EspressoRoma

Apparently I am living Italian week, as this morning I found my boots walking up to Espresso Roma, at the corner of Ashby and College. Weaving my way through morning, I brought the sun out with a little caffeine. Outside: two men sat silently staring at the street with their old man eyes, a slight, model looking girl with sunglasses bigger than her face painted her nails bright orange, and three women crowded around a table scribbling business-plans and copiously nodding at each other, emphasizing words with seeming randomness. I sort of loved it. Like yesterday, the people-watching was a highlight, but, unlike yesterday, the coffee wasn’t. Dark, yes, but not smooth. Smoother, though, than the guy at the next table who spent five minutes explaining the intricacies of his master’s program to his date. It’s the best place I’ve been in a while to sit down and enjoy a long breakfast. If you’ve got a friend in from out of town, it’s perfect.

The headlines today felt disjointed: “24% likely to drop out at state’s high school” and “Newfound genetic clue to HIV rate among blacks” both point to major issues in the black community: dropping out (it’s 24% overall, but 42% of African-American students) and a theory that says there is a gene that makes people of African descent more susceptible to AIDS. Early 1900’s eugenics comes to mind, but who knows where the front page is coming from. Stuck into the bottom corner is San Francisco’s #1 ranking as the “most walkable” city in the country. With that, I’m off to walk myself home.

Enjoy your break slow, dear readers. After all, if the front page sets our route, we’ll be walking around talking about drop-outs and disease, chaos and fiscal crisis. Something good to have coffee to.

Breakfast in the Bay: Making sense of waking up since Tuesday, 2008.