A rare weekend update to let you all know that I’ve decided to use
and this newsletter to explore what is essentially my dream job**: to own and operate a unique third place of sorts that would bring together three of my favorite things: art, coffee, and reading/thinking about art, craft, design, architecture, etc. #projectwazo, as I’m calling it, will be the focal point, for now, of a broader art/work/life balance thing I’m thinking about a lot lately.For day one I thought I’d ramble on a bit about the background and context of this idea (my very first web domain back in the early aughts was wazocafegallery.com…this is not a new idea), plus a bonus field trip to where my coffee addiction began: Cafe Strada near the UC Berkeley campus, right across the street from Kroeber Hall, pictured below, where about half of my classes were held (I double majored in Art Practice and French, because I’m practical like that). I wrote a bit about this period/gig here, so I won’t repeat myself, but suffice it to say, this is when and where my caffeine addiction began.
My favorite place to study, however, was the little satellite coffee shop Strada operated for a few years back then (it’s now the Free Speech Movement Cafe) located at the south entrance of Moffitt Library. Same great coffee but way more seating, both inside and out.
It was always packed, but somehow I got my best studying done there. I miss having those kinds of pockets of time between classes and easy access to these kinds of spaces.
So what form(s) will this project take over the next 99 days? I’m not totally sure, to be honest, winging it a bit as I go, but I hope in the end to have fleshed out some more concrete ideas around my vision for this space, including a few more field trips, maybe some sketches of possible floor plans, a sampling of the kinds of books and periodicals I’d like to have in the reading room, a lineup of possible programming and events, maybe even a business plan, and definitely more coffee. Subscribe, if you don’t already, so you never miss a post (it’s free!).
*P.S. what’s a wazo, you ask? It’s the phonetic notation for the French word oiseau, meaning bird, which is my maiden-now-middle name. Obviously.
**P.P.S. if you want to read more about the 20 or so day jobs I’ve had during my career as an adulting artist, check out the Burning Bridges series on my blog.