Coffee Musings - 062007

I'm reading The Sextants of Beijing by Joanna Waley-Cohen for a book club at Politics & Prose next week. I'm only on page 26, but at a part where the exchange of culture across many countries is setting the foundation for communication. It's pretty cool to live within a city as it goes through a renaissance. I lived in Seattle from 1993 to 2003, and even though I missed the tail end of the grunge music explosion, I was there during the dot.com boom, and dot.com bust. In fact, I worked at an internet retailer during that time, and experienced first hand the effects of both eras. As I saw Seattle grow, and all the money go into new buildings, new technologies, it was hard not to feel a part, and try it myself. I tried new theories of medicine, and food. When the foundations of the buildings fell into disrepair as the money stopped flowing, my personal renaissance continued, albeit at a slower pace. It was during the dot.com bust that I attended pastry school, but it was during the dot.com boom that I tried restaurants with food that wasn't familiar to me.

Even a suburb could have a boom and a bust, or a renaissance, and the accompanying growing pains. If one lives in the same place for years, it would be hard to think that is not possible. I don't remember my hometown in NJ changing that much over time, but even in this little town in Maryland, there are huge changes coming, with all of these new condos. Why there are so many new condos in Takoma Park, Maryland is beyond me. I guess people must be moving away from the city, but still want a quick jaunt on the red line to get their fix.