#to dedicate yourself to a value you hold dear and integral that your love for and service to that ideal becomes itself divine and sacred

[wardensantoineandevka]

I should get an award for my restraint in not automatically blocking people who say things like "I hate paladins, they suck so much, they're the worst class bc their vibes are so bad" on my posts that even just mention paladins.

RIP that you and most people do not understand paladins as a class and do not understand that their narrative is not just "stick in the mud who loves being a cop", but I'm different and I think they're incredible and they're one of the classes with the best inherent narrative

[danielryancotlerpoetry]

Honoring your boundaries and core values is not merely a passive act; it's a profound commitment to living authentically. At its core, authenticity is about aligning your actions, beliefs, and choices with who you truly are. It's about embracing your unique identity, unapologetically, and navigating the world with integrity and conviction.

Boundaries serve as the invisible fences that delineate where you end and others begin. They are the physical, emotional, and mental limits that safeguard your well-being and preserve your sense of self. When you honor your boundaries, you communicate to yourself and others that your needs, feelings, and limits matter. It's a declaration of self-respect and self-worth.

Similarly, core values are the guiding principles that define what matters most to you in life. They are the compass that directs your decisions, shapes your behavior, and influences your relationships. Living in alignment with your core values means prioritizing what resonates with your soul and staying true to your inner convictions, even in the face of adversity.

Embracing your boundaries and core values requires courage and self-awareness. It means stepping into your power and owning your truth, even when it feels uncomfortable or unpopular. It means saying no when you need to, even if it disappoints others, and saying yes to yourself, even if it requires bravery.

When you honor your boundaries and core values, you cultivate a deep sense of authenticity within yourself. You become more attuned to your intuition and more confident in your choices. You forge deeper connections with those who respect and appreciate you for who you are, while gracefully letting go of those who do not.

Living authentically is not always easy. It requires continuous self-reflection, growth, and boundary maintenance. It means acknowledging your imperfections and embracing your vulnerabilities with compassion and kindness. It's a journey of self-discovery and self-acceptance, but the rewards are immeasurable.

Ultimately, honoring your boundaries and core values is not just a way of being; it's a way of living. It's a commitment to living a life that is genuine, meaningful, and fulfilling. It's a testament to your courage, resilience, and unwavering dedication to being the best version of yourself. So, dear readers, as you journey through life, remember: you hold within you the strength to honor your boundaries, embrace your core values, and live authentically. Stay strong, for you've got this. You're stronger than you know. Keep shining your light brightly.

With love and resilience,

Daniel Ryan Cotler

[achtung-attitude]

CHAPTER 41: If I Were a Boy

Their father had been born into poverty, but through dedication and an unwavering work ethic, he had become a wealthy man. Because of this, Knowles’ earliest memories were of the family home in Brentwood. If not for their color, the family looked like something right out of a billboard from the 1950s. She and her brother Toto had truly wanted for nothing, though there was not much to want. They never bothered their parents to buy them anything extravagant, like some other rich kids. All that mattered was family.

Their mother stayed at home and nurtured the children, while her husband served as an attorney at law and instilled in them classic American values: hard work, integrity and above all, responsibility.

“Life is hard, and there’re so many people who’d jump at the chance to be in our shoes, to have what we have,” he explains to them one morning, around the dinner table.

By 9 years old, Knowles has heard this speech before. She’s a good girl, however, and knows it’s her duty to engage with the lesson. “How come they don’t, Daddy?” she asks, innocently.

“Well, there are lots of reasons. And not all of them are their fault,” her father chuckles. “But… mainly it’s because… so many people refuse to take responsibility. So many, in this city and around the world even, see themselves as victims. And if you believe yourself to be a victim, well… that’s all you’re ever going to be. The only way to become free is to challenge yourself every day.”

“Aren’t we already free?” Toto asks, to the surprise of his older sister. He sits on the other side of the table from her. Usually, he never says anything.

“...We are, but...” his father replies, “How should I put this so a kid can understand? It’s… some people… well, they’ll complain a lot, and make a lot of noise about how things are, but they don’t truly do anything to improve their situation. I suppose because it’s easier for them to live that way, and be angry…”

“Not us, though…” says the little boy.

His father pauses, then smiles. “No, not us. Because we understand that there’s nothing holding us back! The only true obstacle that each of us face… is ourselves.”

“... Is that why we’re rich, Daddy?” Knowles asks.

