Francesca

It’s persimmon season in California. I love the color of them on the trees, with the shading from green to delicate orange as they ripen. I like these fuyu-style persimmons sliced very thin, either in a salad or with a little cheese.

This is the American cultural revolution.

That “Careless People” book by Sarah Wynn Williams

These are not detainments—they are kidnappings.

These are not deportations—they are human trafficking.

These are not detention centers—they are concentration camps.

Language matters.

This is fascism.

Are we sure? I mean, when I think “Free Markets” I do not envision 25% tariffs. Some of this seems like totally legit interpretation of his guidelines.

American Medical Association (AMA) The American Medical Association (AMA) is the largest and only national association that convenes 190+ state and specialty medical societies and other critical stakeholders. Our mission is to promote ...

AMA's Youtube channel is giving updates on medical issues across the country since CDC has stopped: www.youtube.com/AmerMedicalA...

MSNBC photo of Musk, Trump, and Vance.

More and more, I'm having a hard time hearing "Waste, Fraud, and Abuse" as anything but their nicknames.

"Before The Americas, curated by Cheryl D. Edwards and four years in the making, was slated to open on March 21 and set to include 40 works exploring migration, colonial challenges, and interconnectivity in the African diaspora in the Americas."

Why Write About the Illegality of What Trump and Musk are Doing?

My latest newsletter post here:

buttondown.com/sbagen/archi...

I am making some effort to put out messages here in the hope that it becomes more of a home for me than Twitter was

I’ve given up the raw milk for now (only used it for cheesemaking anyway) but I’m more worried about the lack of eggs. Also the note about cats made me think this isn’t going away any time soon.

Does anyone know why my teens are suddenly listening to this specific song?

As I recall, decadence in the 1930’s included homosexuality, so that’s pretty much the same.

I'm always looking for something to read, and today stumbled across David Bowie's list of 100 books that influenced him. www.bowiebookclub.com/david-bowies...

I am not finding much independent confirmation of Swedenborgians having a problem with grafting. But there seem to have been several independent churches based on his teachings.

The Real Johnny Appleseed Brought Apples—and Booze—to the American Frontier The apples John Chapman brought to the frontier were very different than today's apples—and they weren't meant to be eaten

I found this fascinating article, which also mentions that John Chapman (his real name) didn’t use grafting to make sweet apples because he belonged to the Swedenborgian sect that believed this was a cruel practice. www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture...

A friend mentioned the other night that apples planted by Johnny Appleseed were primarily used for cider, not eating, as they’d been planted from seed and would not be reliably sweet.

Neutrino Modem xkcd.com/3017

I helped someone set up Apple’s “AirPods Pro 2” as hearing aids today. This is a pretty cool feature although it took some iteration to get it set up.

The Messy History of Emily Dickinson's Black Cake Recipe It reveals an unexpected side to the poet's personality and the brutality that brought a Caribbean dish to New England.

Emily Dickinson had a recipe for “black cake”, a dense fruitcake that sounds pretty good although I’m not sure about making her 20lb version:

www.atlasobscura.com/articles/emi...

A British Imperial tablespoon is 20% bigger than an American tablespoon, and a British cup is 20% smaller than an American cup measure. How did I not know they were all different (Australia’s different yet again) and how many recipes have I screwed up because of this?

“Yams” in the grocery store are usually orange-fleshed sweet potatoes, whereas true yams are an entirely different plant family. My family always used the orange sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving, so I will make them some time this week, ignoring the white-fleshed sweet potatoes in my pantry.

I had a new Chinese dish today that I liked. Eggs scrambled with leaf of the Toona Sinesis tree. The leaf has a somewhat funky and persistent steak-and-onion flavor.

I used coed bathrooms and showers in college. Literally cannot understand the hysteria here.

Apparently in China a fire drill also involves testing the hoses. So we exited the buildings and admired the huge jets of water being sprayed in the air.

Today I participated in a literal Chinese fire drill.