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Thursday

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5
Jan 12

Free political, visual advice

I noted on Twitter that it should be no surprise that a soap called “Dancing Waters” from Bath & Body Works doesn’t remove chain grease. Someone observed that is “kind of like saying the aromatherapy candles don’t get rid of the exhaust smell from your Harley.”

Great line, but only because he’s never heard of the exceptionally strong soy scented candles.

The Internet can’t describe the smell, which is a failure of the human olfactory cortex — linked to the hippocampus, but not to the thalamus.

The U.S. broadcast media says “SOPA? What’s that?”

Controversial legislation that the co-founder of Google has warned “would put us on a par with the most oppressive nations in the world” has received virtually no coverage from major American television news outlets during their evening newscasts and opinion programming. The parent companies of most of these networks, as well as two of the networks themselves, are listed as official “supporters” of this legislation on the U.S. House of Representatives’ website.

As the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) makes its way through Congress, most major television news outlets — MSNBC, Fox News, ABC, CBS, and NBC — have ignored the bill during their evening broadcasts. One network, CNN, devoted a single evening segment to it.

I get it. They have corporate bosses who have bosses who have properties that think this will protect them. Also, broadcasters aren’t carrying a torch for online entities — since they are so often being torched by online entities. (Though Poynter is finally telling journalists they should be concerned about all this. How any advocate of the First Amendment could read this legislation and not be troubled is beyond me.) We’re moving a significant way down the slippery slope.

God bless America, we need the help.

Speaking of politics, Dale Peterson is back. Remember this guy?

His wife is now running for office. Or, as he says, is “after the republican nomination …”

It isn’t the rifle, or even the pace of the thing, but the air quotes. They’re just reaching out of your monitor, trying to drag you to your polling place … it is an unsettling gesture. If you must do air quotes on video, do them parallel to your ears.

adventures / books / food / history / iPhone / links / memories / photo / Thursday — Comments Off
29
Dec 11

The best tomato pie of your life

We visited Pepe’s. And, no, this is not becoming a food blog. But Pepe’s is Pepe’s. Here’s the old man on the cover of the menu:

But what can you tell about a man from line art? Oh, his pixels are lovely. Mr. Pepe’s actual photograph.

And, no, food photography is difficult, not my strong suit and never works on a cell phone, but this pizza can’t be ignored:

Pepe started his first store 86 years ago and, some argue, it is the origin of pizza in the U.S. Who knows? Truly it is the best pizza you’ve ever had. This is not opinion or left to taste, but rather a fact. It is science and we must accept it.

The place is owned by Pepe’s grandson today. We go there every time we visit the in-laws. Ronald Reagan loved it, too. That was back when Connecticut was a GOP stronghold. The Republicans had won Connecticut in eight of 11 presidential post-war elections, only John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and Barry Goldwater could break their grip. That led up to Bill Clinton, who also enjoyed Pepe’s.

Connecticut has gone Democrat in the last five elections since 1992. Clearly the pizza is the key.

More of their historic photographs are here.

In New Haven, where Pepe’s started, pizza is one of those cultural touchstones that says much about the diner. You’re a Pepe’s fan or a Sally’s person. The competing pizza place was actually founded by Pepe’s nephew in 1938. Sally’s Apizza is no good. As I wrote in 2007, the long wait outside in the cold and the long wait inside aren’t worth considering:

The waiter, who’s doing you a favor by being there, just got off his bike apparently and is still wearing his Harley vest. He finally gets your order, promptly brings the drinks and disappears for 20 minutes. He returns to ask about your order, which he’s incorrectly scribbled. How one pizza becomes three I’ve yet to figure out. Half-an-hour later, when you finally make eye contact with the waiter (who’s doing you a favor) you inquire as to the whereabouts of the pizza.

“We’re on a 90 minute wait,” he sneers while stalking off. Truly, the last half of the sentence is spoken with his back turned. We speculate the wait just grew to 100 minutes. At 75 minutes you consider calling Information to get the number to the nearest Domino’s and order a delivery. At 90 minutes you actually make eye contact with the waiter again (who’s doing you a favor) and get a simple refill.

Throughout this time as people peer into the windows to gauge how busy the little place is you wave them off. “Don’t do it! It isn’t worth it!”

At 100 minutes, as speculated, the pizza arrives.

And it isn’t worth it. The pizza is OK. It is not 100 minute pizza. If such a thing exists you will not find it here. Instead you’ll get a burnt crust and charcoal on your fingers.

Eight minutes later the pizza is gone, because everyone at your table was famished. Ninety-three seconds after that your bill arrives. Sixteen seconds after that you throw the money on the table. The exact change. To the penny. In pennies. Under the pizza tray.