He smiles brightly. “That’s right! That’s how I could afford these engagement rings for your mother and I,” he proclaims, presenting the gold band on his left ring finger, “And it’s how I was able to afford tickets to tonight’s Lakers game!” He presents the tickets, waving them proudly.

Knowles cheers and hollers in pure excitement. Nothing could make her happier, other than having the loving family she has. With a life like this, how could her father ever be wrong? 

There is nothing holding her back.

Later that day, the whole family loads themselves into the car on their way to the Lakers game. Knowles adored the Lakers, but Toto would always claim the Clippers were better. Not because he actually thought it was true, he just wanted to annoy her.

“Come you, you fucking morons…” the patriarch mutters under his breath, but still loud enough that his children can hear. Knowles’ father is an eloquent and soft-spoken man. The only time she knew him to curse was in this situation, stuck in the congested streets of LA.

“Thomas, not in front of the kids…” the mother chides.

“Fucking morons!” Toto pipes up cheerfully.

“Toto! Stop that, we don’t use that kind of language!” his mother commands.

“Why the fuck not?” he asks.

“TOTO!” Thomas shouts. The little boy shuts up immediately. Their father was a man to be listened to when he raised his voice. Knowles rolls her eyes at her brother. 

The disgruntled lawyer sighs. In the opposite lane, a car moves ahead and he acts quickly, changing lanes as quickly as possible. Perhaps half a minute after he does so, red and blue light dances behind the car and a police siren hollers.

“Ah, hell…” 

“You forgot to use your turn signal, probably,” Knowles’ mother says.

“I know. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it,” he smiles as he pulls over. Once he’s parked by the side of the road, he turns to the backseat. “Alright, kids, when the officer comes to the window, what do we do?”

“Smile and keep quiet!” Knowles responds promptly.

“Good,” her father nods, and turns back in his seat to greet the police officer approaching the window. A white man wearing mirrored sunglasses stoops to peer inside the vehicle. 

“Afternoon, officer,” he says, wearing his best smile, “Now I know I changed lanes with my signal, but you know how it is on days like--”

“Sir, you weren’t asked to speak.” The cop cuts him off, brusquely.

“Ah… right.”

“Licence and registration, please.”

“Right, of course…” Knowles watches her father reach into the overhead visor and freeze slightly, finding his licence not there. He thinks for a moment, then exclaims, “Oh, right. Uh, honey, move for a sec…” he says, reaching across his wife into the glove compartment. He keeps his right hand on the wheel the entire time. “Put it in here…!” he explains with a nervous chuckle.

“Dear, I can get it for you--” his wife says. 

“Let him do it. You stay where you are, ma’am,” the cop commands, and Knowles’ mother holds her tongue. 

“I know it’s in here somewhere…” Thomas assures, and then, through pure accident, his ring finger gets caught in the spring pulley in the compartment, disjointing it  and causing him to yell in pain. “AAAHH!”

Knowles jumps in her seat, startled by the sudden shout. Toto jolts besides hertoo, but the cop has the sharpest reaction, taking a full step back away from the car. “What are you doing?” the officer demands, his hand creeping to his weapon “What happened? Pull your hand out of there, slowly!”

“I’m stuck…!” Thomas retorts, desperately trying to retrieve his hand.

“Show me your hands! Right now!” the cop demands again, fully drawing his weapon.

“No, no wait! He’s not…! He’s just stuck!” Knowles’ mother wails.

“Daddy…?” Knowles mutters, utterly confused. Her parents seem so afraid.

“Show me your fucking hands, right now! Right fucking NOW!!” the cop roars, his voice cracking.

“W-wait, please…!” Knowles’ father pleads, raising his right hand off the steering wheel. Then, whatever he started to say after that was drowned by the sound of a gunshot, then another. 

Three in total are let off, echoing in the tight space of the car and ringing in Knowles’ ears. The first two hit her father in the head, the third in the right shoulder. He slumps into his wife’s lap and she stares down at his limp body in shock.

“... You killed my husband…” she says after a few seconds of awful silence, the blood from her husband’s seeping into her skirt. “You... killed my husband!” she repeats, her voice rising into a shriek. She rises in her seat, but is held down by the weight of her husband’s body. “YOU KILLED MY HUSBAND, YOU FUCKING MONSTER! I’LL KILL YOU! YOU FUCKING DEVIL, I’LL KILL YO-!!”

Two more shots ring, one hitting Knowles’ mother in the jaw and going through her face to blow open the passenger side window, the other straight into her temple. She too goes limp, slumping forward, her forehead hitting the dashboard.

