Has Starbucks gone to pieces? Starbucks today and the Starbucks I worked at in Chicago and set my historical fiction novel Tripio in, would have a hard time recognizing each other. For one, there are about 25,000 more stores and 200,000 more employees around than when I wore the green apron. Those numbers tell the …
A while back I read How Starbucks Saved my Life by Michael Gates Gill. In the interest of full disclosure, I read it out of curiosity, as opposed to organic intellectual interest. In other words, I read it to see how that memoir compared to my historical fiction novel, Tripio. I may offer a full …
. Thoughts on Barista to Boardroom “It felt like the circle had softly closed, like it was all meant to happen exactly that way. I could now let go and move forward, embracing life as a former partner.’ These couple of sentences conclude Christne McHugh’s’ memoir, From Barista to Boardroom. In my historical …
. ‘He reminded us that the ambitions for Starbucks were focused on large and global company growth.” – from Barista to Boardroom recounting Howard Schultz announcing Starbuck’s IPO “I look down the now quiet tree lined street and wonder why it wasn’t enough? Why wasn’t a record breaking weekend at store …
“It is odd to realize how little we know ourselves.” -Oscar Wilde “What is sometimes simply needed is just a gap of pure time, an insulating period, between the making of your art and the time your share it with others.” – Art & Fear -Observations on the Perils and Rewards of Art Making …
A book I wrote, a book I am reading This year Starbucks is celebrating it’s 50th anniversary. I thought it was time to mark the occasion by reading books on Starbucks. I have written and published an historical fiction novel called Tripio, set at a Chicago Starbucks in 1992. Firstly, my comparative study of Starbucks …
“This can’t be happening.” It was nearly dinner time when the realization struck me. There would be no coffee available tomorrow morning. But, indeed it was true. You see, I was visiting my family in Ohio and the house I was spending the night in was being renovated. Not in a …
A trip to my Starbucks #204 It is the summer of 1992. In my “Starbucks novel”, Tripio, Jay works at a Starbucks store #204 located on north side of Chicago on the corner of Clark, Diversey and Broadway. In Tripio, for the sake of brevity and authenticity, I refer to it simply as store #204, …
The tale of two Starbucks green aprons I am reading “How Starbucks Saved my Life” by Michael Gates Gill with great interest and a good deal of empathy. I am marking Starbucks 50th anniversary by attempting to read other books on Starbucks that focus on the baristas, and not the business. My novel, Tripio, does …
HOWARD BEHAR AND I ‘TALK’ AT A STARBUCKS “You know the store where Tripio takes place is gone now?” I asked Howard next. I had no idea why. “Oak Park?” He looked back from the street to meet my eyes. ‘No. The one on the corner of Diversey, Clark and Broadway. Dickens is stll there, …