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source: Ambassador Ken Fairfax, retired U.S. State Department diplomat,
who has been posted to and served in many diplomatic and advisory roles around the world.
Nov5
front page.
Category Archives: history
Feb26
Black history.
Shirley Chisholm (1924-2005) became the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress in 1968 and represented New York’s 12th congressional district for 7 terms. She helped to create the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). In 1972 she became the first Black candidate for a major-party nomination for President of the United States and the first woman to run for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. Throughout her career, she was known for taking “a resolute stand against economic, social, and political injustices”, as well as being a strong supporter of black civil rights and women’s rights.
Born in New York City, she spent ages five through nine in Barbados. Shirley excelled at school and earned her college degree in the United States. She began working in early-childhood education, and became involved in local Democratic Party politics in the 1950s. In 1964, overcoming resistance because she was a woman, she was elected to the New York State Assembly. Four years later, she was elected to Congress, where she led the expansion of food and nutrition programs for the poor and rose to party leadership. She retired from Congress in 1983 and taught at Mount Holyoke College while continuing her political organizing. Although nominated for the ambassadorship to Jamaica in 1993, health issues caused her to withdraw. In 2015, Chisholm was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
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‘Black history is world history.
it is not an elective, a footnote, or a trend.
it is the foundation, the blueprint
the unshakeable truth
that we have always been here –
building, creating, and leading.’
-andrea bolder
Dec11
words have no wings.
From the Library of Congress:
On National Christmas Card Day we are pleased to share, from the Library’s Rare Book and Special Collections Division, a copy of the first commercial Christmas card, created in 1843.
It was, by coincidence, the same year that Charles Dickens published “A Christmas Carol.”
The two creations, and the iconography they inspired, went a long way toward establishing the Victorian concept of Christmas, which, in turn, we now regard as the “traditional” Christmas.
Henry Cole, a British civil servant and patron of the arts, commissioned friend and illustrator John Calcott Horsley to design a card that he could send to friends and family in lieu of writing lengthy Christmas letters. Horsley used chromolithography, a process suited to making lots and lots of copies.
You can see the lines at the top and bottom of the card where recipient and sender names are meant to be written. Horsley signed this card in the “From” field in the bottom right corner.
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‘words have no wings, but they can fly a thousand miles.’
-korean proverb
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Image: The very first mass-produced Christmas card, 1843.
Illustrated by John Calcott Horsley. 1843.
Photographed by Shawn Miller/Library of Congress.
Oct17
haint.
this is the haint blue ceiling of the porch on the very old house
where we are staying in south carolina
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Haint Blue is a term used for a range of pale, blue-green colors that are similar to the color of water or the sky. They’re often used to paint the porch ceilings of homes in the southern United States. The reason people paint their porch ceilings this color is a tale of tradition from the Deep South.
The word “haint” is a colloquial way to pronounce “haunt,” another word for ghosts or evil spirits. The word comes from the Gullah, a community of people descended from West African enslaved people who settled on the coast of Georgia and South Carolina.
The Gullah people created this color by mixing indigo with lime, milk, and other natural ingredients. They painted porch ceilings, shutters, and even doors in this shade to keep away “haints” aka. restless spirits. The idea was simple but powerful: they believed that haints were afraid of water, spirits couldn’t cross water or sky, and so the color blue would protect the home.
Haint Blue paint was a form of protection for the Gullah and the southern communities embraced it wholeheartedly. That’s why so many porch ceilings throughout the south are painted a beautiful light blue-green, which has become known as haint blue.This color is tied to memory, protection, and survival.
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‘color is a power which directly influences the soul.’
-wassily kandinsky
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charleston, south carolina, usa, October 2025
Aug26
fighting words.
our founding fathers irked england by inventing american english
thomas jefferson is credited with coining over 100 words — more than any other president. among the words the third president introduced are “indecipherable,” “belittle,” and “pedicure,” the latter of which means to care for the feet and toenails. “Pedicure” was one of several words that Jefferson borrowed from the French after spending many years in Paris.
next time you get your pedicure,
you’ll have TJ to thank for bringing this word to us,
otherwise you wouldn’t have known what service to ask for
when you booked your appointment.
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‘where can i find a man who has forgotten words so i can have a word with him?’
-zhuangzi
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source credits: VOA, Saturday Evening Post
Jun19
Juneteenth – a story of progress.
Alonzo Adams – A Griot’s Vision (Courtesy of ArtPride New Jersey)
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“What I love about Juneteenth is that even in that extended wait, we still find something to celebrate. Even though the story has never been tidy, and Black folks have had to march and fight for every inch of our freedom, our story is nonetheless one of progress.”
– Michelle Obama | Lawyer, Writer, & Former First Lady of the United States
Sep21
waffle frolic.
‘why can’t i just eat my waffle?’
– barack obama
Early Americans held waffle-eating parties called “waffle frolics.”