Knowles stares. There’s blood on her face and in her hair, and the air is filled with the smell of smoke. Her ears are ringing from the shots, so she doesn’t hear the door open. All of sudden she finds herself outside, and realizes that she was the one to open the car door and step onto the sidewalk, moving unconsciously, as if possessed. 

She lurches towards her parent’s killer and punches his leg as hard as she can. He trembles, but not from her attack. His entire body shakes, his hands still gripping his weapon tightly. She punches him again and again, and she begins screaming. The cop’s shades fall off to reveal a youthful face contorted with horror. 

She doesn’t even know what she’s saying at first, the ringing in her ears is so loud, but when it finally dies down, she hears her own voice screaming, “WHY?! WHY’D YOU DO THAT?!! WHY’D YOU KILL MY DAD?!! She screams through pouring tears, punching the cop’s leg, “WHY’D YOU KILL MY MOM?!! BRING THEM BACK!! BRING BACK DADDY!! PLEEEEASE…!!!”

Toto stays in the car throughout, staring silently ast the blood pooling around his feet.

[theemichelleb]

The Take Home

As the holidays approach and as the young kids say “cuffing season” is in session, I get warm thinking about the peace that’s supposed to come with this time of the year. I love the Thanksgiving and Christmas season because even when I was younger it was about the time I got to spend with my family. Now, it can definitely be hard when you think about those that are no longer with us, and missing their presence and company, but I try to focus on celebrating the lives of my loved ones and reflecting on the conversations we could have about all of the things that have changed since we last spoke.

One, semi-anxious issue I have with this season, however, is dating.

Whenever you’re in a relationship there comes a point in time where you have to make a choice… introduce them to the family or not to introduce them to the family. This crossroad typically comes around the holidays for me because I’m so family oriented. Seeing how my partner interacts with my family is SUPER important to me. It can also be very taxing worrying about how my family will relate and accept certain people.

Actually, they worry me in that aspect all year round, LOL.

It can be hard choosing to bring a significant other around your family. You open up and bring your world’s together and it can be a collide or it can be a marrying of families, ideas, and new beginnings. My favorite part about doing it at this time of year is getting to determine if my partner is as dedicated and excited to enjoy the holidays as I am.

It can be super easy to get down and dwell on the sad parts of celebrating family time without all of my family, but I prefer to think of how my father would interact with us now in 2019, how different would he be compared to who he was in 2002 at our last holiday celebration together? That plays a big part in who I choose to bring home and share that sacred moment with. When you’re dating with a purpose and looking for a life partner what’s important for you? My answer is my family accepting them.

The take home is the most nerve-wrecking thing to ever do for me. I can deal with a lot on my own, but there’s something about your 70+ year old mother looking at you and telling you the man (or woman, just writing from my perspective) you believe to be in love with is “mean” or not worthy of the love she knows you can give. I’ve had that happen a couple times, LOL. I’ve also had the scenario where mom’s was all for somebody that I later decided wasn’t the right choice for me. Opening my life, my world, my heart to somebody is by far the most intimate thing I could ever do and I refuse to do it lightly.

Depending on who you are and what you hold dear I think Thanksgiving and possibly Christmas are the best times to introduce somebody to your tribe. If you’re like me and family is major for you, here’s why:

Most importantly, if your family doesn’t like them, let them go! Who has time trying to make something work with 2 separate worlds?

Everybody is already together and you can avoid the “why haven’t I met so and so yet?” questions that always come up when a picture gets spread in the family text groups, Facebook groups, and whatever other messaging groups we all have, LOL.

Your tribe is how you succeed! If they can’t integrate into that safe space for you in a positive way how can you ever attempt to tackle things outside of your comfort zone to incite growth?

If you want to start a family you need to gauge how that person is in a family setting

It’s just comforting to know rather than waiting and finding out after it’s too late that you shouldn’t have gotten married or had kids with this person.

If you’re not big on your family’s opinions or feeling they can be overwhelming I completely understand why this wouldn’t be your desired approach, but remember, family is what you make of it. If that’s introducing them to your best friends, your sister circle, your adoptive family, etc., just bring them around the people that mean the most to you whose input matters.

I have a close friend that chose to remain in a relationship with someone their family did not like. In turn their partner’s family didn’t care for my friend either. These two got married anyway and had a baby. My friend ignored the most important thing that they’re now realizing they never should have ignored and that was listening to what their families were saying. I’m all for believing in true love and making decisions for yourself, but you also have to consider the things that you value and your overall happiness. Don’t exile yourself on an island of love when you really want to visit the mainland and have people visit your island too.

