I had the best of intentions last night – I was actually going to cook – for the second night in a row! – I was going to do some work.
Then around 4 – flickerflickerflicker – power went off. I waited. I reported the outage. About half an hour later, the report came to expect it to be restored at 6 (which we never believe, but hey, it’s a start.) This would not be a problem if it were summer, which is when most of our power outages occur, when the sun doesn’t set until 9. I sat in the front, which faces northwest for a bit, catching the last bit of sun as I read my new book. I have one cordless lamp in the house and yes, it’s fully charged, but I didn’t want to waste it in case this became an all-nighter. So I accepted reality, put the chicken I had marinating in the fridge, took my notebook, and headed out to the Frothy Monkey. That’s a Nashville-based coffee-shop/bistro chain that’s recently opened up downtown. I’d never been, so this was a fine time to check it out. Checks out.
That could only last so long, though, so I returned home around 7:30 (Now the notice was saying that restoration would occur at 7 even though it said the power was still off.) The notice had said the cause was a vehicle accident, so I drove around to find it – didn’t take long. It was about a quarter mile away, near the fire station. They had the road blocked off, but I could see three cherry-picker trucks working on a power pole, so I figured it wouldn’t be too, too long.
And it wasn’t – about an hour. Not too bad, and so the chicken will get cooked today. What have I cooked? Well, Tuesday it was baby bok choy with oyster sauce (I also had some dumplings – frozen from the local Asian supermarket.) I’m going to do something Asian with the chicken today, using up the rest of the bok choy, a pepper, carrots, some Thai Basil. Remember, it’s just me now, so cooking only happens sporadically, although I have decided that I’m going to use this time to work on some dishes that I like but don’t have a great appeal to the other people I cook for – when they are around.
So anyway. Here’s some random for you. There will be a couple more posts coming later today.
- A Fake Death in Romancelandia – you may have heard about this, but here’s a NYTimes interview with the woman and her family. It was, we learn, her husband who took the reins here, judging that his wife’s mental health was truly on the brink, and her online interactions related to her writing were to blame. (The link is archived, so full access)
The music performed during this special event is being created especially for Mammoth Cave by Teddy Abrams. Abrams spent the last year exploring Mammoth Cave National Park and immersing himself into the cave’s geology and human history to gain inspiration from the sights and sounds of the park. He composed his work with featured performer Yo-Yo Ma in mind.
“Visitors have always been drawn to Mammoth Cave to experience its ancient stillness and expansiveness,” explained Abrams. “It’s no surprise that this otherworldly treasure has inspired art in all forms, some of which can still be seen in the cave. Performing music in a cave where untold generations of people before us have created their own music connects us in a vital way to our past.”
The musical performances will take place inside Mammoth Cave in a large open room known as Rafinesque Hall and may not be like what is typically experienced in a concert hall. The audience will be asked to participate and move around the performance space at various points during the piece. The cave area is a natural environment, with low lighting and a temperature of around 54ºF (12ºC). There are no seating options, and the performance time is estimated at 45 min – 1 hour. Audience members must walk 0.75 miles (1.2 km), round trip, to reach the performance area.
- If you are bemused (or angered) by “beauty” today – take a look at the Substack of Jessica DeFino. I arrived there via an interview with her that landed in my email via Substack promotions.
What she says in this first response might resonate you as you consider being “given permission” to be your “real self” – by someone sporting their very own Instagram Face.
On ‘Instagram face’
People are consumed with this need to reflect their perfected digital selves. Instagram face is kind of the big one, but there’s also TikTok face and Snapchat face and all of these smaller micro trends, but the idea is just that a lot of what’s driving the beauty industry now is this obsession with emulating your digital avatar.
On social media’s effect on self-conception
We’re seeing increased rates of appearance-related anxiety, depression, body dysmorphia, facial dysmorphia, disordered eating, self-harm, even suicide. This all-encompassing focus on the physical is really not good for our mental health. We’re very disconnected in general as a culture from our true selves.
- One of the random folks I follow on Instagram is this young woman – Nicole Daniels – who is a fantastic actor. I’m particularly into her series of “Non-Profit Boss” sketches. I have an offspring who is involved in the non-profit world, and from what is told to me about that – this is all spot-on, including the anti-union bit (it’s become a bit of a hobby of mine to follow stories where non-profits and “progressive” entities fight unionization to the death. Example: the SPLC.)
A lot of what she touches on also applies to the Church World – basically gaslighting employees to accept injustice and exploitation as acceptable because…we’re all about the mission.
You ask for non-profit boss for holiday time off: I’ve been thinking a lot about capitalism and the holidays….maybe it’s a time to be reinvesting time in our communities..
Non-profit boss in the break room
Non-profit boss calls you on Labor Day
- Oh, since we’re on Instagram – I’ve spent too much time with this guy, lately. Chris Guerra, of the Groundlings (same circle as Drew Talbert of Bistro Huddy) – dramatizes Facebook Marketplace Nightmares. Very funny.
Charlotte was Both 