I am heartened to see that Melissa Graboyes has given up on the Fair Trade trope, but her ignorance of the reasons the ‘scary green goddess’ is so popular is so disappointing. Generally speaking, people drink Starbucks coffee because of some combination of taste and convenience preferences. That is to say people like Melissa and I wander into the GSU, look inside our wallets and decide if that cup of delicious Starbucks is worth it or if we should walk across the street to Espresso Royale Café or over the St. Mary’s Bridge to Dunkin Donuts. So, you mean I actually have a choice of three coffee houses plus all the other random eateries that will pour me a cup of joe, all within 10 minutes of the GSU? I’m confused. I thought the ‘Scary Green Goddess’ was supposed to doom us all to a purgatory of coffee Melissa doesn’t like.

But maybe Boston is different from San Francisco (certainly the local politics is slightly less kooky). What about the sad tale of the ten-fold rent increase? Sure, it was sad and unfortunate that a local ‘favourite’ was lost, but the alternative, asking the landlord to turn down the offer, was akin to asking him to subsidize the coffee preferences of a bunch of champagne communists. In case you hadn’t heard, real estate isn’t a charitable endeavour. What would you choose if you were given a choice between $10,000 a month and $100,000 a month?

Finally, just what has Ms. Graboyes got against students? There are 31 Starbucks retail locations within 2 miles of the Charles River Campus. I’d venture a guess that there are similar numbers near the Medical Campus as well the other Boston area schools. All those schools mean a student population in excess of 200,000; many of those students take part-time jobs to help cover tuition, rent and other expenses. Does Ms. Graboyes really have a problem with the fact that the Starbucks is hiring students who, almost by definition, must work part-time? As for company healthcare, the last time I checked, student employees were covered by either their parents or through the University.

Starbucks bashing may fly in a state where Cindy Sheehan wants to run against Nancy Pelosi because Pelosi is too right-wing, but here in Boston students like being able to choose where they work. Plus, the coffee isn’t half bad.

Bimal P Chaudhari CAS’05 MED/SPH’09 617-359-6297

The author is not affiliated with Starbucks in any way, but he does have a Starbucks gift card with $1.45 left over from Christmas.