So that’s Sally’s. Pepe’s, meanwhile, made the Guardian‘s best food in the world list.

That’s one down on that list. Forty-nine to go. Lists like that are dangerous for completists. When are you ever going to be in Lisbon, to eat supposedly the world’s best custard tart?

I received a copy of 1,000 Places To See Before You Die a few years ago from a dear friend who decided she wanted to give me angst via the written word. How can I accomplish this? And now I see there are apparently annual editions.

Great. One of my most recent achievements has been removed for the list in favor of some Mongolian Milk trailer 100 yards off the Great Wall of China that is operated by a talented group of tap dancing, orphan entrepreneurs.

She signed the book (which I have lately decided is the best part of receiving a book as a gift):

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

I have visited 30 of the 1,000 sites listed in my copy. (Yes, I’ve counted.) Miles to go, indeed.

Robert Frost knew what he was talking about.

He died in 1963, in Boston. I wonder, did he ever have Pepe’s?

adventures / Auburn / photo / Thursday — Comments Off
22
Dec 11

The Christmas card picture

It has come to our attention — mostly because one of my grandmothers brought it up today — that there might be some confusion about the Christmas card. So, if you received this lovely image on thick stock of our happy and charming faces, please allow me to explain.

To my family: this is not someone in The Yankee’s family.

To The Yankee’s family: these are not people from my family.

At a football game late in the year we saw Aubie Claus here taking pictures with kids.

He and Mrs. Aubie Claus let us take a picture, too. File this under one of those unique little college town experiences.

So War Eagle, and Merry Christmas, from Auburn.

history / photo / site / Thursday — Comments Off
15
Dec 11

Sick, making this a photo day 4

I feel like I’m about 65 percent of myself again. I’ve been stuck in the house for four days, so it seemed a good time to get out.

I visited the DMV. Most people have a problem with that, but I’d rather go to the satellite office of our DMV than to the local post office. I had to renew my license today and was done in less than six minutes.

Still coughing, but still breathing. The coughing is more of a real cough than the sound of all of the ancient gods engaged in a battle royale in the next room, as has been the case the past few days. I haven’t had any fevers since Tuesday. My congestion has just suddenly disappeared. It seems I’ve rounded a corner.

The biggest problem now is a lack of energy and endurance. But, then again, I do have a birthday coming up.

Speaking of birthdays, when I turned 30, almost to the minute, I came down with a little bug of some kind. “Nothing too serious, happens all the time. I’ll be rid of it in a day or three,” or so I thought at the time. Kept that thing for weeks.

This better not be like that, but I think I’m getting better.

Today’s photo is from the World War II memorial in Washington D.C. We went into the capital after the game on Saturday night. I haven’t discussed that here yet, which probably works out well. I still have content after a week of doing nothing!

Anyway, they call this the Freedom Wall. It holds 4,048 gold stars, each representing 100 servicemen and women who died or remain missing from World War II.

Hanging 405,399 stars would have been too imposing. Just the 4,048 is impressive enough.

journalism / Samford / Thursday — Comments Off
8
Dec 11

The last class of the semester

I ended my last class of the fall not dissimilar from the way I began it. I think most of my classes will start and end with words to this effect from now on:

Challenge every word. Walk out of here today with that in your mind. Challenge every word. The bulk of our mistakes can be corrected by vigorous copy editing. This isn’t the sexiest thing in the world, I know, but it is so, so important to the work you do.

It is hard to edit your own work, but it is vital that you do so. Walk away from your story. Read it again after you’ve worked on something else, or eaten dinner or done something fun. Have someone you trust read it. Trade copy editing favors with a classmate. Challenge every word.

The simple truth is that there’s not a person in this room or alive that can’t benefit from a good dose of proofreading. It is tough, often it is particularly for young writers, to admit it, but we all must. Every writer is made better by good editing. Put aside your ego. Realize that the first words you wrote likely aren’t your best words. The AP style mistakes, the grammar, typos, misspelling, you think these are small things, but those small things add up so quickly. Ours is a craft that we display in public, so you must challenge every word.

‘Is that the best word? Is the subject-verb agreement correct? Is this in an active voice? Am I showing rather than telling? Can I tell this in a better way?’ These questions and more are what you should be asking yourself.

Don’t stop writing, even over the break. Writer’s write. If you stop practicing this craft your skills can atrophy. And remember, it shouldn’t be in there, and you aren’t done with the piece, until you challenge every word.

It is my goal to give that speech enough to make eyes roll. But, one day, someone will be sitting at their desk thinking ‘challenge every word …’ and that will make the eye rolls worth it.