An open thread for Memorial Day. A day for Americans to remember those who have given their lives for their country.
And a day for a man who’s never sacrificed anything in his life to make a buffoon of himself at Arlington National Cemetery.
"Then they'll play the National Anthem. That part's easy. Just stand still."
"Got it."
pic.twitter.com/9oNjcXvQOW— shauna (@goldengateblond) May 29, 2017
When I was young, I read works by migrants from southern Europe to Australia, recalling their experiences of being teased for having garlic-y lunches. Now all I can think is “how could the majority of those children not enjoy garlic, one of the highest deities in the pantheon of deliciousness?!” I mean, I never met a spice I didn’t like, but good old garlic and lots of it is still a damn good staple.
Re: video-Oh dear God.
Re: Memorial Day-I have a patriotic/moral question. My maternal grandma’s brother fought in WWII and captured a Nazi flag in battle, and over the course of time my mom ended up inheriting it. I feel incredibly uncomfortable having it under my roof, but of course can’t do anything about it unless I still have it when (hopefully not for a long time) my mom dies. If I end up having to dispose of it, I’d like to donate it and its backstory (how my great-uncle fought the Nazis and captured it) to a museum. Is this the right thing to do?
OT: The new job’s going well so far-hence my reduced ability to post here. I work 3-4 days a week, one of them from opening til closing. I’m doing really well at putting items in the right place, and on my long day I get to make the closing announcements over the intercom.
re: garlic
My mom’s mildly allergic to the stuff (not badly, but her tongue just rejects it), but I adore it. Admittedly I only usually have cheap-ass garlic powder on hand, but it’s good to add to instant mashed potatoes! Drawback: my siblings hate the smell.
I’ll admit to liking meat and potatoes far too much for my own good (and being Caucasian, so stereotype), but at least I try to branch out when I can. (Though trying Indian food on a campus event led to my RC [who’s a Russian transfer student who was introduced to Indian food by an Indian roommate and loves it] asking me if I was alright, due to my face going solid red. Wish there was still lassi left by then…)
@Valentine
…Yeah, good thing you taste-tested that garlic vodka.
Very much off topic, but I have a question for transgender folk. I’m a straight cis white woman trying to be inclusive in my language, and I need some advice.
In threads about the WW showing, the phrase “women, and those who identify as women” came up. Some people pointed out there seemed to be be an implied “…but aren’t” on the end of the phrase.
I know that the only requirement to be a woman, is that you identify as a woman. I also know that not everyone accepts that, and women who don’t pass as cis can’t assume they’ll be welcome in a “woman’s” space. Transphobic bathroom laws are proof that many people assume “women” means “cis women only”.
If I was organising a women’s only event I would want to make it explicit that trans, intersex, genderfluid and GNC women, whether they pass or not, are as welcome as cis women. I would have used the wording “women and those who identify as women” without a second thought, and assumed I was doing the right thing.
Clearly it’s not, so what would be a better way to phrase it?
@Troubelle
I’m not an irrepressible jerk – well, not too much – so when I prepare Indian food for other people I do so with a light hand on the spices.
I like ridiculously hot food, but I don’t inflict my kinks on other people unless they request it specifically, so you would be safe with me on that front.
I bought some Chinese and Japanese cookbooks and am now attempting to try the dishes in them.
I only say it’s jerkish to be excessive with the spices because the Indian people I know go easy on their spices as well unless they’re cooking for their families. They seem to agree with me that you should be careful unless you’re preparing food for someone who really likes that stuff.
@Nikki
Sounds like you’re doing splendidly! I’m glad everything is okay.
@Tosca
Some transwomen say we should just be called women, full stop. I like their idea.
I try not to call myself a transwoman and often wonder if the other transladies here hate my use of the word, but there’s no other way to identify myself as being trans.
Re: white people food
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3EuAWUgIGg
Also, secret shame, that’s only a slight exaggeration of me ?
@Nikki
Woooot! The intercom is the funnest ?
Re spicy food – a lot of Indian people don’t even make their own food super-hot. Eating uber-hot curry is more of a white western competitive thing.
I mean this in general, obv, not across the board. I know heaps of Indian people, as my partner is a Sikh, and they don’t get the idea of making really hot food – they say it ruins the taste.
Then again, my mum and sister can’t tolerate even the mildest of spices, so regular Indian food would probably blast the inside of their mouths off.
@Tosca,
I saw that discussion on Twitter (or a very similar one). It got me thinking, too.
@Nikki
If you definitely want to get rid of it, then donating it to a museum’s the best course of action, yes. I’ve also inherited a Nazi relic that my granddad looted during the war and people’ve been telling me to donate it ever since I got it. (I keep it around despite everything because my granddad, Nazi puncher. ^_^)
@Tosca: My instinct would be to have a notice stating something along the lines of that the venue or event is trans- and intersex-friendly, separate to the header stating that it’s a women’s event but prominent enough to be visible.
