To Infinity and Beyond

I feel a strong sense of loyalty to Nabisco, particularly their immortal Oreo cookies. In my childhood they were fancy treats enjoyed with order and respect. I have spent decades developing the best protocol for eating an Oreo cookie, but that is a tale already told. I am a Double Stuff girl, but when Oreo comes out with a new flavor I am inclined to give it a try. The tombstone version was beyond perfect for dirt pudding. My children like to indulge in specialty flavors now and then particularly mint and lemon, so when I saw the new “Space Dunk” Oreos it was a slam dunk right into my grocery basket.

The cookies are fun to look at with their peek-a-boo cut outs and colored cream. Taking them apart to eat the cream separately, while generally a good idea, fails here. The vanilla has been increased in the cookie portion in order to meet the cream, and while the experience isn’t unpleasant it isn’t one I’d seek out. Eating the cream separately also seems to dampen the experience of the pop rocks, yes, Pop Rocks, exploding in your mouth. This is one Oreo which is better together. 

Overall it’s a fun experience I recommend. 
 

Stop Calling Them Heroes!

 I’m re-reading Christine de Pisan’s The Book of the City of Ladies, and I was surprised to find that one of the characteristics she endorsed in a leader was the ability to subdue all the surrounding communities. Perhaps the peace of power was truly all that could be bought in the medieval time period and so being able to secure it was a necessity, but my other reading suggests that those who pursued total domination were simply out for power at any cost and for its own sake.

When I first started my history through literature journey I reflexively put the writings of “great men” on my list of books to explore. The thing I discovered is that their writings greatly damaged my idea of these men as great leaders. Julius Caesar had no reason other than he wanted to control Gaul for decimating and destroying the people and cultures of Gaul. His treatment of the Gallic people who cleverly, desperately opposed him as traitors stretches the idea of human loyalty. How dare he expect people to abandon their native culture and tribes for an arrogant invader. What a jerk.

Columbus was a favorite of my childhood, and I was told reading his journals would be faith building. His journals were hard to secure and the internet did not exist in my childhood, so it was with great anticipation that I cracked open a rather extravagant book about Columbus that included his journals. What a jerk! Yes, his journey was courageous, but his treatment of the people he discovered on the land he “discovered” is the worst of human behavior. He was greeted with great kindness, fed, resupplied, provided with materials to repair his ships. How does he repay this kindness? He immediately writes about how they will make great slaves and captures three to take back like specimens in a jar.

Unfortunately, I could go on and on, but just because someone does something historic doesn’t mean they did something good. Have a good think about some of these people and stop calling them heroes.

Think Like a Mother

Having six kids guarantees a fascination with motherhood, so much happens and changes as you go through the process of connecting with and nurturing children. Sometimes you see a cover across a crowded Barnes and Noble and you know it’s meant for you. Mother Brain was such a book for me.

It lived up to its advertising. The book is cram jam with fascinating research about how we bond with our children, and how they change us. Did you know that your child’s DNA is still floating around in your body and potentially doing good things? Some psychologists are beginning to think of becoming a parent as another stage of human development for both men and women. 

The book isn’t perfect. I wish it had more and shorter chapters. Sometimes in an effort to be as careful as possible with drawing conclusions, she leaves us with bare evidence. A chart with all the terms used for parent with an explanation for each application would also be helpful.

I was eager to read Mother Brain. I feel it was worth the time and money, especially if you are going to give birth any time soon. It is also helpful if you found your birth experiences confusing or difficult.

Cats and a Dog

 Furniture restoration is so meditative. I watch a lot of it, and I found two artisans who belong together. They are Mayfield Restorations and Flipping Drawers. Both are very competent at restoration surpassing even the idea of refinishing. They take on interesting, unusual pieces of furniture and occasionally challenge each other with the odd duck piece off of Facebook Marketplace. 

They also love their pets. The proprietor of Flipping Drawers stocks snacks for the neighborhood cats who visit regularly. David of Mayfield Restorations takes breaks to play with his darling dog Daisy who loves corks. Both distractions can be heartily endorsed as worthy additions to the regular videos.

https://www.youtube.com/@Flippingdrawers

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl1-RB3CtuRDNv3jAY1eUkQ

Mister Rogers Said I Could

 If binge watching tv had been a thing when I was a child I would have cycled through Mister Rogers Neighborhood over and over again. My shorter self thought there was nothing better. I loved the music, crafts, how things get made segments, all the characters human and puppet. There was no flaw. I also loved Mister Rogers because he loved everybody and he said we could too. In my imagination that meant all those little kids in the international outfits could be my friends. It was a very exciting prospect.

I kept waiting for those international friendship moments to begin happening, but Western Maryland isn’t terribly cosmopolitan. On our regular visits to D.C. to soak up some culture I would look around and hope for some obvious foreigners and some pretext for talking to them. I never had any good luck. Lately my luck has been better. The Detroit area has healthy communities of several kinds, and I’ve found my own way of saying hello. 

Loving everybody is harder than I thought. Things that are all nailed down in the community I call home are up in the air for others. Things I didn’t think I could tolerate, must be tolerated if I’m going to make friends. And I do want to make friends. It’s worth the strain. Hopefully I’ll get better at it as I practice. Mister Rogers said I could do it.

Normalizing Disaster

 Disasters are unpleasantly normal. We always hope we will outgrow the human disasters of war and terrorism, and we pray that Mother Nature will be kind. But we don’t and she isn’t. The only thing to do is plan for disaster, an ancient idea. I’d like to put forward a revised, ancient idea from the Bible, Numbers 35:11-28, the cities of refuge. The ancient idea was to provide protection for the person guilty of manslaughter from the avenger of blood. The cities were populated by priests, a specialized group qualified to judge a killer’s guilt or innocence. The modern version would be more about sheltering those displaced by war or natural disaster. We could populate the cities with people who are trained to meet disaster head on offering emergency services for which they would be stocked and prepared. There would also be people trained in repatriating or rehoming people as the crisis allows. Those who wanted to help a refugee would buy them a ticket to a city of refuge. When the nearest city filled to capacity, the next city would open. We would professionalize caring for the displaced.

The Book Thief: Forgotten Pleasure

 

The Book Thief made me remember those long, summer, adolescent days of reading. Whether it was in my room or sprawled on a blanket in the backyard, a good book was all I needed to be perfectly content. There are so many good books around when you are a teenager that it is easy to take for granted the ease with which you conquer them. This is a book like that, to be read like that. Everything is easy, rich and good for you. The voice of death who is far from intimidating with his business like appointments. The characters you love, and somehow know you will lose them. The deft plot work and characterizations you just flow through. If you are looking for something that is both pleasurable and meaningful this is such a thing. Two thumbs up.

The book is much, much better than the movie.