Eliot inspires, worries people at Pensacola Starbucks

Our Starbucks clientele at the north end of Pensacola (the Ferry Pass area) received Friday's T. S. Eliot readings rather well, or at least better than I expected. We didn't have any screaming or bursting into tears, although I think one of my co-workers (we call each other "partners," which is almost a little creepy) came close. In fact, most of our customers cheerily accepted my somber orations with something approaching approval, and nearly all signs of bafflement or irritation were swept under the rug of courtesy. Pensacola, you made me proud!

I tried to avoid the morbid and macabre, but I discovered that this is not so easy with Eliot, or at least not with the sets of his poetry in my collection. The phrase "unreal city" kept catching my eye as I scanned the pages for more uplifting verse. Pensacola, anyone? Surely, Eliot is talking about Pensacola.

My, er, partners were slow to take up the mantle of the bard, leaving me the bulk of the recitation duties. However, despite some aversion to "The Wasteland," they were inspired to contribute their own poetic creations in the form of satirical haiku. Aha! Individual creativity unleashed in the corporate service industry. Who would have guessed? The Apocalypse must be nigh.

All in all, Friday night at Starbucks achieved a most lyrical and transcendent quality as patrons and partners alike felt their spirits lifted by the likes of "The Hollow Men." The following evening with Yeats, William Carlos Williams, and Solzhenitsyn did not fare so well. Evidently, this city has its limits.

T. S. Eliot at Starbucks

Today is Thomas Stearns Eliot's birthday. Does he care? No idea, but I sure do. That's why I'm taking "The Wasteland" to work with me tonight. I'll read passages to our customers and note how it affects their beverage selections. This should be interesting in Pensacola. Look for my report in a later post.

In my dreams

Seriously, I have a post nearly ready to go for Prince Caspian! I have been altogether too busy trying to crank out my paper (an historiographical essay on 20th-c. historians perspectives on 16th-c. English historians, if you must know) between Starbucks shifts.

Here is how much this paper weighs upon me: I dreamt last night that I was working at some generic coffee bar. Intriguingly, a computer wire ran directly from the register to the office of University of West Florida Interim President Judy Bense (erstwhile chair of the anthropology dept.), so she could keep an eye on our profits and our work ethic. (Social scientists kind of creep us historians out.) While trying to maintain my dignity and my job behind the counter, I received a call from a woman in England who wanted to know why Richard III couldn't successfully conquer London in the mid-1500s. I said I had no idea, and why in the world would a British person randomly call an American coffee kiosk with a question about British history? How should I know!

Then it struck me like lightning: I did know the answer! I read it in Joseph Levine's masterful Battle of the Books! I explained that London withstood this attack thanks to the careful preparations of Edward VI's defenses. Problem solved and another happy customer!

Reminder: this was a dream. Edward VI's grandpa Henry VII defeated Richard III in the late 1400s for the English throne (War of the Roses). Ed VI lasted a very short time on the English throne and was certainly not a brilliant tactician. The Battle of the Books covers scholarly debate in the Stuart Era, i.e. 17th-c. England.

And, as far as I know, Judy Bense is not spying on me.