another day, another rally!
big gretch
our governor
and
pete buttigieg
transportation secretary/new michigander
come to campus
to inspire and rally the troops.
—
“we can’t slow up because of our love for democracy and our love for america.”
-dr. martin luther king, jr.
Italy rejects Domino’s pizza, chain will close all its restaurants there.
American pizza chain Domino’s will soon exit the motherland of pizza.
No, not New Jersey or New York.
Italy.
Domino’s is leaving pizza’s birthplace because of the poor reception from locals. The Ann Arbor-based company recently announced plans to close the last of its 29 locations in Italy according to Bloomberg.
The popular U.S. pizza chain debuted in Italy in 2015 through a franchising agreement with ePizza SpA.
Domino’s originally planned to open 880 locations in the country, but competition from local pizza shops curbed those plans. According to Bloomberg, one way traditional Italian pizzerias combated Domino’s presence was by ramping up deliveries and signing deals with third-party delivery services during the pandemic.
“We attribute the issue to the significantly increased level of competition in the food delivery market with both organized chains and ‘mom & pop’ restaurants delivering food, to service and restaurants reopening post pandemic and consumers out and about with revenge spending,” ePizza SpA said in a report to investors.
—
Quotes from locals in Italy:
“Who is Domino? Do you know him?
Here? In Rome?
So they wanted to take pizza to where it was invented?!”
—
“No point in opening it,
American pizza for Italians? Doesn’t make sense. Maybe for tourists.
Like me going to England and making fish and chips.”
—
“I submit to you…novantanove formaggio! The ninety-nine cheese pizza.”
–Michelangelo, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
fyi – the term ‘pizza’ was first recorded in the 10th century in a latin manuscript from the southern italian town of gata in lazio, on the border of campania.
—
credits: christopher burch, n.j. com, domino’s pizza, bloomberg
on president’s day
remembering those placemats that taught us about our country
—
“justice is conscience, not a personal conscience but the conscience of the whole of humanity,
those who clearly recognize the voice of their own conscience usually recognize also the voice of justice.”
-aleksandr solzhenitsyn
the old mill, a boarding house, the glass lake, the stone bridge,
santa and his team, pine cone evergreens and the christmas tree
at my cottage 2016
—
once again
i was so excited to put out
the remaining pieces
of the tiny village that my irish grandfather built
way back in the depression
when had become an american citizen
he was an architect by trade
as was his father
he built this village by hand to exact scale
using
tiny stones
and
little sticks
and
heavy papers
with
incredible attention to every detail
all built
to share with us at the family christmas
i have very early and very fond mémories
of it placed on a big white board
with penciled in numbers for placement
so that every piece was in its place
beneath our christmas tree
with lights installed underneath
each building lit up inside
when it got dark outside
a train ran around the village
it was covered in sparkly cotton snow
it was so wonderful
i thought it would come to life at christmastime forever
then it was lost for a long, long while
i didn’t see it anymore
until
one day i saw its box out by the curb
waiting to go out with the trash
during a very bad divorce between my parents
i would recognize its box anywhere
i was lucky that i rescued it just in time
only a few buildings and a few accessories remained intact
my siblings and i divided up what was salvageable
now i love to set up my own little section of his village each year
i think of how magical it was to see it all together as a child
i wonder what inspired him to create this wonderful village
i wonder where he got the ideas for each building
i wonder how many buildings there were once upon a time
one of my buildings has the number 9 written inside in pencil
in my ‘umpa’s’ very neat and precise handwriting
i wish i knew more of the story of the village
i wish i could ask him
no one remains who knows these answers
a couple of old photographs of parts of the village that i found in the original box
“i call architecture frozen music.”
-johann wolfgang von goethe
caring for veterans shouldn’t be a partisan issue.
it should an american one.
– jennifer granholm
hometeam
detroit lions
played the new york jets
in a pre-season matchup
and i had the chance
to share the seats
with one of my grandies, (m)
at his first american football game
he
hooted
cheered
wore the colors
ate stadium food
jumped
roared
and in the end
we won
even though
it was a bit different
from his
aussie rules football
no shorts
but lots of pads
coney dogs and pizza
and
heaps of breaks in the action.
welcome to america.
—
“ the trouble with referees is that they just don’t care which side wins.”
~tom canterbury
here’s the most amazing thing you’ll ever read about our 10th president:
john tyler was born in 1790.
he took office in 1841, after william henry harrison died.
and he has two living grandchildren.
not great-great-great-grandchildren.
their dad was tyler’s son.
HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?
the tyler men have a habit of having kids very late in life.
lyon gardiner tyler, one of president tyler’s 15 kids, was born in 1853.
he fathered lyon gardiner tyler jr. in 1924, and harrison ruffin tyler in 1928.
harrison tyler has been interviewed in the last few years for new york magazine.
lyon tyler spoke to the daughters of the american revolution a while back.
it’s all in the math.
his living legacy continues.
—
credits: j.english, mentalflossmagazine, google images
my fellow americans
vote for what matters to you today
I didn't have my glasses on.... 