The Philosophy of Pith
This is the important bit.
The Coffeehouse Ghiberti was a pretty special place while it lasted. I discovered it one Saturday morning while wandering around town. It was across the street from The Manor Pancake House, less than a block from the Fox River in St. Charles, Illinois. That town was already changing a lot and it has changed a great deal more since then.
I had spent a good deal of time in St. Charles, both as kid and older. I had and have a pretty mixed history with the place, which I'll probably touch on at some point. For now, though, just know that I had explored the restaurants and diners and coffee shops very well, and still hadn't found quite the "right" one for my writing. That didn't matter all that much, as I've always been good at writing anywhere where they keep the cup full and bring me bread on occasion. Still, I always knew that none of the many places that I tried ever had quite the right ambience. Even though I accepted and appreciated and usually enjoyed whichever place I landed to do my writing, I think I always knew that I hadn't yet found the perfect spot.
Then Ann Russell opened Coffeehouse Ghiberti.
Long before this magazine had a name it had a coffeehouse and a Tuesday night poetry reading. I was flying solo back then, running pizzas by night and guzzling coffee and scribbling in spiral notebooks by day. Thinking back on it now, it was oddly a rather rare time in my life that I felt mostly content. Sadly, that wasn't to last.
That's neither here nor there, though.