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We can hold on to love like invisible strings
1. This afternoon's mail brought my contributor's copy of Not One of Us #51. (We were on our way out the door, so I took it with me and read excerpts on the subway.) To my delight, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ashlyme and I appear in the same issue with stories dedicated to each other: his is the autumnal, fairy-fruiting "A Portrait in Rust" and mine is "The True Alchemist," which takes its title from him. I wrote it in December after dreaming that I had. Also included is my poem "Similes," which I wrote in February about the recognition of being happy. I do not assume it was the last time. It's a powerhouse issue; there's even a fantastic, Grant Wood-like photo at the centerfold. The theme is not dead yet: a good reminder for spring.
2. Yesterday being simultaneously Easter, a deadline, and the first MIT Swapfest of the season (I bought an antique advertisement for hair tonic featuring a shoal of mermaids who wrecked a ship to get it), I forgot to mention that my poem "The Etruscan Prince" is now available in the latest issue of The Cascadia Subduction Zone. It was written last October after the discovery of the seventh-century tomb in Tarquinia whose occupants were identified by the grave goods buried with them—a spear for the husband, a jewelry box for the wife—before further analysis of the remains demonstrated that the objects in fact belonged the other way round. Print and electronic copies are inexpensively available here; otherwise you can wait six months and it all goes online for free. I am especially pleased to be sharing a table of contents withprezzey.
3. I spent the evening at a double feature of The Muppet Movie (1979) and The Great Muppet Caper (1981). It is impossible for me to overstate the degree to which these films wired themselves into my brain as a child. I watched them repeatedly on video. I had particular lines that stuck with me and actors I would recognize before I knew the pop culture they belonged to and I especially loved Brigham's pistachio ice cream because it was the closest in color to Kermit's dragonfly ripple. (Sadly, the ice cream really closest in color turns out to be green tea, which I can't eat. If anyone ever finds a way of decaffeinating it sufficiently to avert the migraine, I'm there.) I hadn't seen either one in at least fifteen years and never on a big screen. I'd estimate that about eighty-five percent of the script for The Muppet Movie and a solid half-to-sixty of The Great Muppet Caper is just there in my memory. Who knew?derspatchel came with me; rushthatspeaks joined us for the second film. It wasn't a nostalgic experience, just a great one. The Muppet Movie is such an incredible handmade thing. The two of them back-to-back are a primer in metafiction. Even if the Brattle's print of The Great Muppet Caper seemed to miss a few seconds here and there (RENOIR!), it was probably the best use I could have made of my night.
ashlyme and I appear in the same issue with stories dedicated to each other: his is the autumnal, fairy-fruiting "A Portrait in Rust" and mine is "The True Alchemist," which takes its title from him. I wrote it in December after dreaming that I had. Also included is my poem "Similes," which I wrote in February about the recognition of being happy. I do not assume it was the last time. It's a powerhouse issue; there's even a fantastic, Grant Wood-like photo at the centerfold. The theme is not dead yet: a good reminder for spring.2. Yesterday being simultaneously Easter, a deadline, and the first MIT Swapfest of the season (I bought an antique advertisement for hair tonic featuring a shoal of mermaids who wrecked a ship to get it), I forgot to mention that my poem "The Etruscan Prince" is now available in the latest issue of The Cascadia Subduction Zone. It was written last October after the discovery of the seventh-century tomb in Tarquinia whose occupants were identified by the grave goods buried with them—a spear for the husband, a jewelry box for the wife—before further analysis of the remains demonstrated that the objects in fact belonged the other way round. Print and electronic copies are inexpensively available here; otherwise you can wait six months and it all goes online for free. I am especially pleased to be sharing a table of contents with
prezzey.3. I spent the evening at a double feature of The Muppet Movie (1979) and The Great Muppet Caper (1981). It is impossible for me to overstate the degree to which these films wired themselves into my brain as a child. I watched them repeatedly on video. I had particular lines that stuck with me and actors I would recognize before I knew the pop culture they belonged to and I especially loved Brigham's pistachio ice cream because it was the closest in color to Kermit's dragonfly ripple. (Sadly, the ice cream really closest in color turns out to be green tea, which I can't eat. If anyone ever finds a way of decaffeinating it sufficiently to avert the migraine, I'm there.) I hadn't seen either one in at least fifteen years and never on a big screen. I'd estimate that about eighty-five percent of the script for The Muppet Movie and a solid half-to-sixty of The Great Muppet Caper is just there in my memory. Who knew?
