Buttercream Dream

A few years back, a regional wrestling league called Southern States Wrestling had a heel called "The Progressive Liberal."

This guy seems a little more dynamic.

https://twitter.com/CoreyRForrester/status/1275828895145758720?s=20

Thug: An Introduction to the History of a Nasty Word

Has anyone else noticed the gleeful way certain people use the word "thug"? Like it tastes good in their mouth when they say it? Like they have found a socially acceptable substitute for the N word? That anagram of "ginger," which was "taken away" from "us" by "political correctness?" 

It turns out that "thug" was brought into the English language in the 19th century to help justify the British Empire's conquest of India. So it's been doing the work of dehumanizing the racial "other" to justify violence against them all along.

https://sshankar.net/2020/06/04/s-shankar-thug-the-rhetorical-work-of-a-contemporary-american-word-originating-in-colonial-19th-century-india/?fbclid=IwAR2ud0eiL1aFU4x02wcWDYPENvh9vwjiX0zXX8wrcctKJFQOa0h6phhAY34

I knew Shankar in grad school, where he was a real standout. Proud to point at him and say "I know this guy!"

In the Time of Coronavirus

Today I'm completing my third week at home, semi-sheltering from the corona virus. Twice a week I go to work to care for the animals in our teaching collection. Other days I work on Fernbank's social media and website, here at home. I am also my household's self-appointed hammer when it comes to running errands like grocery shopping.

I have known all through this that

Jamming Google Maps with a Little Red Wagon

This fella's name is Simon Weckert. I like the way his mind works. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5eL_al_m7Q

Saturday Night Fish Fry: What I'm Listening To

From WREK yesterday morning.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1QfXQakX2w

Maybe Tobacco Wasn't First

So perhaps industry efforts to influence science and perception of science started back in the 1950's . . . . . .
https://www.npr.org/2016/09/13/493801090/sugar-industry-manipulated-research-about-health-effects-study-finds

https://sugarscience.ucsf.edu/sugar-papers-reveal-industry-role-in1970s-dental-program.html

https://sugarscience.ucsf.edu/suppressed-evidence-of-health-risks-of-sucrose.html

The War in Afghanistan is Approaching Its Eighteenth Birthday.

I haven't written this before. I'll save the tearjerking details of "where I was" and "the moment my child saw the video" for some other time. What is on my mind this morning is the night of the eleventh. My memory is this: I'm in the bedroom with my wife, we're both exhausted by that day.

I know that memory is tricky, but what I recall is telling her "I'm afraid our country's response is going to be bombing a bunch of brown people." Probably about the same time (if not earlier), Dick Cheney was in a meeting and wondered aloud whether the attacks could be our pretext for "doing" Iraq.