Single What? Female...

From corn to horses and hipsters...

I am in Bronco country but I have been surrounded by hipsters most of the afternoon as I sit in a rather fabulous coffee shop called St. Marks on 17th street. As I look around the cafe and see nearly EVERYONE with a laptop of some sort out in front of them with their coffee, I realize that I, too, am one of them. I have become one of the laptop people. St. Mark's is excellent though as decent music is played over the sound system and while loud, somehow does not drown out conversation. The Brazilian manager working the counter is smart, flip and makes a mean iced chai. I gotta say, the sandwiches and baked goods are also fierce.

It also definitely has a city feel. While still a bit more laid back than New York, there is an edgier feel here and when I went up to a couple of people for a potential interview, it was the first time I was met with a true sense of suspicion. They agreed to talk but as they had other places to go, it was not for very long, but I still got a tale about while being and looking black, the woman has been stopped at the airport for looking Arabic...and even had someone shout at her from their car "Go back to your own country!" She does get asked "What are you?" frequently yet only is annoyed by it when it happens at the airport...for obvious reasons.

I also spoke briefly to a waitress at Pete's kitchen who gets the question frequently, mainly due to her name - Sinai. It is Japanese and she is Japanese, Spanish, Irish and German (will have to check the tape about the German). She doesn't mind it, and doesn't think it defines her as she doesn't "celebrate" her culture. She's just Sinai.

The Brazilian owner/manager here says they do not ask "what are you?" in Brazil, as it is just assumed, you are Brazilian. He has been and is regularly asked "What are you?" due to his accent and his hats from Canada (he has friends there). I asked him if he minded it, and he said, "No...sometimes I mess around with them and I say that I am from Brazil, Kansas. And they look at me like, 'Oh I thought you were from Brazil!'" Gotta love it.

In the meantime, I am going to try to get a visit to the Denver art museum which is apparently near by and then hopefully get a disco nap as it is hitting me now that I got here just before 7am this morning (we left Omaha late and got here EARLY!)

I also have to say "Hello!" to the Red Hat ladies I met at the train station last night who are on their way out to a convention in Los Angeles. They were a trip chatting and laughing and all wearing their various red hats - happily over fifty (I believe the majority in this group were over 60) and enjoying life. Rock on, ladies, rock on.

Peace --Alex

posted by funkweee @ 2:48 PM