derspatchel came with me; rushthatspeaks joined us for the second film. It wasn't a nostalgic experience, just a great one. The Muppet Movie is such an incredible handmade thing. The two of them back-to-back are a primer in metafiction. Even if the Brattle's print of The Great Muppet Caper seemed to miss a few seconds here and there (RENOIR!), it was probably the best use I could have made of my night.
off-top: Khodasevich
"If you are somewhere near any of these places, Peter Daniels is in America, launching his book of translations from Khodasevich. Wednesday 23 April: Philadelphia. Reading at Manayunk-Roxborough Arts Center, 419 Green Lane (rear), Philadelphia, PA 19128. 7.00pm. Thursday 24 April: Princeton. Reading at Labyrinth Bookstore, 6.00pm. Friday 25 April: New York City, Hunter College, 4:00-6:00 in Hunter North Building, Room C002 (next to Student Activities). Entrance from East 69th Street (between Park and Lexington avenues). Reading on Monday 28th 7.00pm Arts for the Armory, Basement, Room B8, 191 Highland Avenue, Somerville, MA."
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Oh, cool. The others are nowhere near me, but the Armory is twenty minutes' walk from our apartment. Thank you! I might not have heard otherwise.
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Thank you!
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Spring!
Nine
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I'm hoping!
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Thank you!
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Aww. That is adorable. Congratulations to you both!
If anyone ever finds a way of decaffeinating it sufficiently to avert the migraine, I'm there.
Can you drink decaf green tea? I have an ice cream maker. . .
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Thank you!
Can you drink decaf green tea? I have an ice cream maker. . .
Traditionally I've avoided even decaffeinated tea, because it's not the same as caffeine-free. I've had limited success with white teas, but then I've also gotten migraines from trace amounts of caffeine in background ingredients, so I'm wary. How decaffeinated can green tea be made?
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Be careful with white teas. White teas can have as much caffeine (sometimes more!) thank black tea.
I was able to find some information about relative caffeine levels from a lobbying organization, so take with a grain of salt, but according to these folks Lipton decaffeinated green has less caffeine than a 16oz Starbucks hot chocolate. I can't find any information on their methods or where their data came from though. This study indicates that starting from a fully caffeinated green tea bag, you can get down to 5mg/6oz with successive steepings, which is about on par with what the FDA says is contained in hot cocoa. This study was not peer reviewed that I can tell; its findings indicate slightly more caffeine than the previous one I linked (note: their brew cycle was three minutes, not five). It also claims that tea made from twigs has less caffeine than that made from leaves, a finding I can anecdotally confirm as I experienced terrible caffeine withdrawal symptoms when I tried to switch from oocha to kukicha a few years back. I would assume that commercial decaffeination processes are more effective than the home washing method, but I can't find any studies to quantify how much better they are.
I only keep using hot cocoa as a reference point because I've seen you drink it with no ill effects, but I feel like I ought to point out that there are other alkaloids in both cocoa and tea that might have an interaction with the caffeine to make your response better or worse, respectively. Please use caution if you decide to try this experiment on yourself!
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No, that's valid; I'm aware that chocolate contains caffeine, it just never seems to have given me any trouble (whereas I've experienced what I thought were inexplicable migraines only to find out later that something I'd eaten was made small amounts of coffee or black tea). So that's very heartening about the green tea. Thank you!
It also claims that tea made from twigs has less caffeine than that made from leaves, a finding I can anecdotally confirm as I experienced terrible caffeine withdrawal symptoms when I tried to switch from oocha to kukicha a few years back.
I had no idea that was a thing. Perhaps it's a place to start.
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Likewise! And I like this lineup especially.
Congratulations on Cascadia, too.
You should send them poems.
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It's really good! Write a review of it or something! You're about the only person who ever does!
And I remember the story of the grave goods actually going the other way round.
I want to write more historical things. I want to write more. My brain has been very nearly shut off with stress and it is not pleasant.