{"id":3878,"date":"2018-09-21T08:00:23","date_gmt":"2018-09-21T12:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.pages.roanoke.edu\/?p=3878"},"modified":"2018-09-21T08:00:23","modified_gmt":"2018-09-21T12:00:23","slug":"sean-from-cups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/?p=3878","title":{"rendered":"I Miss Sean from Cups: Senior Reflection on Times and Friends Passed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by Joseph Krzyston<\/em><\/p>\n

I have only been to the new coffee shop in the library once. These days, I hardly go to the library at all. I live off campus and I don\u2019t hang around here if I can help it. Still, from time to time I set foot in the building to meet with people, or to print something, and I can\u2019t help but think there\u2019s something missing.<\/span><\/p>\n

It took me a while to put my finger on it. Most everything else is unchanged from last year; the helpful reference librarians, the marginally less helpful folks at the front desk, the racks of magazines, most of which stand to the left of center (Where is the National Review??), almost all of which go unread, it\u2019s all there. The only thing different is the coffee shop.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, I am a Richmonder, descended from a long line of Richmonders, and we are a people known for our reluctance to change. We are also known for our ham biscuits and pimento cheese, but the reluctance to change seems more relevant at time of writing. There\u2019s an old joke- How many Richmonders does it take to change a lightbulb? Three: one to change the bulb, and two to talk about how much nicer the old bulb was.<\/span><\/p>\n

I offer this information to place my following comments in a proper context, and to explain myself before you decide I\u2019m a cantankerous old man masquerading as a millennial. Now, there\u2019s nothing left to do but say my peace.<\/span><\/p>\n

I miss Sean from Cups. I don\u2019t miss Sean because I knew him particularly well – we spoke from time to time, always pleasantly, usually about music, and every now and then I\u2019d see him at shows – and I don\u2019t miss him because I have anything against the new people or the new place. By all accounts, they are friendly, professional and they run a perfectly fine operation.<\/span><\/p>\n

No, I miss him because of what his departure means. It\u2019s one less familiar face, one less dependable outlet for my thoughts on Bob Dylan\u2019s later day output, one less friendly person to quip to about the events of my day. I\u2019d been buying coffee from him for three years and I\u2019d grown to like that.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s really what it is; there just weren\u2019t that many things I really liked here. The faculty and staff here are excellent, but I often operate with them on a professional basis, or at least something approaching one. Sean was different. He didn\u2019t ever give me a grade. Not once did he sign my timesheet. If I got caught with a beer, he wasn\u2019t in any way responsible for my discipline. He just sold me coffee and talked to me, and that is totally honest. I\u2019m sure students younger than I will make connections with the new folks, but there\u2019s no way to make three years of connection in one. I do wish the new coffee shop all the best, but for me, I\u2019ll stick to my French Press and think fondly of baristas gone by.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Joseph Krzyston I have only been to the new coffee shop in the library once. These days, I hardly go to the library at all. I live off campus and I don\u2019t hang around here if I can help it. Still, from time to time I set foot in the building to meet…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3879,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/roanoke-college-fintel-library-3.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}