Sipping DC

Cafe culture has always been romanticized for me, particularly when I lived in the land of the full-time employed. While rushing back to the office to eat, no inhale, my lunch over my laptop, feverishly typing and making calls, I would fantasize about what it would be like to sit in a cafe all day - sipping coffee, reading, writing, musing, making conversation with strangers. Hmm, sounds lovely doesn't it? I have the time to do that now, and I am slowly giving myself permission to indulge in it. Twiddling my thumbs and waiting for a job interview can be done anywhere, right? Why not have some fun while in my professional purgatory.

Cafe-going is also a wonderful way to get to know a new place. A good cafe keeps the pulse of a community and holds clues as to what's important to its people. Flyers displayed on the counter tell you their issues and interests. Just like a home, furniture, color scheme and other design elements tell you what kind of environment they want to live in. The selection and presentation of coffee and other items on the menu can reveal ideologies and social values. An events calendar lets you know how much its members like to engage with each other, and what about. Like any curated space, a cafe has an identity. And the people who frequent the cafe, making its couch their couch, its music their personal play list, also subscribe to and enhance this identity.

I can think of no better way to reacquaint myself with DC and its communities than to sit in a few of its public living rooms. Each week I will visit a new cafe and report back to you. I'm not sure what the end goal of this project is just yet. Let's just get started.