Lollygagging
Jun. 29th, 2025 08:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kathleen_daileyIt's Pride weekend, and though I love the festive vibe I'm finding the Church Street crowds more difficult to navigate as I get older and slower. So yesterday I spent most of the day inside doing laundry, paying bills, clearing various in-boxes, and faffing around on the internet.
- I've seen several recipes that suggest a sprinkling of flaked sea salt on cantaloupe, honeydew, etc. The descriptive copy always touts this practice as a recent foodie innovation. I'm here to say that my parents--MANY MANY decades ago--ate cantaloupe with salt (not flaked sea--just ordinary girl-with-the-umbrella) and pepper (not freshly ground whole--just greyish dust from a shaker), and thus I developed an early taste for it too. I think it was part of my dad's New Orleans-Dade City heritage, to which he probably converted my Wisconsin-born mom, but I can't be sure. For years, people have looked at me oddly when I offer them salt and pepper to season a plate of melon; maybe now they'll think I'm on the cutting edge of gourmetdom.
- Toronto Star Trek '76: The Definitive Story of Canada's First--and Best--Star Trek Convention: I didn't start going to cons until the 1980s, but this fan's comprehensive account of the first local Trek con might bring back some good memories for those who were there at the beginning.
- The semicolon remains a bulwark against civilizational decline: I don't pretend to understand why semicolons and em dashes are falling out of favour these days, but they'll always be on my list of essential punctuation marks.
- The Last Run of Canada's Most Stubborn Publisher: Gaspereau Press and (inter alia) its ownership of the means of production; its alleged disregard for editing; and its disservice to a Giller Prize-winning author. "So one way to stay true to yourself—'keep your dignity,' as [Andrew] Steeves says—is to operate as if conventional limits do not exist. But what happens when you add other people, who do live within those drab terms?" Recommended reading for all workers in words.
- Kill the Editor: On the End of Literary Prestige: "The editor as a type often gels into a grating, obtrusive aggrandizer. Much like vegans and guys who’ve gone to prison, you don’t have to ask if someone’s an editor, they’ll be sure to let you know, repeatedly." A defense of Substack and similar platforms. If you follow this link and read the article, please don't skip the comments!
- I've seen several recipes that suggest a sprinkling of flaked sea salt on cantaloupe, honeydew, etc. The descriptive copy always touts this practice as a recent foodie innovation. I'm here to say that my parents--MANY MANY decades ago--ate cantaloupe with salt (not flaked sea--just ordinary girl-with-the-umbrella) and pepper (not freshly ground whole--just greyish dust from a shaker), and thus I developed an early taste for it too. I think it was part of my dad's New Orleans-Dade City heritage, to which he probably converted my Wisconsin-born mom, but I can't be sure. For years, people have looked at me oddly when I offer them salt and pepper to season a plate of melon; maybe now they'll think I'm on the cutting edge of gourmetdom.
- Toronto Star Trek '76: The Definitive Story of Canada's First--and Best--Star Trek Convention: I didn't start going to cons until the 1980s, but this fan's comprehensive account of the first local Trek con might bring back some good memories for those who were there at the beginning.
- The semicolon remains a bulwark against civilizational decline: I don't pretend to understand why semicolons and em dashes are falling out of favour these days, but they'll always be on my list of essential punctuation marks.
- The Last Run of Canada's Most Stubborn Publisher: Gaspereau Press and (inter alia) its ownership of the means of production; its alleged disregard for editing; and its disservice to a Giller Prize-winning author. "So one way to stay true to yourself—'keep your dignity,' as [Andrew] Steeves says—is to operate as if conventional limits do not exist. But what happens when you add other people, who do live within those drab terms?" Recommended reading for all workers in words.
- Kill the Editor: On the End of Literary Prestige: "The editor as a type often gels into a grating, obtrusive aggrandizer. Much like vegans and guys who’ve gone to prison, you don’t have to ask if someone’s an editor, they’ll be sure to let you know, repeatedly." A defense of Substack and similar platforms. If you follow this link and read the article, please don't skip the comments!
