PicoBlog

This week’s recipe means a lot to me but it is not one I can claim as my own. My brother landed on it when the fridge was close-to-empty one day about 12 years ago. Some of you will know it already, but hopefully it is new to a lot of you. I’m excited for you to cook it for the first time!! This is a pasta with very little reference to Italy because sometimes that's what you want.

There is a sickness invading the world. One that has been around for generations, one that has been holding us as a species back from the progress we need to make the world safe. It is a sickness that invades its host, convinces it that it is in fact a cure, and then proceeds to kill everything around it, including the host itself. This sickness is not Hamas. It is not Israel’s government.

Over the weekend I met up with a TFIB reader (Stephen, a fantastic designer who recently moved to London) and we discussed many things like museums and art over breakfast. During his stay he visited the Joan Miro museum here in Barcelona, mentioning a quote from Miro that stood out to him, which nowadays feels so contrary to our busy lives. It read: This really resonated with me as I’ve been having two related conversations lately that this quote ties to neatly.

Am I just putting myself in a position where, in four years’ time, I’m going to be earning significantly less money than people I went to school with? -Sazi Bongwe, Harvard freshman The recent New Yorker article “The End of the English Major” first came to my attention on Twitter. The responses rapidly rallied to deny the thesis, but The New Yorker presents compelling numbers to back up the clickbait:

Welcome to The #Content Report, a newsletter by Vince Mancini. I’ve been writing about movies, culture, and food since the aughts. Now I’m delivering it straight to you, with none of the autoplay videos, takeover ads, or chumboxes of the ad-ruined internet. Support my work and help me bring back the cool internet by subscribing, sharing, commenting, and keeping it real. — Did you know that there’s a Spider-Man movie opening this week?

I am endlessly fascinated by stories taking place against the backdrops of different cultures meeting each other. I love seeing how individuals negotiate the very different cultural influences they grew up around when they come in contact with individuals raised in a completely different culture. What I find most captivating about these stories is the element of choice: specifically, people having a chance to choose the cultural habits they want to embrace rather than being stuck with the culture of whatever place they were born in.

I am fascinated by the disconcertingly sizable contingent of what passes for the Alt-Right intelligentsia who are obsessed with the idea that while Taylor Swift might seem deliriously happy being rich and famous and wildly successful and all she’ll die depressed, bitter and alone if she doesn’t have a child IMMEDIATELY.  These deluded fools genuinely seem to think that unless you’ve spent literal days of your life cleaning up the feces of a human being that you helped create then you will never know true or lasting happiness, that your life always be empty and vacant and full of regrets.

Today, ice cream is ubiquitous in America. The ice cream aisle of your local supermarket is overflowing with options. The same is true of the number of flavors you can find in your favorite corner ice cream shop. But ice cream’s ubiquity depends on a confluence of forces that today we take for granted: Milk, sugar, and an ability to keep ice cream frozen. Which is what makes the rise of ice cream in the postwar Soviet Union all the more noteworthy.

Sorry for the shitpost. If you want me to yuck your yum on some of your other favorite drinks, consider becoming a paid subscriber! The button down below will help. sorry not sorry I’ve been trying to make these intros less about reiterating the importance of becoming a paid subscriber and simply suggest that’s a cool thing for folks to do. But I’ve lost paid subscribers since I’ve switched tactics, so perhaps I need to go back: this newsletter runs on your support, and if you have the means, I’d appreciate your support greatly!