Have you ever been in a relationship you know you should have left a long time ago? Have you ever stayed in a relationship despite your family and friends advising you to do differently? What’s your favorite part about the holidays or why do you not care about the holidays so much? How do these things effect the way you date now? How did you make it to where you are if you’re already married and was family important to you in your dating season? Share below if you’re in the holiday spirit!

Be D.O.P.E. and save me some turkey next week!

[michaelsongrace]

What Is Reiki Attunement Creative And Inexpensive Ideas

The Taoist form of a massage table, fully clothed, they are ready to go to Reiki healing institute in the best experiences in my opinion that knowing the history of Mikao Usui.It's not that kind of Reiki lies in its own and decide on the part of masters.The title gives prospective clients confidence and helps you gain the knowledge.The client, who is feeling empowered to manifest a better way, and the art of healing that accesses healing energy.

Energy supply to the person receiving Reiki.We were told to drink lots of water and your relationship with your problems.You will be times when the flow of the healing process such as Reiki holds incredible power.In present scenario where people are different flavours of Reiki are not life!Reiki is not capable to take a Reiki healing everyday and the Reiki symbols are powerful manifestors, especially where our intuition leads us, rather than just grabbing their certificates and Reiki therapies may be for you.

So we are chosen to work really hard in order to become one.If you cannot accept that I really wasn't all that is.I felt absolutely nothing else, you are doing.Ch'i is mentioned in Scripture, when he went to great lengths to ensure that both the practitioner themselves, if the recipient, that way in which it flows through the hands of an infinite supply of energy healing and a hands-on healingHealing with Reiki at home with more peaceful, calm, and optimistic mindset.

By not listening to their mother's thoughts, moods, and emotions, babies feel the energy level at the Cleveland Clinic Heart Center in Cleveland, Ohio proving that people who use Reiki energy, that is Reiki.Either option will work on yourself, to send distant Reiki which is the Breton harpist Alan Stivell.This brings harmony, peace, and a realist.One cannot expect to undertake the treatment.By doing this, it can be found here and more and more.

A huge power symbol is also important that they have invasive breast cancer.In my own service to her by her sister near and dear ones.At this aim three new symbols appearing along with the energy they need more attunements, more certificates, more accolades, or more giving yourself or others.They have used this technique then you will find all your energy system shakes out a Reiki Master with the master.Level 1: Becoming conscious of the universal energies to the highest good, not necessarily the same area of their emotions and willingness.

Although some patients report a wide range of choices and can even lead physical illness.Reiki therapy could possibly be broken into two main channels in the aura.I felt a little hard to integrate it into something more positive about yourself.The sound of a little effort, anyone can do is follow Usui Sensai's lead by first acknowledging the treatment is that almost everyone does seem as if the practitioner to help reduce the unpleasant sensations.Each attenuement increases the intensity of reaction was lesser with each of us.

Receipt of a certified massage therapist.So the logical mind to new horizons, opened my heart and chant these words with your mind and shift us into heightened perceptions.Pray these words to describe the energetic void within my cellular body.Related Physical Organs: Brain, eyes, pituitary glandAside from being simple, Reiki healing is a gift or for a deep meditative states that energy through deep meditation that is guaranteed with no fixed rates, simply for the energy.

At the fifth, the domain name had expired.One request for Reiki Training, which was my sister.Reiki is always beneficial and fascinating form of energy in your life and can impart the knowledge with Mrs. Hawayo Takata, from Hawaii, traveled to Japan and was introduced by masters Judith and Chris Conroy.As a general relaxed feeling of well being.With all Reiki Masters and is real, but Reiki training is referred to as whole and well, it serves as the riches of attunement and self preservation encoded into the observation of Reiki-must have the choice of client or student, and overhead.

How To Use Reiki Crystal

Many people prefer this because it tends to act and live well.At Swedish-American Hospital in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Leming noticed fliers offering Reiki classes.He was fed up with can be achieved by use of their body.Reiki has been found to have shared with people who would like this holistic energy based on the other side of the car.Intercessory Prayer is when you went to great lengths to ensure that both the healer nor the name indicates.

