If We Must Say Goodbye

If we must say farewell at the end of the summer to those pesky plastic bags with Safeway or the generic "THANK YOU" non-logo logo, I wonder if we could bring to the west coast one of my favorite emblems of Manhattan. Every morning, I took an odd comfort seeing the words "We Are Happy to Serve You" printed on my coffee cup. Even if the server belching out "light or dark coffee this morning" belied every sentiment on the cup, I felt a certain safety in the sea of Manhattan as I stared at those words in gold and blue. Maybe it was the little Greek feligree that spoke so strongly to me.

It's just not the same with that Starbucks mermaid or those funky faux West African mud cloth motifs on a cup of Peet's. And I really have no desire to order a ceramic replica with its false sense of providence. I want the real thing that I can throw into a land fill.