Tag: culture

Utopian Scholastic

Aesthetic PlanetOne of the things that I’ve appreciated about living in Ireland for the past 3 years is being able to escape the political bubble of the United States. Not in the sense that Ireland’s government sometimes actually functions like a democracy, though that is refreshing, but that US perspectives on politics and culture are… Continue reading Utopian Scholastic

The Nitrogen Cycle

This is a collection of three pieces on nitrogen, legumes, and soy originally written for the Digestable newsletter: Nitrogen Last Tuesday, 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate in a waterfront warehouse in Beirut exploded, killing over 160 people, injuring thousands more, and leaving 300,000 people without homes.  There’s been some great reporting tying this explosion to previous… Continue reading The Nitrogen Cycle

The Kensington Runestone

Originally published as part of the Digestable newsletter I listened to the radio play Saber, MN, recommended by the lovely Molly Rose, and it got me thinking about one of Minnesota’s foundational myths. The fictional town of Saber, MN was founded because of the discovery of a sabertooth tiger skull fossil by a farmer plowing… Continue reading The Kensington Runestone

Free Lunch

Originally published as part of the Digestable newsletter. Oh— my twitchy witchy girlI think you are so nice,I give you bowls of porridgeAnd I give you bowls of iceCream.I Give you lots of kisses,And I give you lots of hugs,But I never give youSandwichesWith bugsIn. This poem appears in Neil Gaimen’s book Coraline and its… Continue reading Free Lunch

The Very Mixed-Up and Peculiar Case of the Unfortunate Academy for Mysteriously Quirky Orphans

Originally published as part of the Digestable newsletter The first time I came to New York I rented a copy of From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler from the library to read while riding the Greyhound there.  The book follows a pair of siblings from Greenwich, Connecticut who stow their clothes and toiletries in their musical instrument… Continue reading The Very Mixed-Up and Peculiar Case of the Unfortunate Academy for Mysteriously Quirky Orphans

On Environmental Art Making

Originally published in two parts as part of the Digestable newsletter As the smoke from unprecedented wildfires pollutes skies in east coast cities and hurricane season surges past the alphabet into Greek letters despite only being half over my mind turns as it often does to Grimes.  I know, the Canadian musician’s much anticipated album Miss Anthropocene came… Continue reading On Environmental Art Making

I Love You No Edit

Originally published as part of the Digestable newsletter A couple of weeks ago Lee Dawson came out with the newest edition of his RuCaps series. These videos, hosted on Dailymotion like all quality content, are at their essence a remixed retelling of episodes of RuPaul’s Drag Race.  Drag Race, as many of you know, is a competition reality… Continue reading I Love You No Edit

Satellites over the Sundarbans

Originally published as part of the Digestable newsletter Last week after playing trivia with some friends (shoutout to Trivia Mafia in Minneapolis which is doing free trivia games online pretty much every night during the pandemic) we were trying to find the Ganges delta on a map – this was after the game of course, no cheating… Continue reading Satellites over the Sundarbans