Aleksei I. Valentín (he/they) ✡️♿🏳️🌈
@aivalentin
🇺🇦 Writer, artist, PhD candidate | C19 US, New Orleans, immigration, religion, death | Disabled Jewish queer trans | Husband and cavalier of @thelionmachine.bsky.social 🪬
Weencycat has decided to go to school to become a pharmacy tech.
New glasses! I have entered my bifocals era.
Weency says, "Why should you never take sides in an argument at the dinner table? Trick question. It's the perfect time to take sides because no one's paying attention. Bring Tupperware."
Okay, y'all, I know what this is depicting, but it looks like a weird little robot to me. What do y'all think this Certified Little Guy is? Interpretive/creative answers encouraged.
It used to be that government poster art was done by skilled artists. It was respected, even masterful commercial art. You're probably familiar with more of it than you think. Like these posters, for example.
I have a name I can't suss out! Have a crack at it.
Since this factoid about C19 medicine and slavery lives in my brain now, it gets to live in y'all's, too.
Green onion Chee-Wees. The original, often imitated, never duplicated.
The Boromir memes are alarmingly relatable lately.
Today, I learned an anecdote about how Aaron Burr screwed New York City out of a functional municipal water supply in order to fund his own bank, in peak Aaron Burr fashion. Very on-brand. (From John Duffy's "The Sanitarians," pg 48.)
Today, I was blessed with Jellybean cuddles first thing after waking up.
Regardless, there are plastic babies and each year, new fillings emerge. A local favourite is Duong Phong's coconut. (They also offer durian.) Regardless, the cake goes away on Ash Wednesday. Then it's another year before they come to shelves. Remember to finish your cake by Mardi Gras day!
One bakery, Haydel's, revived the ceramic tradition in 1990, putting Frozen Charlottes in their cakes for an anniversary year. They were so popular, Haydel's began making collectable Frozen Charlottes, each based on a Mardi Gras figure or New Orleans icon, and introduced a new one every year. +
The baby represents the infant Jesus that the Magi were trying to find. Whoever finds it is traditionally obliged to bring the king cake to the next gathering. The baby has been a bean in the past, and they were ceramic in late C19/early C20 when they arrived here, usually little Frozen Charlottes.
Today is Epiphany or Kings' Day, the day when the Magi finally visit the infant Jesus. In New Orleans, it's the first day of Carnival Season -- and the day when you can start eating king cake! These tri-colour rings are ubiquitous in Louisiana come January, and delicious, too. +
Today's Complaints from Weencycat, Aged 3: Why is she not allowed to go in the crisper drawer with the vegetables? So cruel! She wants to commune with carrots!
New Orleans has been in loads of movies. But we still love our Joan of Arc statue. She's called Joanie on a pony here, and her annual parade to kick off Carnival Season is tomorrow night. She will fight unsafe space heaters.
Found a really exciting book of poetry at the new French bookstore in the Quarter. It's one of the earliest anthologies of Afro-Creole poetry ever published, and possibly the first anthology of African American poetry published, called "Les Cenelles," edited by Armand Lanusse.
I guess I'm going to be popping off at people this year.