September 26, 2018
Basically, what I detest about maple syrup is everything
“How can you hate maple syrup?” the hordes asked, as they banned me from Vermont and declared me persona non grata throughout Canada. Revolted by a New York Times article celebrating ranch dressing, I had tweeted: “Plays to everything that’s wrong with the typical American palate. Even worse than maple syrup if that’s possible.” (SLWaPo)
Yoga and the Roots of Cultural Appropriation
"This complex socio-political reality of the U.S. is key to understanding how the cultural void of white society is intimately mixed with white supremacy, capitalism, and globalization; and it is within these oppressive structures that cultural appropriation and the yoga industrial complex flourishes." - Yoga and the Roots of Cultural Appropriation
Dear Mr. President...
During his presidency, Barack Obama read 10 letters from members of the public every day. He reveals what they meant to him... [more inside]
A Hunger for Tomatoes
Where would Southern culture be without the tomato? One of the earliest references in American cookery appears in the private journals of Harriott Pinckney Horry of Hampton Plantation. By 1770, she was collecting receipts in a journal that became an invaluable household document about colonial life in the Santee Delta of South Carolina, especially during the Revolution, when she managed the property. Her house served as a refuge for women and children fleeing the British occupation, and it was in her fields where Brigadier General Francis Marion, known as the Swamp Fox, hid when enemy troops arrived at her door to search for him.
Careful with that axe, Eugene
What happens when you have a bar that combines beer, ax throwing, drinking shots straight from bottles and maybe some tightrope walking or juggling before throwing axes?
A severe liquor license suspension. (SL)
Break out the slide projector
Ektachrome is back. Kodak's 2nd most popular color reversal (slide) film is available now in 35mm and will be available in Super 8 and 16mm motion formats later in the year. [more inside]
A room without a painted ceiling is like a world without a sky
Larry Boyce knocked on the door of San Francisco's Old First Presbyterian Church, explaining that he had AIDS and wanted to do some painting in exchange for a place to stay. First Presbyterian put aside its apprehension and opened its doors to Larry Boyce, sending him and the entire congregation on a spiritual and artistic odyssey (S.F. Gate, 1996). Before that, in the spring of 1989, Boyce was in Tucson, AZ, where he offered to decorate the lobby of the Congress Hotel in exchange for a place to park his bike, and he did (Google street view). In 1988, itinerant ceiling painter had arrived in NYC (NYT, 1988). Larry Boyce was an energetic, optimistic cross-country bicyclist and the late 20th-century’s greatest champion of the stenciled frieze (Collector's Weekly, Sept. 7, 2018).
The story behind the best science stories
The Open Notebook is a website dedicated to the art of science writing. Although the ostensible audience is science writers, the site is also a treasure trove for readers who love science writing.
It features interviews with authors of prominent pieces about their process in writing the piece, profiles of days in the life of science writers, discussions of the elements of science writing craft including annotated breakdowns of award-winning stories analyzing how they work, and more. [more inside]
My grandpa used to say, ‘Don’t forget these children.'
An untold number of indigenous children disappeared at US boarding schools. Tribal nations are raising the stakes in search of answers. [more inside]
“I want to rewrite history.”
Living and Dying with Fragmented Medical Records
Michael Champion’s journey through healthcare in the U.S.
Every year, an untold number of patients undergo duplicate procedures — or fail to get them at all — because key pieces of their medical history are missing. Why? We know it’s not a perfect system. We know there will be gaps. But what choice do we have?
Every year, an untold number of patients undergo duplicate procedures — or fail to get them at all — because key pieces of their medical history are missing. Why? We know it’s not a perfect system. We know there will be gaps. But what choice do we have?
The Newcomer
A Spy Story: Sergei Skripal Was a Little Fish. He Had a Big Enemy.
Russian spy: What happened to Sergei and Yulia Skripal? [more inside]
Russian spy: What happened to Sergei and Yulia Skripal? [more inside]
“almost all of the kids I helped return to parents are happy and well.”
Michael Holick, a renowned scientist turned expert witness, relies on his own controversial theory to help alleged abusers avoid prison and regain custody of the babies they were accused of harming.
CW: child abuse, description of physical injuries. [more inside]
How Puerto Rico Became the Newest Tax Haven for the Super Rich
“Having a little island of affluence in the midst of this crisis? The more hidden it is, the better. When people find out, they will say, ‘Motherfucker, why can't the government find some programs to help me?’ ”
“Well,” I said, “they claim a few percent of something is better than 39 percent of nothing.”
“If I am a beggar in the street,” Bernabe shot back, “and they give me ‘something,’ I will say thank you. But it would be better if I wasn't a beggar.”
Jesse Barron writes in GQ about How Puerto Rico Became the Newest Tax Haven for the Super Rich. [more inside]
The Cost Of All That Magic
“When the survey, “Working for the Mouse,” was published in February 2018, Glynndana went to a press conference at Occidental College to hear the results. She picked up a copy of the 132-page report and flipped through its pages. “When I was looking at the graphs, it smacked me in the face,” she said. Out of the 5,000 people who completed the survey—one-sixth of Disneyland Resort’s workforce—73 percent reported that they didn’t earn enough money to pay for basic expenses like rent, food, and gas. The survey also revealed that, when adjusted for inflation, average wages in the park had declined 15 percent between 2000 and 2017. More than one in ten respondents said that, at some point in the past two years, they did not have a place of their own to sleep. This is serious, Glynndana thought. It’s not only you.“ The Real Cost of Working in the House of Mouse (Topic)
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