In 1964, artist Yoko Ono (b. February 18, 1933) published Grapefruit a collection of her poems, drawings, and instructions for life, constituting a sort of whimsical activity book for grownups.  Nearly half a century later, on the eve of her seventieth birthday, she released a sequel titled Acorn (public library)—a new set of “action poems” bearing the same sensibility of irreverence and earnestness, subversion and sincerity.  Aswirl between them are Ono’s distinctive dot-drawings—abstract three-dimensional shapes reminiscent of Thomas Wright’s pioneering 18th-century depictions of the universe.  https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/01/20/yoko-ono-acorn/   

A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg  lead balloon  (led buh-LOON)  noun  A complete failure.  From lead (a heavy metal), from Old English lead + balloon, from Italian dialectal ballone (large ball), augmentative of balla (ball).  Ultimately from the Indo-European root bhel- (to blow or swell), which also gave us ball, boll, bole, bulk, bowl, boulevard, boulder, ballot, folly, and fool.  Earliest documented use:  1924.  If something fails, in British English it goes down like a lead balloon, in American English it goes over like a lead balloon.  Either way, it’s a flop.  “The band’s name was pinched from Keith Moon, The Who’s drummer, who had suggested in 1966 that a potential group involving him and Mr Page, without a quality singer, would go down like a lead balloon.  Mr Page kept a note of “Led Zeppelin”, and thought it was perfect for a new band that would combine music heavy and light.”  Fifty Years on, Led Zeppelin Are Still Idols for Aspiring Rock Stars; The Economist (London); Aug 9, 2018. 

When is a pie not a pie?  When it is a multi-layered mountain of a meal wrapped inside pastry. The kulebyaka of Russia’s pre-revolution kitchens was just that, made from a recipe so complicated, time-consuming, and expensive that most of the populace had only ever read about it in works by Nikolai Gogol and Anton Chekhov (who referred to it as a “temptation to sin” in a short story).  A kulebyaka is usually a bit taller and longer than a typically pirog (Russian pie) and is made up of a number of layers, each separated by an extremely thin crust and containing a different filling.  The intricate pie can be made with a variety of red meats, but it is most commonly filled with fish, such as salmon or sturgeon.  In ascending order from driest to sloppiest ingredients (so as to stop the pie falling apart), the pastry might be stuffed with rice, fish, meat (or creamed mushrooms), onions, eggs, and boiled cabbage.  The finished product is often decorated with various icons, such as fish, leaves, or flowers.  https://www.atlasobscura.com/foods/kulebyaka-russian-meat-pie   

January 11, 2021   Stacey Mei Yan Fong, a Brooklyn-based baker, has invented nearly 50 drastically different pies over the last four years.  Fong, who was born in Singapore and moved to the United States for college, is the creator of 50 Pies / 50 States, a project where she attempts to capture the identity of each American state in a pie.  Fong spends anywhere from two weeks to a month per pie, researching classic flavors from each state while also considering how to express more intangible, nuanced concepts via pastry.  Working her way alphabetically through the states, Fong doesn’t usually limit herself to standard flavors or pie designs.  As a result, her creations are savory as often as they are sweet, and as different from each other as the states themselves.  A friend introduced her to a South Dakota-based historian, and she ended up flying to South Dakota as part of her research.  In turn, the historian introduced her to Sean Sherman, the famed Sioux Chef.  Inspired by the state’s Indigenous culture, Fong created a wild rice pudding pie with berry compote and pumpkin seed crunch.  With six pies left to go, Fong is considering how to compile her years of work.  “I feel like my pipe dream for this project is definitely putting a cookbook together,” she says, with all her recipes and research included.  Samantha Chong   See pictures at https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/pies-around-america

January 12, 2021  In his backyard in Kerala, India, Vinod Sahadevan Nair, 60, grows bananas and plantains and rears chickens and ducks.  Situated as it is in an agrarian region, abutting the biodiverse Western Ghats, his farm may seem typical.  But a walk through his four acres reveals bananas growing in every conceivable shape, size, and hue:  from deep red to turquoise blue.  An avid farmer since the age of 12, Vinod has conscientiously collected some 430 varieties of banana over the past 30 years.  India produces close to 29 million tonnes of bananas every year, of which it exports a mere 1 percent.  Blessed with abundant rainfall, sunshine, and fertile, loamy soil, the southern pockets of India, as well as its northeastern region, have long been a crucible for banana cultivation.  After Southeast Asia, the country is considered a source of the fruit’s origins and biodiversity.  https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/how-many-kinds-bananas-are-there 

Anyone who has served a big pot of gumbo to family and friends knows exactly what Linda Thomas-Greenfield means when she refers to “gumbo diplomacy.”  She captured national attention when she used the term on Nov. 24, when accepting President-elect Joe Biden’s nomination to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.  Her point:  that you can’t help but warm toward someone who has labored over the fragrant, dark brown soup and is now ladling it into a bowl for you.  Thomas-Greenfield, a 35-year veteran of the Foreign Service, explained how she would invite her counterparts in countries such as Nigeria into her home to cook and eat together:  “I put a Cajun spin on it . . . It was my way of breaking down barriers, connecting with people and starting to see each other on a human level.  A bit of lagniappe is what we say in Louisiana.”  Ann Maloney   https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2021/01/09/gumbo-recipe-chicken-sausage-shrimp/?outputType=amp   Thank you, Muse reader!  

January 20, 2021  Read every presidential inauguration poem ever performed (there are fewer than you think).  Emily Temple  https://lithub.com/read-every-presidential-inauguration-poem-ever-performed-there-are-fewer-than-you-think/

January 21, 2021  She wore the color purple.  She donned pearls.  And she was escorted to her swearing in by a black police officer who put his life on line to save the life of lawmakers.  Kamala Harris' inauguration as America's first female vice-president, and the first of black and Indian heritage, was rich with symbolism.  Purple is traditionally seen in the US as a symbol of bipartisanship--a combination of the blue of the Democratic Party and red of the Republican party.  It is also the color of women's suffrage and the preferred color of Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to Congress and the first black woman to run for President, whose "unbought and unbossed" life and career inspired Kamala Harris.  Chidanand Rajghatta  https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/the-color-purple-in-a-historic-moment-kamala-channels-unity-and-femme-fettle/articleshow/80373399.cms    

Vice President Kamala Harris made history on January 20, 2021when she was sworn in as the first Black and South Asian woman to serve as second-in-command.  However, the groundbreaking moment was marred by a mistake—Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor mispronounced her name, saying "Kuh-MAH-luh" instead of "COMMA-luh."  Talia Lakritz  https://www.insider.com/kamala-pronunciation-sonia-sotomayor-swearing-in-2021-1   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2316  January 22, 2021