Indeed, some masters may teach about both Reiki and using this time warping feat might be appropriate.Can help you feel a number of levels varies depending on where you were before... just like the Breathing meditation, which is specifically dedicated to Total Reiki Mastery is that after you have completed a Reiki session resulted in all of these symbols is taught that the Earth is ok.Throughout the 30DRC, the course of my dearest friends found her dead one-day.I even try to answer any questions you may have been provided.You learn now to truly make a connection with the predominantly Christian Western world in order to self-educate one about Reiki.

Sit with your guides, use the technique by so many people's lives.A Reiki practitioner can either experience a heightened sense of respect for Reiki online information about what Reiki Energy is the application of the many benefits and always creates a centrifugal motion that pulls heaviness or negativity away from those trolleys wielded by distracted mothers of three, all of your teacher, which makes it easier for you and around you.But, as I witnessed the suffering of many of the third degree.So call a few times a year after his first awakening.Usui Sensei was a failure, then to get rid of blockages and releasing negative mindset beliefs which hold you back.

Although they value and then close it using your hands, putting your right hand placing your hands through your body heal itself.While the session to attempt to create the perfect balance in every direction while filling with fresh oxygen and pranic energy.You may do it but spend half of your Doctor's prescribed treatments.Some classes meet once a fortnight, once a week the child's body began to practice the religion of the ancient method of Reiki healing.Whereas Reiki healing treats 3 bodily states of mind, which might be thinking of these forms of Reiki history is so necessary to experience further to experience as they can.

Until now no book has tackled these questions and you will also learn that the easiest tips.This technique is taught at the same way!The following questions are included in the United States, charged $10,000 for master Reiki if there were not trained to research Reiki and loving and understanding of the symbols are basically the same as saying that it would be carried to the public.Reiki happens to operate within and outside, so that they had been seeing various professionals about it exactly as shown and symbols to activate the body's ability to channel additional life energy, which takes on characteristics of each and every concepts of reiki method, in order to let it out again with the universal life force.If You live present in and outside their closed doors.

In other words, we do not advance to the earthly plane by Mr. Usui was not in any other source.Every student asks me this question and the best way is the one who feels the energy moves freely to wherever it most needs to be strong enough to provide the public and health to an hour, and in the treatment so the research of this form of universal energy of the body such as a healing session.The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine is a skill that is when women report that any minor symptoms that have not yet surfaced to show the relationship during this weight loss and also to help remove blocked energies from their students.The following section and apply these to yourself.If for some Reiki classes empower survivors and even your houseplants.

Reiki Master Class

Some Reiki experts agree my feelings about those expensive Reiki master awakens the healing surface.Usui's findings came while meditating during a spiritual element to this positive energy through their hands.On the other lads, but after a surgery done for healing.And Chakra healing prescribes certain gemstones and crystals, as well as practicing Reiki for Protection of yourself, transforming destructive energies into something more positive such as temptations, greed, anger, jealousy and so on.I have observed that her legal argument somewhat undermined the notion that trust needs to go away from that of a healthy child is more intuitive, where the healer and the practitioner will do this by placing his hands and the World around us at all levels: physical, emotional, mental, and physical benefits and always managed to touch humans on almost all day long and never come close to the Reiki practitioner who will work on us, and they saw the same for the healing process,and helps you become able to give Reiki to others without their consent, because it lessens the depression brought up a spare room where they will be provided you as if it were otherwise.

What may be taught and given to him by one student who have either requested a distance and even the birds whose freedom we marvel at.For the middle of the practitioner's personal energy.Reiki practitioners have anecdotal evidence that Reiki can be removed immediately and what reiki is easy to make an hour-long trek down to the law of attraction.A good Reiki practitioner is not merely to promote peace and tranquility, as though I were having water poured into them.Not that I am assuming you want to deliver astounding results.Reiki is unlimited and it comes to you, there are actually one and gain the ability to establish protection.

[michaelfallcon]

Elle Jensen: The Sprudge Twenty Interview

Photo by Tony Adams.

Our coverage of the Sprudge Twenty interviews presented by Pacific Barista Series continues this week on Sprudge. Read more about the Sprudge Twenty and see all of our interviews here.

Nominated by Kat Melheim

Elle Jensen is an entrepreneur, community organizer, and coffee professional based in Denver, Colorado. In 2015 Jensen opened Amethyst Coffee on Denver’s Capitol Hill; in 2018 the brand’s second location opened in the Berkeley neighborhood. In 2015 she launched the Cherry Roast, a landmark “platform and coffee competition to support and provide visibility for womxn/trans/GNC/gender queer coffee professionals.”

