Kalen Nicole

From about 5th grade until 10th grade, my dad would take me and my cousins, Molly and Terrell, to Starbucks sometime during Winter Break.

The purpose of these trips was to reflect, celebrate and encourage; to acknowledge that we had made it through school another semester and that we were growing up; to remind us that we were already successful because we were doing our best learning to navigate the world and meet the challenges presented to us; and to encourage us to always do our best and lean on family when we needed it.

During this time, the cousins, lived within an hour of each other. We would look forward to these casual trips, which soon became tradition. And looking back, these coffee chats (sans-coffee) were milestones, demarcating the years of our temporal youth. We were excited to be in such a grown up atmosphere, and in conversation where we were temporarily viewed as fully autonomous adults.

At 10 years old, I was not drinking coffee. I was drinking frappes; dubious to the fact that it contained coffee, and completely disinterested in the amount of sugar it contained. These were simple times.

Our parents were pleased with our respectfulness, curiosity and persistence in school and extra-curricular activities. They set high expectations of us in regard to attitude and effort, but they seemed to have also been aware of external forces and temptations which could have deterred our attention and subsequent motivation.

In the liminal space between childhood and adolescence, we we were seen fully and in our duality, encapsulated by the image of a preteen eating a cookie for breakfast in a chain coffee shop.

Time has passed. I am approaching my mid-twenties, and I take my coffee black- no room. The cousins, live in three different states, separated by schedules and hundreds of miles. We’ve grown up, and even though we’re not physically together, we’ve arrived

I still find myself at Starbucks. More often than not, alone and typing out a paper or conducting secondary research. I still look forward to being at Starbucks, this tiny hub of American duality- of leisure and productivity within a capitalist machine.

Boys tell stories ’bout the man
Say I never struggled, wasn’t hungry, yeah, I doubt it

Today as I sip my Pike’s Place and open my notebook, I reflect on the questions my dad used to ask us: How is school going? Any news? What are you looking forward to?

And today I would say: alright, I went to a business conference this weekend.

I can’t wait to see you.

We don’t like to do too much explainin’
Story stayed the same, I never changed it

Lyrics in bold: Started from the Bottom, Drake