Wednesday, February 4, 2009

as always . . .

Want more JUTP? Write for us. Or in the meantime, check out my weekly column in the Diamondback, the University of Maryland's independent student newspaper. This week, I'm writing about the concept of the "creative class" and how College Park could make itself more attractive to businesses by opening (or re-opening) a local coffeeshop.

Here's a sample:
In a college town, coffeehouses are to the intellectual and artistic community what the football stadium is to the athletic community. As I wrote in a column last semester, coffeehouses bring people together, whether for a morning bagel or for an evening jam session, and they encourage civic involvement. It's where people go to meet and talk, to produce or consume art and music and to feel a part of something greater than themselves. Without places like coffeeshops, a huge chunk of campus culture is lost for lack of a place to grow and develop. Even worse, it says to potential students, residents and employers that College Park just isn't a place for creative types . . .

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