3/12/06

I am sitting in a yuppie cafe in State College, PA. Some ligth-lazz-weather-channel-muzak plays from the in-ceiling speaker system at a comfortable volume. Everything is a tan and maroon, soothing earth tones, nothing to excite the heart rate of the graying clientele.

The round-headed old fellow directly in front of me is eating a fancy over-priced tuna sandwich. Every time I glance in his direction he manages to have ever-more clumps of tuna clinging to his puffy cheeks. I try not to look, but it's like a car wreck and I can't help glancing back to see how bad it is this time.

A middle aged woman of Mongolian descent and her college aged daughter set up shop at two different tables before finally settling on a third "better table." Each time the daughter takes out and puts back away some electronic devices from her big bag. I'm not quite sure what it's all about.

The mothers with their toddlers point their noses in the air when I catch their glance. The mothers all look stern but easily bullied by the children who have angry faces and command their elders to obey their every whims. I fear that in the name of not crushing their precious little spirits these yuppies are raising a generation of tyrants who in adult life will spread their unhappiness to each other in marriages of misery.