PicoBlog

Hello, wonderful witches! Two fun updates to share today: First, Andrew over at the bread-focused and fabulous newsletter Wordloaf shared our piece about magical bread scoring! Thank you, and welcome, new Wordloaf readers! I’m excited to have you here. Second, Substack was super sweet about my year anniversary of publishing the newsletter and sent me a lovely card and sachet of tea. Such a nice gift to receive. The card says, “Your persistence inspires us.

I am thirteen when my mother picks up an artichoke and throws it at the wall. It is half-eaten, the fuzzy heart soft and exposed. She picks it up off her plate from where she sits at the head of the table. Or maybe she isn’t sitting because she is getting more milk out of the fridge, more butter for us to dip the leaves in. Our demands suffocate the room.

Wars are not won by respectable methods. — Amy Elizabeth Thorpe (image via Atlas Obscura) Jennifer Lawrence is going to play her in a movie, so throughout the entirety of this newsletter, just imagine a blonde bombshell like Jennifer Lawrence attending Axis Powers parties in disguise, seducing Nazi officers and smuggling secrets across enemy lines. As … ncG1vNJzZmiipaG2oq%2FCmqmpnZ6psrN60q6ZrKyRmLhvr86mZqlnkWLEsLnAp2Stp12gu7DDjJqksmWVoba7rcGeq6FlpJ28s7zE

Who was so happy as Anacaona/ the beauty of Hispaniola/ the golden flower of Haiti …— Alfred Lord Tennyson (image via Wikimedia Commons) In the 15th century, Anacaona held a powerful position among the Taino, an indigenous tribe of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. As wife to one chief and sister to another, Anacaona earned her subjects’ respect as a rul… ncG1vNJzZmiipaG2oq%2FCmqmpnZ6psrN60q6ZrKyRmLhvr86mZqlnkWLEsLnAp2Stp12gu7DDjJqlmpuRpLui

Ten years is long enough to wait for any man. — Bess Houdini (image via Wikimedia) Bess Rahner first met her future husband at Coney Island when she was just 18 years old. She performed in her dancing act, The Floral Sisters, and the soon-to-be-legendary magician caught her eye. The two started their own act in 1894, the same year they got married. They … ncG1vNJzZmiipaG2oq%2FCmqmpnZ6psrN60q6ZrKyRmLhvr86mZqlnkWLEsLnAp2Stp12gu7DDjJucrKtdnby2sMinoA%3D%3D

She was of that breed of indomitable women editors. — Leo Lerman (image via The University of Wyoming) In 1937, when Betsy Talbot Blackwell took over as editor in chief of the legendary Mademoiselle magazine, the fashionable New York native had a plan: take the two-year-old women’s publication from “sensible” to “sensational.” In her tenure, circulation s… ncG1vNJzZmiipaG2oq%2FCmqmpnZ6psrN60q6ZrKyRmLhvr86mZqlnkWLEsLnAp2Stp12gu7DDjJucraupYsGiuMGoq2aanJawrMPEpaM%3D

When it touches me, death will be well-received. For me, it is purely a biological question. — Helia Bravo Hollis (image via Wikimedia) When she was a child, Helia’s parents took her on long Sunday walks through the gardens and parks of Mexico City. The strolls inspired her lifelong love of succulents and cactus plants, at the time two rarely-studied bota… ncG1vNJzZmiipaG2oq%2FCmqmpnZ6psrN60q6ZrKyRmLhvr86mZqlnkWLEsLnAp2Stp12gu7DDjKGcpaGRYq%2BzrdWoZKGnnKG2tA%3D%3D

I'm blessed because you're still interested in Octavia St. Laurent. — Octavia St. Laurent (image via Tumblr) Before the performance queen and trans icon starred in the legendary voguing doc, "Paris is Burning," she was already a well-known name in NYC's drag ball scene. When doctors diagnosed her with cancer in 2008, she embraced her new bald head. Che… ncG1vNJzZmiipaG2oq%2FCmqmpnZ6psrN60q6ZrKyRmLhvr86mZqlnkWLEsLnAp2Stp12gu7DDjKiarZmmnq5uv9Nmo5qtopq7tQ%3D%3D

No one could match her ability. — Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston (image via Wikimedia) You know her work, even if you don’t know her name. Retta Scott’s brushstrokes brought many of childhood classics to the screen, including Fantasia and Dumbo. She was the first woman to have a screen credit in any Disney animation, for her work on Bambi. But in the 193… ncG1vNJzZmiipaG2oq%2FCmqmpnZ6psrN60q6ZrKyRmLhvr86mZqlnkWLEsLnAp2Stp12gu7DDjKucrayRYsCku9Ot