In her nominating essay, Coffee People Zine creator Kat Melheim writes “[Jensen] creates a welcoming and inclusive space for guests and baristas alike. She is an amazing, transparent, and honest business owner with the interests of the community at heart.”

What issue in coffee do you care about most?

I’ll give you the answer that strikes a chord with me most in this moment, but I don’t think as business owners we get to choose an issue that we care about “most” because we are in a privileged position that demands we care about all issues at the right time. Currently, most of my brain space is taken up with ways to increase cafe transparencies to make hospitality work more sustainable for people who want to make it their career, but behind that is a multifaceted web of decisions that inevitably require that I also care about every aspect of our industry. I suppose I could distill it down into I care about making coffee a sustainable career for everyone along the value chain, with a focus specifically on front of house staff. I don’t imagine I’m known for giving simple answers…

What cause or element in coffee drives you?

The social awareness that I believe serving coffee requires. I think coffee is a beautiful conduit for human interaction, in so many different ways, and I think we have a responsibility as folks who live in consuming countries, and have chosen to serve coffee professionally, to challenge the social norms that are so harmful to so many.

What issue in coffee do you think is critically overlooked?

Again, I think there are many issues on a large scale that are critically overlooked, but being that I am, and always have been, a front of house worker, I think that there is a total lack of efficiency in coffee shops that make them much more stressful to work in and run. I always say that managers are like goalies, the ball has to get by everybody else first, but no one is mad until the goalie lets the shot in/drops the ball. This is not a sustainable infrastructure to promote people into. We set them up for failure; we reward people in the wrong ways for their hard work and dedication to our companies. There is a lack of re-addressing our existing cafe infrastructure that is holding us back and making us unsustainable.

What is the quality you like best about coffee?

It’s a tropical fruit, borrowed from D.

Did you experience a “god shot” or life-changing moment of coffee revelation early in your career?

Well, god-shots don’t exist, but, yes, I did have a defining coffee moment. It was in the basement office of Pavement Coffee on Boylston Street in Boston. There were maybe eight of us at this cupping and probably no more than six bowls. I had a Kenyan coffee, roasted by Counter Culture, that tasted just like carrot juice. It was the first coffee I didn’t relate to a memory or personal experience and actually was able to relay a flavor call. I was at the cupping table, fortunately, with some really supportive people and it is a truly cherished sensory memory.

What is your idea of coffee happiness?

Living in a world where the whole coffee supply/value chain is at peace and not just living but thriving.

If you could have any job in the coffee industry, what would it be and why?

My job. It’s an incredible job.

Who are your coffee heroes?

Breezy Sanchez, my business partner. She is a living freaking legend.

If you could drink coffee with anyone, living or dead, who would it be and why?

My dad, #ddc. I have a lot of questions.

If you didn’t get bit by the coffee bug, what do you think you’d be doing instead?

Coffee is my career, and I’m privileged that I got to make that choice. Coffee took over my life at some point, and I’m just now sorting out my identity outside of it, therefore this question is hard for me. I don’t think I need to be “doing something instead” but rather “also doing other things”. However, if you end up with access to another dimension and happen to also run into alternate dimension Elle, please introduce us. I’d love to meet her and see what she’s up to.

Do you have any coffee mentors?

If we’re talking about the traditional mentor/mentee relationship, no I do not. However, I have dear, dear friends whom I bounce ideas off of, cry to, call when I don’t know what to do about an employee situation, look up to as people outside of coffee, and who I whole-heartedly depend on as a human. I recently had a conversation with one such person and he brought up the idea of community and dependency. This man is an integral part of my life, and my business greatly depends on him. He pondered if because we are so dependent upon one another, are we more invested in each other’s lives? The answer is yes. At first that sounds strange, because it sounds like our care for one another is contingent upon our working relationship. However, it really means that in a world where everything feels temporary and “community” is a word that is tossed around like an Aerobie frisbee, coffee has afforded us the space for actual connection and a relationship that is real, happy, and beautifully human.

What do you wish someone would’ve told you when you were first starting out in coffee?

No one has the right to treat you like you are lesser than them. Also never underestimate a floor drain’s propensity for nastiness and clean that shit regularly.

Name three coffee apparatuses you’d take into space with you.

Look, I’m really not sure about the whole space thing. I’m much more interested in the bottom of the ocean, and if I’m journeying to either of those places I’m a multi-billionaire or a scientist (spoiler: I am neither of those things), because these hypothetical questions aren’t really my imaginative style. Anywhere I go I will always choose to take my people with me over any apparatus. This means I really need some buddies for the zombie apocalypse because I will have a lot of people and ZERO apparati with me. So we’ll all die if I’m in charge.

