Common Grounds

Arizona Summer Wildcat

I thought about that episode of the Simpsons, where Bart is walking through a mall, and every store is a Starbucks. I thought about the scene in "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me" where Number Two reveals that Starbucks is indeed part of an Evil empire. Don't worry, I'm not going to make fun of Starbucks. It's not worth the effort.

But I am going to talk about grocery stores. Really, this has something to do with Starbucks - I promise.

See, what I don't understand is why everyone's so eager to be able to get icky brand name coffee on campus, yadda yadda yadda, when there's one huge problem I find myself confronted with on a weekly basis: There isn't a grocery store within walking distance of the University of Arizona.

I'm lucky. I have a car. So when I need simple things like bread and orange juice, I rev up my Honda, hold on tight as the transmission jerks into gear, and make my way to Albertson's. It's closer to where I live than Safeway. If I'm on my way home from work on the southside, I stop at Safeway because it's safe and on the way.

But what about those of you who don't have cars? And what would happen if my car died? I don't have many friends - at least not ones willing to put up with me in a grocery store. (I have strict dietary rules I must follow, which means reading lots and lots of labels and whining when I find something I want that I can't eat.)

Sure, there are a couple of small markets nearby, but who wants to pay eight bucks for a box of tampons?

I'm looking for a new apartment, and I'm finding myself searching in areas closest to grocery stores. I'm not the kind of girl who lives off of fast food. I like my bananas fresh, and I like my lettuce green. But by the time I get back home from the "nearest" grocery stores, both my bananas and my lettuce are a deep, dark brown.

If Pepsi and Nike and Starbucks were smart enough to notice the UA campus as a cash cow, then why not a major supermarket chain? Wouldn't it be cool if they turned the Harvill Building into a supermarket? It would be a lot more useful, that's for sure.

I'm not condoning corporate buyout by any means. I just think there should be an easily accessible place where one can buy foodstuffs at reasonable prices. I know there's this classic joke about "starving students"- I see it on tip jars in every coffee shop worldwide. But, really, shouldn't we have the privilege of knowing that if we want Otter Pops, they're just a hop, skip and a jump away.

Annie Holub is an English and creative writing junior.