This strange summer is coming to a close so quickly. Some of us are looking ahead, beyond back to school concerns. A friend has been using Facebook in a thoughtful way. Since we live in Minnesota, she’s been posting a series of questions to get people to consider contingencies for the coming winter. Topics like who to contact if your heat goes out and keeping enough food staples on hand in case grocery or restaurant delivery is unavailable. I’m highly anxious by nature and a planner, so I’ve got us covered. But I hope more people begin preparing in earnest.
As usual, I am keeping myself distracted.
- LeVar Burton Is Still Reading To Us During The Pandemic and a recent highlight was listening to him read Amal El-Mohtar’s brilliant short story Pockets.
- Growing up as a member of the Lebanese diaspora, it has always been tough to see stories about Lebanon. The news and the spin are usually not good. It’s now been over a week since the devastation of Beirut. But there is so much to highlight about the country. Like this episode from The Kitchen Sisters:
A road trip through the hidden kitchens of Lebanon, with kitchen activist, Kamal Mouzawak, a man with a vision of re-building and uniting this war-ravaged nation through its traditions, its culture and its food. We visit farmer’s markets, restaurants, and guest houses known as Souk el Tayeb that he and his kitchen community have created.
This story is part of Hidden Kitchens: War and Peace and Food, a series of stories about food and conflict, about the role food plays in helping resolve conflict between nations and communities, or in creating it.
- On the new music front. Orville Peck – ‘Show Pony’ EP review: the lone ranger’s second great release on the trot
This six-track record dips into razzle-dazzle pop with Shania Twain, and further perfects the masked country don’s knack for evocative gloom - I’m so excited about 99% Invisible’s upcoming book, The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design, that I pre-ordered a signed copy.
- I watched the season 4 trailer of Fargo and it looks like a good time. Speaking neo-noir, I hadn’t even heard of Briarbatch from Sam Esmail, creator of Mr. Robot. I guess it premiered back in February. No wonder it could have gotten lost in the noise in that time. Rosario Dawson is compelling so I decided to give it ago.
Recently I started compiling a list of parks and green spaces I haven’t visited yet. Since I hardly drive anywhere these days, I figured I may as well explore some more options in the metro. And, if I’m feeling up to it, some spots a little farther outstate but still in the day trip range. I miss traveling like nobody’s business but we’re still in the thick of a pandemic (possibly just the beginning, really, since our government’s response has been so badly botched). Last week I found a spot along the Minnehaha Parkway with some adorable rainbow bridges. Today I took to some trails at a park in Roseville. There weren’t many people but there were some incredible great blue herons hanging out. They were making hilarious gronking noises at each other and one walked alongside me for a good long while. It was nearly my height, but that’s not saying much.
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