Friday, I applied to open a cafe & gift shop at the Boulder Public Library.

It would be vegan, zero waste, working with Nude Foods, offering fresh organic pastries from Kind Confections (we’ve cherished and patronized them for a few years), organic bread from Dry Storage (one of my favorites, their manager assured me they have capacity), fresh and healthy snacks and meals via Nude Foods and Zeal, with advice and help from Brian of Innisfree and benefiting the houseless community in Boulder, with profit-sharing and good pay for our staff. We’d sell some eco goods from Elephant Journal, offer grab n’go meals or other from Nude Foods Market, and share some goodies (like ice cream) from the Awakery, and I’ve also talked with Helen at Best One Yet. Many of our offerings are woman-led, or owned by people of color.

Equity and justice would be fundamental to our mission, to be a place where everyone is welcome, including in our price points and healthy offerings with zero plastic. Plastic is climate change, courtesy petroleum companies, and climate crisis hits those who are vulnerable first and hardest, most often.

We’d have various programs, including buy a meal or hot drink/pay it forward to those in need, author events, bilingual yoga, catered events and yummy breakfast burritos via Zeal, and serve everything on lovely old china, as my favorite Seeds used to do.

We’d feature art in the cafe, of course, and be a welcoming, calm home for those seeking to take a break or do some work while enjoying the Glass Bridge and the creek shining below. We’d offer a few choice local goods, local crafts and art, antiques, and lovely plants for sale.

While I do not aim to be a cafe manager, if Elephant and I can play a role in bringing together excellent people and offerings in Boulder to create something lasting and wonderful and communityful, I’m all in. With Elephant’s many millions of readers and social media fans, we’d have a good platform for getting the word out. And the vegan community, enthusiastic and focused, could if so inspired help bring life back to the bridge. But everything we offer would be of so much care and joy and excellence that it’d be equally yummy to all.

Thankfully, wonderful experienced cafe folks have come forward to advise and help.

I largely learned to read with the help of our Library, and when I was young we were poor and the movies (Kurosawa! Marx Bros.!) and books and Ellen Tate were kind and helpful to us.

Redford’s General Store, with L.O.V.E. (& Toast).⁠
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L: Local⁠
O: Organic⁠
V: Vegan⁠
E: Eco/Ethical⁠
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for our Commonwealth. #boulder