube video to experience the full extent of the goodness of this coffee), but because I can't overcome my guilt at knowing that I'm destroying Harvard Square.


This is how good the coffee is. So good.

Harvard Square used to be, and to some extent, still is, a quirky little neighborhood full of weird and stylish stores and cafes. Some of my absolute favorite local fixtures are Little Tibet, which has had a "Going Out of Business" sign up for two years running, Oona's, the trashiest thrift store in the world (I'm going to miss their $2 shirts sooo much), the Garment District (filthy, hideous clothes for $1.50 a pound!), and most of all the Harvard Book Store, with their bargain and remainder basement (this is where at least 50% of my discretionary spending goes).

But there's no question that Harvard Square is changing. Some of the biggest fixtures are now Au Bon Pain, Chipotle, Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts... There's something sad about it. A lot of the charm of Cambridge is in the dives, the student hangouts, the more-pretentious-than-thou cafes, the obscure used bookstores. When we patronize the enormous corporations that move in, we help erase that and turn Cambridge into something indistinguishable from the rest of America.

So no more Starbucks for me. My conscience can't take it. The next time I want to study somewhere with caffeine outside my room, I'm going to Cafe Pamplona. It's on my way to class, so I've walked past it almost every day for three years, but I've never been inside. I'm beginning to think about all the things I'm going to regret not seeing or doing in Cambridge. While I know I'll miss all the funny little shops and students hangouts, I'm sure I won't regret not spending more time in Starbucks.