Today’s post is dedicated to all of us who haven’t seen a ray of sunshine – literally, metaphorically, or both - in a long time.
Just keep looking up, casting your eyes skyward, towards the sun.
it’s coming…
Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here
Sunshine: do not accept any cheap imitations. Cats don’t.
So let me get this straight: we can land on Mars (average temperature –81 degrees F), seek out signs of ancient life, collect samples of Mars to be saved in orbit until retrieved by a later mission and land the first helicopter on another world…
but we can’t keep the electric grid and water pumps in Texas operating during a cold spell?
Something tells me this is a human problem rather than a technological one, as everyone knows you have to winterized wellheads, pipelines and gauges in order to keep natural gas (still the primary source of electricity production in the state) flowing in sub-freezing temperatures. But apparently everyone – by which I mean regulators, Public Utilities Commission of Texas (PUCT), system operators, Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), and electric distribution companies too many to mention didn’t feel the probability of a “100 year weather event” warranted the investment. Perhaps they believed in the myth of global warming despite all scientific evidence pointing to a sun cycle plunging us into another mini-ice age. Or maybe they were just feeling lucky and thought Mother Nature would deal them only good hands.
Given the disastrous results this week everyone will no doubt look into implementing widely available precautionary measures going forward. I would like to suggest those measures involve well established weatherization technology rather than more green energy boondoggles.
Remember: green glycol is your friend, green energy, not so much.
“Coolant” aka “anti-freeze” in the north
“We all have our time machines, don’t we? Those that take us back are memories…And those that carry us forward, are dreams.” – H.G. Wells, The Time Machine
One last thought about Rush: he always said that people always remember when they first heard him on the air. Ze’ev Chafets, author of the wonderful bio Rush Limbaugh: An Army of One, and I share the same “first time” story:
For Zev Chafets, it was in a car in Detroit, driving down Woodward Avenue. Limbaugh's braggadocio, the outrageous satire, the slaughtering of liberal sacred cows performed with the verve of a rock-n-roll DJ-it seemed fresh, funny and completely subversive. "They're never going to let this guy stay on the air."
I too heard Rush for the first time, in 1988, while driving down Woodward Avenue. I was still a young-ish executive and my radio was still tuned into WJR, Detroit’s go-to morning drivetime show with JP McCarthy, another radio giant.
My initial reaction to Rush was amusement, followed quickly by a flush of guilty pleasure. I’d already been conditioned by corporate America to eschew politically incorrect humor – Femi-Nazis indeed! But smile I did, as it was such a dead-on caricature of a lot of women I knew. Aside from that 10 minute exposure I didn’t hear him again for another year or so when Raj and I bugged out of town early one Friday to head north for a ski weekend. Raj was already a diehard fan, and I was so happy to be getting away for the weekend I didn’t care what was on. But after 15 minutes I had shed all semblance of political correctness and never looked back. For that I owe Rush a huge debt of gratitude.
“People who dismiss Rush Limbaugh as an entertainer, a pitchman or a hot-air balloon are very wrong. He is a brilliant and tenacious advocate, a major political and cultural force who can't be wished away or shouted down or sniffed into irrelevance. Smart liberals will listen to his show, even if they hate what he has to say. The easily outraged, will be. Those with a sense of humor will find themselves laughing despite themselves. But nobody will fully understand American politics and media culture until they get who Rush Limbaugh really is, what he does, and how he does it.” - An Army of One
Rush, Army of One, created an Army of Davids. As Rush becomes a memory may we carry on the dream.
The road home
We’re open this evening for a special Rush tribute edition of the lounge.
Your thoughts, memories, prayers, and musical selections are welcome. The bar is open, self-serve, no masks required and no social distancing enforced.
First musical selection of the evening - The Pretenders with Chrissie Hynde: My City Country Was Gone.
Take it away MOTI. But please: drink responsibly!
Set ‘em up Little Mo
Meanwhile in 21st century America, in addition to binging Netflix, people took the opportunity to become even more woke than they already were.
An increasing number of woke teachers are refusing to study the Bard — accusing his classic works of promoting “misogyny, racism, homophobia, classism, anti-Semitism, and misogynoir.”
A slew of English literature teachers told the School Library Journal (SLJ) how they were ditching the likes of “Hamlet,” “Macbeth” and “Romeo and Juliet” to instead “make room for modern, diverse, and inclusive voices.”
“Shakespeare was a tool used to ‘civilize’ Black and brown people in England’s empire,” insisted Shakespeare scholar Ayanna Thompson, a professor of English at Arizona State University.
Teachers also need to “challenge the whiteness” of the assumption that Shakespeare’s works are “universal,” insisted Jeffrey Austin, who is head of a Michigan high school’s English literature department. – NYPost
Rest assured, these fools think themselves to be wise.
“More of your conversation would infect my brain.” – Shakespeare, Coriolanus
ADDED FOOTNOTE: in case you were wondering what “misogynoir” is it is defined by librarian Amanda MacGregor as “misogyny aimed at black women” – because even our ‘ogynies’ must be colorized now.
Fat Tuesday: the day before Lent begins. Depending on where you hail from the celebration of food and drink is variously known as Mardi Gras, Carnevale, Carnival, Fasching, etc.. In Detroit Fat Tuesday is known as:
Time to make the paczki!
Originally made just once a year paczkis are theoretically not just doughnuts. An authentic paczki is made with eggs, flour, lard and grain alcohol mixed into fruit fillings like cherry, raspberry, apricot or – most traditional of all, prunes. They are topped with with sugar – granulated or powdered – or glazed with icing. In time New World flavors such as custard, chocolate and lemon were added to the repertoire, now you can find just about everything from PB&J filled to paczki chili dogs.
Back in the olden days, by which I mean the 70s and 80s, paczkis could only be had the week before Ash Wednesday and most people bought them on Fat Tuesday which meant huge lines encircling the blocks where the Hamtramck bakeries cranked them out. They still do, although this year requires masks and social distancing: and a high tolerance for the cold.
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New Palace Bakery line in Hamtramck, yes I did that – once.
Nowadays you can find them in Kroger or just about anywhere else within a 200 mile radius of the Hamtramck epicenter. That’s because outside of Hamtramck, unless you’ve located an authentic Polish bakery, paczkis are just the temporarily rebranding of filled donuts. Even my neighborhood Italian grocery is selling cannoli and tiramisu “paczkis” this month.
Cantoro’s Cannoli Paczki
Now regarding the pronunciation: always tricky as the Polish language doesn’t use vowels like the rest of the Western world. Correctly pronounced “paunch-key” they are more commonly called “poonch-keys” around town. So run down to your local donut shop: odds are they’ve caught on and are selling their jelly filled donuts today as “paczkis.”
Paczkis, aka donuts the other 11 months of the year
Grab a dozen or so, after all it is Fat Tuesday, and you can always share. Nobody will tell.
Paczkis? What paczkis?
"In a way Winter is the real Spring - the time when the inner things happen, the resurgence of nature." - Edna O'Brien
The cold was our pride, the snow was our beauty. It fell and fell, lacing day and night together in a milky haze, making everything quieter as it fell, so that Winter seemed to partake of religion in a way no other season did, hushed, solemn. - Patricia Hampl
Richard Savoie - Canadian pastellist
Embrace the day, regardless of what it brings.
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