I am now a huge fan of this coffee shop, College Perk in College Park, MD.

I am up here doing research in the National Archives, which I will blog about later.

Here I am using the full power of Undismayed to bring in hordes of our readers to support this establishment, which allowed me to stop and pay my bills due today on my way to do some research.

It is in an old rambling farmhouse right on US 1, good strong coffee, free refills, and free internet. The internet at my motel didn't work (although the motel did feature an excellent Korean restaurant open until 10:30 pm, so I can't complain too much).

This is exactly the sort of coffee shop I wished existed in the deadend town I call home, a town that is devoid of any coffee shop. Strange, isn't it? It is just another sign of the hollow core there,

(yes, there is one, but it is so functionally useless that it doesn't actually exist. There is a Starbucks too, but it is a uniquely small and unpleasant one, even by Starbucks standards*)

This one does not brew nut flavored coffee, which is a sign that it respects coffee itself, as well as the coffee drinker.

and it is playing some Led Zeppelin, which allows me to get the led out early in the day, a good start.

It also has the requisite stupid pun name, a trait shared by coffee houses and hair salons.


*I am not an anti-Starbucks partisan, and I will not waste my time exercising the obvious ridiculousness of every part of the 'culture' they are trying to create, including the fucking names of the drink sizes. But I must note that they reliably only brew non-nut coffee, and that their coffee is good (although it is better here). It is expensive of course, but now so is coffee everywhere. McDonald's coffee, which I have been drinking a lot of late as I have been on the road, is almost as much as Starbucks, and it sucks. Starbucks served a function, which was to help spread the notion that coffeeshops are necessary all over the fucking place. It has surely overextended and will fail, at which point places like this will continue to flourish.