Emchap's Shit from the Internet 1/3/18 🍠
I normally like to take the train ride home on Wednesdays to think about what I'll write in that week's newsletter. Tonight, I had a lot of time to do that, because my ride home took 90 minutes and three trains, rather than the 40 minutes and one it should have. During travel, my only reliable source of information about the trains was Twitter, because the signs hanging in the train station said "delay" for a train that had been canceled (at least officially—it was the train I eventually finished up the trip on, so who the entire hell knows).
So, rather than sharing the story of how I closed out my year on a weird and sad emotional note when I discovered that I was mentioned in a piece of writing that I would have at any other time and place in human history been unlikely to see, written by someone about whom my feelings are to this day relatively complicated, I would like to reshift focus to the issue at the top of my mind, which is: the MTA can go fuck itself.
I have not had a single day of commuting in New York in the last two months and possibly longer without a train being interrupted. They sit in tunnels for ten minutes with no announcements, they fail to follow the arrival announcements shown on the screens, they periodically just aren't running, and they routinely are so crowded that I have to wait two or three trains before I can shove myself on. Signal issues are constant and disruptive, and I find out about what train lines are and aren't running from stranded passengers on Twitter (if I haven't been stuck in a tunnel) rather than from the official announcement system. There appears not to be a plan to invest in the bus infrastructure to reduce train load so that the signal system that needs to be replaced can be, and so that people who need to get around Brooklyn can actually do so without going into Manhattan every time, or even go directly to Queens on a reasonable number of buses. The degradation of service in the last six months has been dramatic, and it is grinding me down just like the cold and the cost of everything is.
The version of this that I wanted to write originally, which I would have perhaps succeeded at if I was a better writer or more able to write about feelings, had a conclusion about love and memory and the narratives we tell ourselves about our roles in things. But this is not that piece, because I'm cranky and tired from the train and because it's cold out, so instead just imagine me letting out a long sigh and taking a sip from a store-brand seltzer can before huffing off to bed.
Shit to read
The case for the subway is making a little bit of a silly argument (no one is arguing the subway is not important) but ignoring that conceit, it provides a useful primer about the subway's importance and provides some unknown-to-me context about the system's revitalization at a previous point. It pairs well with this article about how a non-competitive bidding system for subway contracts means that New York's subway is obscenely expensive to build more of (#grift) in addition to taking FOREVER.
On a happier note, this poem is beautiful.
I don't watch The Bachelor even a little bit but very much enjoyed this recap of the first episode.
Also cheerful is this list of wonderful things from 2017. The story about the hummingbird made me cry. The whole thing is not particularly saccharine and made me happysad.
Nicole Chung interviewed Kristi Yamaguchi and it is good!
The children are arguing about words on the internet again, but it ends in gentle optimism and a Discworld reference, so obviously I liked it.
I don't understand current Youtube culture and I don't want to, but Polygon's piece about Logan Paul's youngest fans responding via vlog was I think my favorite of the responses to the entire incident, because it provides useful context on who Youtubers' audiences are along with some exploration of why children respond to things in the way that they do, without managing to be very "hello fellow kids" about it.
Shit to eat
Buy a packet of cornbread mix, and follow its instructions to make skillet cornbread. I'm not going to tell you what to do for that one, but just know you should.
In a dutch oven or a pot, heat up 2 tablespoons or so of oil and toss in a bunch of minced garlic and some red pepper. Sauté it until it seems like it's doing something.
Add a quarter cup of stock or water and a teaspoon of vinegar. I used white because it's what I had, but honestly probably any of it is fine.
Toss in a bag of pre-chopped collared greens. You may want to buy a head of collared greens and chop them yourself, but know that they are a pain to chop well and washing them is annoying. You could do that too, though.
Cook for five minutes with the lid of the pot/dutch oven on, over medium/medium-high heat.
Take the lid off, stir the greens, cook for another 10-15 minutes or so until everything is a dull green. You'll want to stop when things are a fun bright green, but don't. You can periodically add more water or stock if you need to.
At some point while this is going on, heat up another dutch oven or large pot.
Yes I own two dutch ovens.
Add a few tablespoons of oil and some garlic and a chopped up onion and some salt.
Cook it for five minutes or so until the onions are soft.
Add a can of black eyed peas with most of the bean juice drained out.
Keep that stirred up and on low heat until the cornbread is done. You can probably leave the lid on; I did.
When you're done, toss some sesame oil on both dishes because it tastes vaguely meaty and covers for the part where you didn't cook this entire meal with pork bits, like you're really supposed to.
Layer peas in a bowl with the greens on top and crumble a wedge of cornbread on the whole situation, and go to greet the new year.
Shit to listen to
I'm getting really into Dessa again lately for several reasons, chief among them not not that she's sort of a millennial's Alanis. I enjoyed this version of "The Crow" in particular.
Shit to buy
I just bought this open front fleece cardigan in a fit of winter madness, and I'm excited for it to arrive.
I hit a Nordstrom Rack near my office yesterday to bury my feelings in sweater purchases, and bought a boxy dolman sleeve black sweatshirt with open side seams about halfway up the garment. It's fleece lined and makes me look vaguely fashionable and sexless which is in and of itself sort of hot, I'm told, and more importantly it's very comfortable. I am 90% sure this is it. (I will say I got the XL, though could have happily worn the L probably, and in both cases the top of the shoulder bunches very slightly on top of me as I move around; this is probably the result of my large chest and can't be helped.)
Probably also get this dress from the brand.
I actually like all of the stuff on their brand page? Just buy it up and send me reviews so we can all become the lower-rent Eileen Fishers of our dreams.