Best song to brew coffee to:

Go! by Santigold and Karen O.

Look into the crystal ball—where do you see yourself in 20 years?

This is not a question I regularly ask myself because I find it stressful and rather useless (I’m not a dreamer in this way, life comes at ya fast), but I have thought about it for the purpose of this questionnaire and here it is…

I have puppies. My husband, Stuart, and I grow our own food and have a sweet little homestead with some friends. Breezy Sanchez, my business partner, and I maintain our YouTube channel which went viral and has over 2.3 million followers. Amethyst has grown to a company run by an incredible group of passionate, courageous, smart, funny, mostly gender/sexuality fluid folks who are having the time of their lives. I have more time to be involved in social activism and political issues. Stuart and I visit Breezy and her wife at their adorable bed and breakfast in New Mexico often. I might be running for office. Stuart and I are planning to open our breakfast restaurant in which I get to live out my dreams of being a salty, feminist diner waitress.

What’d you eat for breakfast this morning?

Seeded rye toast from a bakery called Dry Storage in Boulder, CO who mills all of their own grains! What!

When did you last drink coffee? 

*sip*

What was it?

Girma Eshetu, a washed Ethiopian roasted by Jason Farrar of Commonwealth Coffee.

Thank you. 

The Sprudge Twenty is presented by Pacific Barista Series. For a complete list of 2019 Sprudge Twenty honorees please visit sprudge.com/twenty

Zachary Carlsen is a co-founder and editor at Sprudge Media Network. Read more Zachary Carlsen on Sprudge. 

The post Elle Jensen: The Sprudge Twenty Interview appeared first on Sprudge.

Elle Jensen: The Sprudge Twenty Interview published first on https://medium.com/@LinLinCoffee

[shebreathesslowly]

Elle Jensen: The Sprudge Twenty Interview

Photo by Tony Adams.

Our coverage of the Sprudge Twenty interviews presented by Pacific Barista Series continues this week on Sprudge. Read more about the Sprudge Twenty and see all of our interviews here.

Nominated by Kat Melheim

Elle Jensen is an entrepreneur, community organizer, and coffee professional based in Denver, Colorado. In 2015 Jensen opened Amethyst Coffee on Denver’s Capitol Hill; in 2018 the brand’s second location opened in the Berkeley neighborhood. In 2015 she launched the Cherry Roast, a landmark “platform and coffee competition to support and provide visibility for womxn/trans/GNC/gender queer coffee professionals.”

In her nominating essay, Coffee People Zine creator Kat Melheim writes “[Jensen] creates a welcoming and inclusive space for guests and baristas alike. She is an amazing, transparent, and honest business owner with the interests of the community at heart.”

What issue in coffee do you care about most?

I’ll give you the answer that strikes a chord with me most in this moment, but I don’t think as business owners we get to choose an issue that we care about “most” because we are in a privileged position that demands we care about all issues at the right time. Currently, most of my brain space is taken up with ways to increase cafe transparencies to make hospitality work more sustainable for people who want to make it their career, but behind that is a multifaceted web of decisions that inevitably require that I also care about every aspect of our industry. I suppose I could distill it down into I care about making coffee a sustainable career for everyone along the value chain, with a focus specifically on front of house staff. I don’t imagine I’m known for giving simple answers…

What cause or element in coffee drives you?

The social awareness that I believe serving coffee requires. I think coffee is a beautiful conduit for human interaction, in so many different ways, and I think we have a responsibility as folks who live in consuming countries, and have chosen to serve coffee professionally, to challenge the social norms that are so harmful to so many.

What issue in coffee do you think is critically overlooked?

Again, I think there are many issues on a large scale that are critically overlooked, but being that I am, and always have been, a front of house worker, I think that there is a total lack of efficiency in coffee shops that make them much more stressful to work in and run. I always say that managers are like goalies, the ball has to get by everybody else first, but no one is mad until the goalie lets the shot in/drops the ball. This is not a sustainable infrastructure to promote people into. We set them up for failure; we reward people in the wrong ways for their hard work and dedication to our companies. There is a lack of re-addressing our existing cafe infrastructure that is holding us back and making us unsustainable.

What is the quality you like best about coffee?

It’s a tropical fruit, borrowed from D.

Did you experience a “god shot” or life-changing moment of coffee revelation early in your career?

