Stephanie Leary

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Saturday morning at the coffee shop

June 23, 2007 Stephanie Leary 2 Comments

Oh, thank God the very earnest teenagers have abandoned the couch next to mine. They’ve been arguing for twenty minutes, without introducing any critical thought about what they were taught in Sunday school, over whether fertility clinics are practicing abortion when they throw away fertilized but unused eggs, and whether we are flying in the face of God’s will by having fertility clinics in the first place.

Average age of the participants, estimated: 19.

Really, the coffee shop is always chock-full of of these very earnest kids, who — as far as I can tell, based on overheard conversations — spend a vast amount of time and energy worrying about whether every decision they make conforms to God’s plan for their lives. Really, it must be exhausting. They’d be amusing if they weren’t so annoying; since our group tends to be silent for long stretches of time while we write, other conversations wash over us whether we’re listening or not. Some days it gets to the point where we occasionally exchange glances and silently agree to sit elsewhere, or leave altogether. The only thing unusual about this bunch was that they didn’t stay long.

I realize I live in a college town in one of the most conservative parts of America. But criminy, people. This is a coffee shop. Is a little liberal discourse too much to ask?

Oh, hello. A very skinny young man, wearing a battered beret and looking earnest in an entirely different way, has claimed the abandoned couch and is now perusing his alt weekly. This is more like it!

New words: 985
Reason for stopping: End of scene, time to go to the gym.
Sustenance: chocolate-covered old-fashioned donut. I get one every Saturday morning, because this coffee shop is also a donut shop, and I don’t drink coffee.
Exercise: on my way to BodyFlow.
Teaching the spell-check to spell: dipshit
Mean things: twoo wuv
Time wasters: TWOP

[pfmeter id=2 target=67500 progress=18835]

In other news: The beret-wearing young man has been replaced by two Mac geeks. All is right in my world.

Writing

Comments

  1. Scott Janssens says

    June 23, 2007 at 1:42 pm

    Hmm, earnest dipshits or trendy poseur? I have to go with the dipshits. I could have so much fun with them.

    Reply
  2. steph says

    June 23, 2007 at 11:32 pm

    The earnest dipshits are too easy to bait. All you have to do is start pointing out the Bible’s narrative inconsistencies.

    Maybe I’m just weary of them from constant exposure.

    On the other hand, the trendy poseur is not likely to put up much of an argument to anything. No fun to be had there.

    Reply

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