Brunch has an understandable hold on Americans — after all, who can pass up the opportunity to enjoy a delicious smattering of sweet and savory plates (alongside good company, of course)? Apparently, Americans of the past couldn’t say no either, gathering to share food and fun at so-called “waffle frolics.” These waffle-eating get-togethers were most popular during the colonial era, eventually petering out by the mid-20th century. At their peak, they were elaborate, multi-course meals that showcased freshly ironed waffles as the main course.
Little is recorded about the particulars of early waffle frolics, but one description, by William Livingstone, a 21-year-old Yale student who recounted his party experience in a 1744 letter, describes the soiree as a lavish affair. “After a few games, a magnificent supper appeared in grand order and decorum,” he wrote. “But for my own part I was not a little grieved that so luxurious a feast should come under the name of a wafel-frolic, because if this be the case I must expect but a few wafel-frolics for the future.”
Waffles have been widely eaten throughout Europe since the Middle Ages, sold by street vendors and often consumed on religious holidays. Eventually, they made their way to the American colonies alongside the Pilgrims, and it was in the New World where they were paired with maple syrup for the first time. Culinary lore sometimes suggests it was founding father Thomas Jefferson who ignited the waffle frolic craze in the 1790s upon his return from France, after he arrived with four waffle irons in his luggage. As president, Jefferson reportedly served the treat to Meriwether Lewis at the White House prior to the Lewis and Clark expedition.
‘a wafffle is like a pancake with a syrup trap.’
-mitch hedberg
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Waffles cooked and served every minute at Waffle House restaurants -145
Weight (in pounds) of the world’s largest waffle, created in the Netherlands in 2013 – 110
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image and source credits: interesting facts, waffle house, babycenter.com, king arthur baking
Jul2
an instant out of time.
The first candid photograph of a person was taken in 1838.
Before the 19th century, photography did not exist, so people who wanted a lasting image of their home, their family, or themselves had to have one painted, sculpted, or drawn. In the early 1800s, inventors in France and England were at the center of the effort to create photographic representations of objects and people. In France, Joseph Nicéphore Niépce stunned the world in 1827 when he released what is believed to be the first photograph ever taken, titled “View from the Window at Le Gras.” Niépce rendered the image using a camera obscura combined with a light-sensitive metal plate, a process he called heliography. Despite its success, the heliograph required several days of exposure to capture the scene, eliminating the opportunity to photograph any people who may have been on the street
In 1829, Niépce met artist and printmaker Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre. Each man was familiar with the other’s work. Niépce admired Daguerre’s rotating diorama that had captivated Parisian audiences in 1822. Daguerre, like Niépce, saw the potential of improving upon the camera obscura to create clear and permanent images. They entered into a business partnership that resulted in the creation of the daguerreotype, an innovative photographic process that required only four to five minutes of exposure. The quicker shutter speed allowed Daguerre’s camera to capture an image never seen before: a photo of a human being. In 1838, he debuted a daguerreotype of a street scene on the Boulevard du Temple in Paris. In the lower left corner of the photo we can see a man having his shoes shined; remaining stationary allowed him to be included in the photo, something that would have been impossible using the multiple-day exposure that heliographs required. This anonymous stranger on Boulevard du Temple was not simply the subject of the world’s first candid photograph— he’s also believed to be the first human being ever photographed.
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“photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still.”
– dorothea lange
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source credit: historyfacts
Jun19
on *juneteenth.
Jordi Prat Pons.Books that had been cast aside, unwanted.
Villa del Arte Galleries Barcelona (at Mandarin Oriental). Passeig de Gràcia 38-40
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“it really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. we are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tired into a single garment of destiny. whatever affects one destiny, affects all indirectly.”
-REV. DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.
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*Juneteenth (short for “June Nineteenth”) marks the day when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas in 1865 to take control of the state and ensure that all enslaved people be freed. The troops’ arrival came a full two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Juneteenth honors the end to slavery in the United States and is considered the longest-running African American holiday. On June 17, 2021, it officially became a federal holiday.
Apr19
amazons.
Archaeologists have discovered evidence that some Greek myths might be more than just stories. Per The Observer, researchers excavated graves in Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan, and found “battle-scarred female archers” buried with weapons, including arrowheads, a dagger, and a mace.
This information, combined with previous findings, suggests that the women may have been Amazons who lived 4,000 years ago. The Amazons were a group of skilled female warriors and hunters who often came head-to-head with the Greeks, according to epic poems like the Iliad and Argonautica.
But as historian Bettany Hughes told The Observer, they were likely real people who lived beyond literature. “It shows that there’s truth behind the myths and legends of ancient Greece,” she said of the archaeological findings. She explores the discovery further in a new documentary series, Bettany Hughes’ Treasures of the World, which recently premiered on the U.K.’s Channel 4.
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“Strength is not measured by physical prowess,
but by the indomitable spirit of a warrior woman.”
– suzanne collins, (author of the hunger games)
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Source credits: image: dea/g.dagliorti/de agostini, text -the observer
