The Wednesday Curator – 3/25/15

March 24, 2015

Wednesday again! Out of the box, there was a tempest in Maine a few days ago. Governor Paul LePage—a Republican and the only major elected politician in the nation who makes Governor Chris Christie (R-N.J.) seem like a nice fellow—claimed Stephen King—yes, that one—and others supported tax increases and, then, left that state. FaithGardner for DailyKos has Stephen King calls BS on Maine Gov. LePage, tells him to ‘man up and apologize’. Very funny!

Here from Talking Points Memo is Geography Fail: Tom Cotton Warns of Iranians’ Control of Tehran. Tom Cotton, the newly elected Senator from Arkansas, needs to learn the important lesson I shared on March 13 in 47 Again – The Letter to Iran: When you’re in a hole, stop digging! And if the lesson can’t be had by reading MRW, hot shots like the senator might check out The Digging-Est Dog. One great book!

I found Solitude and Leadership at LONGFORM, a gem of a website, sponsored by the Writing Program at the University of Pittsburgh. The essay is actually a speech, given by its author, William Deresiewicz, to the plebe class at West Point in October 2009. Worth the while it’ll take to read it.

(Speaking of higher education, on May 18, 2014 I posted Graduation. This year Cate Rubin will be a featured graduate (along with her cousin Sam Haakenstad), but if you have a graduate-to-be in your family or your network, please share the information with me at mark@markrubinwrites.com. Name, school, and any other information will be much appreciated.)

Pope Francis takes down the right: “I don’t think the bishops are going to come flocking around (Santorum) any more” is a dialogue between Salon writer Michael Schulson and Garry Wills. Mr. Wills is a great writer, an expert on the Catholic church, and the author many, many books and articles.

I know many of you have picked up on my several references to my gluten-free experiment. I’m coming up on 90 days, mostly bread and flour free. I don’t know or care about the science, for I have lost about 10 pounds, I feel much better, and when I do slip my stomach roils. That all said, I still appreciate almost everything about bread. So I’m sharing How Philadelphia’s Beloved High Street on Market Plans to Win over NYC’s Carb-Lovers from Bon Appétit, along with some art.

How Philadelphia's Beloved High Street on Market Plans to Win Over NYC's Carb-Lovers photo

Finally, the gefiltes will be running soon. In my world we eat the jarred fish, gussied up. I did make quenelles au saumon one year, and got lots of “we like it the regular way” at the Seder. Alas, here’s A Gefilte Fishing Expedition by cookbook writers/brothers Eli and Max Sussman, written for Saveur on March 19. I expect I’ll be trying their method.

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