COLUMN: Life, liberty and a cheap cup of coffee

From Emily Lieff's, "Sassy Peach," Fall '99 From Emily Lieff's, "Sassy Peach," Fall '99Coffee. That's all I wanted -- a cup of coffee. Once, this treat was an easy commodity to find here at Penn, but not anymore. I know what you're thinking; there are plenty of places on campus to fulfill that Colombian-grown, caffeinated urge. Sure there are -- if you like spending three dollars for a small cup and waiting an hour and a half for service. But I'm not talking about that kind of coffee. I don't need a grande skim half-caf mocha mango frozen cappuccino to get me through the day. Instead, I was in search of the simple, perfect, 50-cent cup of coffee. Now all of these fine mini-establishments have been crowded into what the University calls "fresh-air food plazas." These plazas are terrific assuming you only get your caffeine cravings while crossing 34th and Walnut. But living in the area west of 40th Street, I had to find other sources of coffee. I began my trek at 40th and Locust where I peered into the darkened windows of "The coffee shop formerly known as Bucks County Coffee." The sight of the empty establishment brought tears to my eyes every time I pass by. It used to be one of Penn's finest institutions -- it was convenient, clean, served good coffee and was a safe, comfortable place for students to hang out off-campus. So, obviously, Penn decided to close it. Their logic, I'm assuming, was that instead of using commercial space on Locust Street to help students enjoy their time at Penn, it would be a much better use of space to make it a big construction site with lots of empty storefronts. The residents of Locust thank you for thinking of us. To add to my frustration, I notice that, though this cafZ closed in November, construction does not appear to have started. So, it looks like the Penn community could have had a few more months of convenient coffee drinking. Oh well. Next, I headed over to my other favorite cheap coffee haunt, My Favorite Muffin on 37th Street next to the bridge. You remember -- the one conveniently located right in the center of campus that served affordable coffee and muffins and managed to do all of that in a minute or less? Surprise! Another empty building. Frustrated, I headed over to Xando as a last resort. I sat down and waited, and waited and waited. Finally, the following Thursday, my waiter came over. By this time, my craving for coffee had grown so great, I didn't mind spending the rest of my savings on a single cup. My tuition went unpaid, but that wasn't a problem because I spent the remainder of the semester sitting in Xando waiting for my drink. Alas, I finally gave up and headed upstairs to Starbucks in the bookstore. There, I found plenty of expensive coffee, but no empty seats. I looked at my watch and realized that all of my searching had made me extraordinarily late for class. Downtrodden, I tried my last hope: Dunkin' Donuts. Known nationwide for inexpensive and fast service I thought that I had found my solution. Drooling, I dragged myself, still half-asleep, over to my old standby. It seemed too good to be true; then I noticed the line of customers snaking out the door. Apparently, since all of the other inexpensive coffee vendors have been shut down, all of us old-school coffee drinkers have been forced wait on line at the last remaining coffee shop. Right now, it seems that half of the buildings on campus are under construction in order to make way for the 21st century. But, frankly, I won't be at Penn in the 21st century. What about those students who are here in the interim? Shouldn't we reap some of the benefits? In a few years, Penn will once again be replete with coffee shops, restaurants, movie theaters and grocery stores. I'm sure by then Penn will once again have a campus to be proud of, but couldn't we just have a little something tide us over in the meantime? Perhaps a cheap cup of coffee?