Me: “So how long have you been coming to Yogurtland?”
Veronica: “Since the beginning of time! [insert dramatic hand-waving] When the great spaghetti monster reached its noodley appendage unto the world, it was not light he first created—no! It was Yogurtland. And it was good.”
Me: “…um. How good was good?”
Veronica: “Dude, that’s like, quoted from the Bible, so if you want to ask Jesus, be my guest.”
I concluded that we Berkelians are fond of froyo to the point of religious devotion. According to The Daily Californian, there are 7 frozen yogurt shops within a half mile radius of campus. Yogurtland, however, is usurping customers from its competition like despot monarchs usurped royal thrones back in the day. I’m loyal to Yogurtland over other frozen yogurt franchises, and it’s become a staple in my college diet. What’s more, I believe that Yogurtland can teach you everything you need to know about Berkeley. Here’s my list, in no particular order:
Eat great, starting late.
I know when Yogurtland closes. It closes at 11pm Sunday-Thursday and 11:30pm Friday and Saturday, and there’s a crowd there until the bitter end. The first and only time I went to Yogurtland in the morning (around 10:35am), it hadn’t opened yet. The “snuggle bench,” 
where couples sit together with one cup and two spoons outside Yogurtland, was pulled into the store. Employees were unloading yogurt in boxes from a truck outside, one of those 8-wheel contraptions that dominate highways.
When I went back a little before 1pm, I overheard a girl in line commenting that her bowl of yogurt was her breakfast. She even added some cinnamon toast crunch and fruity pebbles toppings. I guess in college, the day doesn’t start until noon. Yogurtland is busiest after dark. Most of the time there’s one cashier working throughout the day, and a second cashier comes to help handle the crowds of night owls in the evening.
Berkeley is 42% Asian.
The actual statistic is from berkeley.edu, but Yogurtland reflects that demographic… with flavors, toppings, and customers. There’s taro, green tea, and lychee tart flavored yogurt. For the toppings, mochi (sticky rice that looks like tiny pillows), red bean, and lychee fruit are popular choices. One night I was in line behind a middle-aged Chinese woman and saw her add three spoonfuls of red bean to her yogurt as she scolded her son about eating healthy. (What do your choices at Yogurtland say about you? Mine say I have ADHD because I like a smorgasbord of toppings and flavors and colors.)
Right now, Yogurtland is participating in a cross-promotion with Tokidoki. Tokidoki means “sometimes” in Japanese, and it’s a brand of adorable clothing, accessories, and other products in an art style resembling Japanese cartoons. The bowls and spoons are special limited-edition Tokidoki themed and I often hear someone asking for “One of the blue spoon too, please.” There’s nothing wrong with collecting cute things.
YOU TELL THE WHOLE DAMN WORLD THIS IS BEAR TERRITORY!
You can add pure Cal Pride as a topping! Among the 33 choices of toppings is a honey bear dressed in a mini Cal t-shirt and filled with blue and gold sunflower seeds. I dubbed him mini-Oski. Mini-Oski is usually at the right end of the toppings section, and a corkboard with football dates and times is at the very left of the store.
Of course, there’s also everyone and their mother wearing the ubiquitous Cal sweatshirt (mine’s hanging in my closet). Then there are those who go above and beyond—someone with alternating blue and gold dreadlocks left as I entered one night. Just as the force is strong in Luke Skywalker, school pride is strong at Berkeley.
Don’t give us any of that waiting nonsense.
I like yogurt. I like toppings. I like lots of choices. I don’t like waiting. Many Berkeley students feel the same. Yogurtland is popular and during the peak froyo hours, the line literally spills out onto the street. Every so often, someone will see the line and quietly leave, presumably to Papamingo’s or Yogurt Park. Like the Oakland Tribune reports, even if Yogurtland is the most popular froyo franchise, there are many other stores. People who leave are heeding the call of basic economics.
Last Friday I dragged a couple of friends over to Yogurtland, and they were dreading the line the whole way. When we got there, there actually wasn’t a line—perks of it being the day before Halloween. Some of them were just planning to walk us to Yogurtland and leave, but the lack of a line was too tempting and everyone stayed.
We’re either stressing or socializing.
I overheard an engineering GSI complaining about a student trying to get more points on an assignment that took her 6 hours. He was not impressed: he spent over 24 hours a week grading their homework, needed to study for 3 midterms the next week, and wanted her to stop bothering him. Berkeley keeps its students busy, and they need some way to unwind.
People who come to 
Yogurtland alone are a rare sight. Half the fun of froyo is eating it with friends and just talking vacuities helps take people’s minds off schoolwork and important life decisions looming overhead.
Yogurtland is quick, varied, and inexpensive. Anyone can get a cool, sweet treat from Yogurtland, but it is a particular favorite of Berkeley students. It suits our on-the-go lifestyle, where we’re busy stumbling to morning classes and jumping through the hoops of midterms and essays. We’re people on the move, coming together at Yogurtland with our unique personalities and anecdotes.
Oakland Tribune, “Red-Hot Frozen Yogurt”
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20091028/ai_n39381124/?tag=content;col1
The Daily Californian, “Chain Takes Bite Out of Local Yogurt Shop Market”
http://www.dailycal.org/article/106359/chain_takes_bite_out_of_local_yogurt_shop_market
In respect to the text, the tool that makes this piece so effective, especially as a field writing assignment, is that you really take the lens of a student to portray different aspects of Yogurtland. Further, the author manages to incorporate differentiating aspects of students and their common enthusiasm to make a central piece of Yogurtland's representation. I thought it was interesting how the subtitles the author uses are in third-person perspective and yet, to elaborate on it, she continues in first-person panoramas; this shift of views provides an angle to the reader to relate the two perspectives. Elaborating the text to use metaphors such as yogurt as a religion or short excerpts of people, really highlighted the key points the author was focusing on.
ReplyDeleteIn respect with the pictures, the pictures given were great support to the text. Pictures of people smiling and crowded rooms gave depictions of happy childish moments and social retreats the text was attempting to establish. In addition, much of the color tone in the pictures are light, or had a hint of light blue which gives the blog post a soothing impression. Even the pictures of the flying spaghetti monster, and hand drawn maps with little comments on them induces humor and lightheartedness maintaining the mood of the writing.
Connecting this piece to Latour's "Circulating Reference," and De Certeau's "Walking in the City," the author does take the voyeur aspect of maintaining observations, but while half of her writing represents the objective view, the author transitions to interact with the reader and to bring the reader closer to the scene. Her representation of Yogurtland arises from using both views as to support one with another. Although further with Latour, the author uses the specific aspect of students' love for yogurt as a specific and key element to the purpose of the writing and the overall impression.
My overall impression is that the author's use of rhetoric and pictures combined made this a easy piece to understand and read.