@Nikki: I did a quick search and found quite a few people in the same position with their grandparents’ liberated Nazi memorabilia that they wanted to keep out of the wrong hands. Seeing if a museum or historical society might be interested in preserving these artifacts in their proper context seems like a reasonable start, at least.
Trump also had to have the fact that he can’t just establish a trade agreement with Germany explained to him. Eleven. Freaking. Times.
Independent article about it
@Troubelle – don’t sell the garlic powder short! I go through a lot of it, because it does juuuust fine when you don’t have the time/inclination/funds/storage space for fresh. I have often thought that garlic powder and onion powder get kind of a bad rap, when they are oh-so-useful, versatile, and tasty!!
I do also buy minced garlic in a jar, as well as ginger paste – again, saves time, I don’t always feel like taking the long way ’round when I’m trying to feed myself.
Axe,
Poppies are for both Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day. Vet groups sell them both days.
(Notice the photo David used is one of poppies.)
Nikki,
Glad the job is going well! Libraries really are fun to work at
You might want to ask them what to do with that flag.
@KL You might have noticed no one here called you an angry white male misogynist with a small dick. Your argument is invalid.
Poppies were really meaningful in the UK, I think this year? Maybe last. Remembrance day (I think) had thousands of (clay?) poppies on the grounds of one of the palaces. Just a photo of them was impressive. So many deaths, because one group of murderous assholes decided they had to be in charge of everything.
@All
Thanks for the well-wishes and Nazi-flag-disposal suggestions! The flag part may end up being moot anyway-my uncle was particularly close to this great-uncle of mine and Mom may eventually give the flag to him-but if I do end up with it, I plan to go the museum route. I’m very proud of what my great-uncle did, but the idea/knowledge of having the flag under my roof just creeps me out. I may end up feeling differently later or I may not even end up with it, so I’ll just sit tight for now.
@Axe
The intercom is really fun! It also actually helped me with an insecurity of mine. For years I’ve thought that my phone/voicemail/intercom/answering machine voice sounds too young-I’m in my mid-20s and thought I still sound 15-but now I’m starting to just figure “hey, if no library patrons have complained about the announcements girl/lady sounding too young yet, I must sound sufficiently adult”.
@PeeVee
Which is why I brought it up
Then I defer to you, and I’ll try to be less annoyed. Tho, knowing myself, this will be a slow process 🙂
Tosca,
I’d maybe put some sort of addendum on there that the event trans inclusive.
I’m cis too, so my advice might not be worth much here, but that’s probably how I’d handle it.
re: Nazi flags
I have a Nazi flag…or, more properly, bunting. That’s what it looks like, to me.
It’s a long story, how I came into possession of it. As far as I know, a GI carried it back to the US after WW2.
I don’t know whether museums would be interested in these flags. Thing is, they’re not uncommon, as this thread demonstrates.
@Axe & @JS
I am older and I remember getting poppies at school right before/after Memorial Day (where I went to school, we attended until the 2nd week of June). The poppies were cloth with wire and had a little white ribbon IIRC, and you bought one for I think 5 or 10 cents, and wore it in a buttonhole or on your collar. I think they were sold by the American Legion. Pretty sure they were always as memorials?
I don’t know if they still do that? This would have been in the early 1970s.
Poppies are widely used here (Aust.) – I think they used to be more closely linked to Remembrance Day in November but now they have a broader war memorial type relevance. I’ve seen them on Anzac Day too and the schools sell them on both occasions.
@JS, I saw photos of those poppies, pouring out of the palace windows like a river of blood.
I did some research work on a WWI soldier a couple of years ago and in one of his letters home to his fiancée, he described seeing the fields in France covered in a bright red blanket. Knowing what happened to him made reading that letter very poignant. He was a gunner, and his turret took a direct hit.
Too bad the poem goes on to say, “Keep up the fight or us dead guys will haunt you. Grrrrr.”
Well. Sort of. I know, it was written in the middle of a war by a man who had just buried a friend.
For me, the image of the poppies in that field and the plastic or paper ones on the lapels of people are reminders:
We should all try to be worthy of that cost.
@Mish
Thanks for those amazing historical photos of your grandparents.
@dreemr
Stuff keeping well is a big thing of mine, so…additional yays to garlic (and onion) powder!
In 1975, on my first visit to Ralphs supermarket in Hollywood, California, I saw a bunch of small, knobby beige things piled high in the produce section. I could not imagine what they were. I made a beeline for the pile and the sign revealed that they were . . . fresh ginger.
I had never imagined that ginger came in “fresh.”
I bought a knob on the spot for a few pennies. It was pretty darn good. I still buy raw ginger regularly today.
@Kat
(with apologies in advance for my immaturity)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwPveuJjp9k&list=RDgwPveuJjp9k#t=92
(song starts at about 2:00 in)
Fresh ginger is great. It’s essential if you’re going to make Thai curry, IMO.
It’s kind of clumsy to grate, but so worth it. Just a little bit of it adds so much flavor.
I’ve been meaning to make my own ginger infused vodka for awhile but never get around to it.