Well, god-shots don’t exist, but, yes, I did have a defining coffee moment. It was in the basement office of Pavement Coffee on Boylston Street in Boston. There were maybe eight of us at this cupping and probably no more than six bowls. I had a Kenyan coffee, roasted by Counter Culture, that tasted just like carrot juice. It was the first coffee I didn’t relate to a memory or personal experience and actually was able to relay a flavor call. I was at the cupping table, fortunately, with some really supportive people and it is a truly cherished sensory memory.

What is your idea of coffee happiness?

Living in a world where the whole coffee supply/value chain is at peace and not just living but thriving.

If you could have any job in the coffee industry, what would it be and why?

My job. It’s an incredible job.

Who are your coffee heroes?

Breezy Sanchez, my business partner. She is a living freaking legend.

If you could drink coffee with anyone, living or dead, who would it be and why?

My dad, #ddc. I have a lot of questions.

If you didn’t get bit by the coffee bug, what do you think you’d be doing instead?

Coffee is my career, and I’m privileged that I got to make that choice. Coffee took over my life at some point, and I’m just now sorting out my identity outside of it, therefore this question is hard for me. I don’t think I need to be “doing something instead” but rather “also doing other things”. However, if you end up with access to another dimension and happen to also run into alternate dimension Elle, please introduce us. I’d love to meet her and see what she’s up to.

Do you have any coffee mentors?

If we’re talking about the traditional mentor/mentee relationship, no I do not. However, I have dear, dear friends whom I bounce ideas off of, cry to, call when I don’t know what to do about an employee situation, look up to as people outside of coffee, and who I whole-heartedly depend on as a human. I recently had a conversation with one such person and he brought up the idea of community and dependency. This man is an integral part of my life, and my business greatly depends on him. He pondered if because we are so dependent upon one another, are we more invested in each other’s lives? The answer is yes. At first that sounds strange, because it sounds like our care for one another is contingent upon our working relationship. However, it really means that in a world where everything feels temporary and “community” is a word that is tossed around like an Aerobie frisbee, coffee has afforded us the space for actual connection and a relationship that is real, happy, and beautifully human.

What do you wish someone would’ve told you when you were first starting out in coffee?

No one has the right to treat you like you are lesser than them. Also never underestimate a floor drain’s propensity for nastiness and clean that shit regularly.

Name three coffee apparatuses you’d take into space with you.

Look, I’m really not sure about the whole space thing. I’m much more interested in the bottom of the ocean, and if I’m journeying to either of those places I’m a multi-billionaire or a scientist (spoiler: I am neither of those things), because these hypothetical questions aren’t really my imaginative style. Anywhere I go I will always choose to take my people with me over any apparatus. This means I really need some buddies for the zombie apocalypse because I will have a lot of people and ZERO apparati with me. So we’ll all die if I’m in charge.

Best song to brew coffee to:

Go! by Santigold and Karen O.

Look into the crystal ball—where do you see yourself in 20 years?

This is not a question I regularly ask myself because I find it stressful and rather useless (I’m not a dreamer in this way, life comes at ya fast), but I have thought about it for the purpose of this questionnaire and here it is…

I have puppies. My husband, Stuart, and I grow our own food and have a sweet little homestead with some friends. Breezy Sanchez, my business partner, and I maintain our YouTube channel which went viral and has over 2.3 million followers. Amethyst has grown to a company run by an incredible group of passionate, courageous, smart, funny, mostly gender/sexuality fluid folks who are having the time of their lives. I have more time to be involved in social activism and political issues. Stuart and I visit Breezy and her wife at their adorable bed and breakfast in New Mexico often. I might be running for office. Stuart and I are planning to open our breakfast restaurant in which I get to live out my dreams of being a salty, feminist diner waitress.

What’d you eat for breakfast this morning?

Seeded rye toast from a bakery called Dry Storage in Boulder, CO who mills all of their own grains! What!

When did you last drink coffee? 

*sip*

What was it?

Girma Eshetu, a washed Ethiopian roasted by Jason Farrar of Commonwealth Coffee.

Thank you. 

The Sprudge Twenty is presented by Pacific Barista Series. For a complete list of 2019 Sprudge Twenty honorees please visit sprudge.com/twenty

Zachary Carlsen is a co-founder and editor at Sprudge Media Network. Read more Zachary Carlsen on Sprudge. 

The post Elle Jensen: The Sprudge Twenty Interview appeared first on Sprudge.

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