Dispatches

Smooth Sumac.

Sorry, no easy punchline today. There is nothing funny about illness.

Please don’t think having money or shopping at Whole F’s somehow protects you from these pathogens. Why? ‘cause I’ll bet you a home cooked meal that the likelihood of being poisoned by salad greens increases dramatically when those greens are shipped and sold in plastic bags. Like the bagged and ahem, washed salad greens a fancy grocery retailer sells.

C’mon friends, we’re all smarter than this. If you can’t afford or don’t have a local farm market, you can still shop for salad greens safely. Buy a head of lettuce at the Stop and Shop, and then wash it and shred it when you get home. It’s an extra few minutes.

Having memorized every nuance of every New Order song mix put to vinyl, I’m not sure I needed this compilation.

But you might.

We stand on the shoulders of giants.

Boston Public Library:The Muses of Inspiration Hail the Spirit, the Messenger of Light.

We stand on the shoulders of giants

Grand Central Terminal, New York City.

Reed & Stem and Warren & Wetmore.

Years back I was in New York and meeting a couple I hadn’t seen in years.

I’m coming into Penn Station, I told the bride.

Penn Station? Oh. I heard the disappointment in her voice.

Something wrong? I asked.

No, it’s just we haven’t seen you in so long. Penn Station is like a shitty mall.