I’m All Lost In, #74: Graphic tennis; late night coffee; and strong Neville Chamberlain vibes from Chuck Schumer
I’m All Lost In…
the 3 things I’m obsessing over THIS week.
#74
1) Suzanne: The Jazz Age Goddess of Tennis by Tom Humberstone
My ongoing obsession with today’s WTA led to me a comic-book novel about Suzanne Lenglen, the 100-years-ago female tennis phenomenon (she won Wimbledon six times between 1919 and 1925, plus throw in two—1925 and 1926—French Open titles, and a 1920 Olympic Gold). I’d never heard of Lenglen before; luckily, tennis reporter/writer/blogger Ben Rothenberg recommended Scottish comic artist Tom Humberstone’s graphic novel about Lenglen last December.
Humberstone imagines 1920s tennis legends Helen Wills (L) and Suzanne Lenglen (R) meeting on the night before their 1926 “Match of the Century” in Cannes.
Lenglen (L) and Wills (R) at their Match of the Century in 1926
Humberstone’s bold yet subdued panels tell the defiant French tennis star’s story in a series of chronological, though in medias res vignettes that weave an understated, slightly fraught tale as Lenglen’s trailblazing (“scandalous”) ascent mirrors the struggles of newfound post-suffragette freedoms alongside the same old limits that beleaguer women’s equality today. (For some more on the contradictions of Flapper feminism, check out Ursula Parrott’s 1929 novel Ex-Wife, which I reviewed last October.)
Humberstone’s research shows that the rhythms, rivalries, anxieties, glory, and celebrity of yesteryear’s tennis circuit, though draped in petticoat athletic gear circa 1922, are much like today’s (sans Lenglen’s sly cognac boosters between sets).
Rothenberg also interviewed Humberstone …
Humberstone: I started to write those things down. The intersection with the suffragette movement and women's changing role in society, how women's fashion was completely revolutionized, the invention of sport as an entertainment industry, the rise and fall of the Jazz Age, the shifting global hegemony from the old world to the new... I realized that I could almost one-to-one attach these themes to Suzanne's biggest matches. That gave me the framework that I used in the book where I generally focus each chapter around the conversations before and after a career-altering match that addresses the themes of that chapter.
As for my aforementioned obsession with the current WTA: After savoring a week of compelling matches at the Indian Wells tournament, it’s coming down to a back-in-form Aryna Sabalenka versus teen-prodigy Mirra Andreeva final this Sunday; in the Friday night semifinal, Saby avenged her recent Australian Open finals loss to red-hot Madison Keys with a 6-0, 6-1 shutdown this time.
2) I Stand By the Title of My First Poetry Collection *
The New York Time’s ran a story this week that should be an urban planning policy brief for Seattle’s mayor and city council. It was a business trend story about Qahwah House, a Yemeni coffee shop that stays open late.
With most coffee shops around here tucking in for the evening between 4 and 6pm, there are few places other than bars and restaurants to chat with friends, read a book, or scribble in your journal next to kindred Sylvia Plath mimes after dark. I’ve written this a couple of times in my city planning column at PubliCola: Seattle is an underwhelming proposition for night owls in general; shout out to Bait Shop on Broadway, by the way, one uncommon spot where, miraculously, I was able to get dinner after 10pm last Saturday night.
In fairness, I’ve recently discovered two coffee spots that aren’t afraid of the dark—Peloton Cafe and Basecamp—but both spots are hybrid models; Peloton is more hippie restaurant than coffee shop, and Basecamp doubles as a ski rental shop/outdoors sports club that I don’t feel affinity for, nor, do I feel at home with the bewildering array of clipboard signups at the front counter.
Enter the late-night coffeehouse trend coming to America courtesy of Yemeni immigrant Ibrahim Alhasbani’s Qahwah House, a chain with 16 shops nationwide; though not in Seattle, evidently. The AI results of my Google query said: “Qahwah House, a Yemeni coffee shop, does not have a location in Seattle, WA 98122, but it does have locations in Dearborn, MI and Sterling Heights.” (There are also shops in New Jersey, New York, Illinois, Ohio, Texas, and Wisconsin.)
Reminding me of how Italian immigrants brought pizza shops to America in the mid-20th Century, and Japanese immigrants brought karaoke bars to America in the 1980s, the NYT article (though, please with the word “decenter”) explains:
Yemeni immigrants are making their mark on the U.S. coffee industry and shifting cafe culture late into the night. In the last decade, the number of Yemeni coffeehouses that stay open well after sundown has ballooned, beginning in Michigan and fanning out toward Texas, New York and California.
The expansion of these coffeehouses reflects increasing demand for late-night spaces that decenter alcohol.
Delah Coffee has opened four coffeehouses in the Bay Area since 2022. Haraz Coffee House, which first opened in Dearborn, Mich., in 2021, now counts 22 shops in its empire. And while Mokafé isn’t the largest of these growing chains — it has seven cafes in New York and New Jersey — but its Times Square location, which stays open until 2 a.m. on weekends, is impossible to miss.
If I presented this NYT article to local policymakers, here are some quotes that would light up my slide deck:
•“There is no location that closes on time,” Mr. Alhasbani said. “The customers keep coming. If we say 3, that means 4.”
• “If I wanted to hang out with my friends, where was I going to go?” said Mr. Alhasbani, who opened the Williamsburg location in 2020. “There was no place like that.”
• They opened Delah Coffee, one of the first Yemeni coffeehouses in San Francisco, the morning of the [Golden State Warriors’ NBA] championship parade. “I had a hundred customers in the shop,” said Mr. Jahamee, 21. When the festivities concluded, many customers returned to the cafe, surprised to find it was open until 10 p.m. “By closing late, we opened up a whole different world,” he said.
There’s also this quote, which serves as a reminder to Trump and his nativist MAGA movement that their isolationism is antithetical to innovation, revenues, and life:
At Arwa Yemeni Coffee, a cafe in Texas opening its fourth location this week, some of the busiest hours are right before closing time — as late as 1 a.m. on weekends. “In our culture, we drink coffee and tea late into the night,” said Faris Almatrahi, an owner. “It tends to be extremely packed and loud.”
When Mr. Almatrahi, 47, and his partners opened Arwa in 2022, their customers were still catching on. “We had a huge non-Muslim demographic during the day” that cleared out as the afternoon wore on, he said. At night, the customer base was predominantly Muslim. [But] as Yemeni cafes have expanded, the crowds have, too. “We’re starting to see other demographics socializing at night and sipping coffee,” Mr. Almatrahi said.
3) Strong Neville Chamberlain Vibes
As I write this column, the Democratic Senate Minority Leader in Congress, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) signed off on Republican budget legislation that gives congressional budgeting authority to Trump.
This shatters the Democrats last line of defense—going to court—to stop Trump from illegally forcing his pathological priorities on America by ending congressionally-directed government funding for: health and medical programs, K-12 education, veteran support, transit projects, federal law enforcement, clean energy programs, disaster relief, environmental protections, housing, weather satellites, and on and on.
Schumer chose appeasement.
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Monday, March 10 was the one-year anniversary of Dad’s death. I lit the Yahrzeit candle, read the prayer in the memory of the deceased, and like Mom and Dad used to do for their dead parents, let the candle burn for 24 hours.
