Algernon D’Ammassa
@algernonwrites
Journalist in southern New Mexico, writer, retired stage actor, citizen. DesertSageNM.substack.com Signal: Algernon.26
I’ve been smelling the onions growing on fields not far from my house. “How easily happiness begins by dicing onions,” opens a poem by William Matthews that calls onions the best domestic perfume… www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazi...
They made a candle that smells like hay, dung, and marjoram?
BREAKING: Screaming Lord Byron is not going to perform at the America 250th Anniversary celebration. But everything will be all right tonight.
Getting ready to leave, I applaud my small hometown weekly newspaper, which printed some interesting reporting and profiled some community members. Keep at it, folks, and don’t sell your paper to the vultures.
In a prelude to an appeal, Tomas Rivas was back in court Friday for a hearing in which he asked the trial judge to throw out his murder conviction or order a new trial. Story here: www.abqjournal.com/news/tomas-r...
Jose Coll, provost and vice president of academic affairs at Western Oregon University, has been appointed Western New Mexico University’s new president. He starts on July 1. Story soon.
Advertisement in the April 3, 1940 Albuquerque Journal. It was on the society pages sharing space with advertisements for a sale on dresses at Martins, bargain prices for new refrigerators, a sale for Maytag washers, and an ad for ladies’ western sportswear.
It’s a good feeling to open the PO Box and find letters. Today I heard from Cologne and Lancaster, Calif. Sent a cheerful note with a joke to someone who wrote a magazine article I enjoyed.
Good morning. On this day in 1610, Galileo discovered three moons. What are your plans for the day? (He was later brought before the Inquisition and punished for stating correctly that Earth revolves around the sun.)
What a good day to reflect on ordinary folks who come through under extraordinary adverse circumstances, with quick thinking, decency, and bravery. This person’s name, by the way, is Eugene Goodman. He very likely saved the lives of elected officials on January 6, 2021. 
Happy Cervulus and a merry Feast of the Ass to all who celebrate. Bray three times and go out for a long walk today.
Ahem, the Journal told you why, a month ago. Story link in comments.
Frank Sinatra's father immigrated to the U.S. from Palermo in 1903. Sinatra's mother immigrated from Lumarzo as an infant in 1895. Dean Martin's father immigrated from Montesilvano and his mother was the daughter of an Italian immigrant as well. At the time, Italian immigrants had low standing.
A subject expert presented me with a not-excessively-technical document helpful on a matter related to some reporting I've been doing. Love that. His instruction was to "run it through ChatGPT for quick analysis." It's a 13-page policy document. I'll just, you know, read it.
Happy Boxing Day, a difficult day for news correspondents who depend on coffee shops for work space. Our Golden retriever is happy that most of her humans, me excepted, are lazily hanging around the house today.
Everyone mad about the Epstein files is getting a taste of what it is like when a reporter waits for a public records request to be filled for several weeks or months only to get something redacted like this.
At this rate, she’s going to get a book deal and the west coast editor job at Vanity Fair.
Oh look, Google Gemini is telling users that former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales sits on the Supreme Court. Good job, digital parrot.
Hey, Axios headline writer: The Nobel committee didn’t “snub” Trump any more than it snubbed me. Why are you playing into a false and disingenuous narrative? Also, ditch the superfluous subheads. Story reads fine without them.
Paul, I could not find an email address for you and did not want to start an account just to leave a comment, but your lede is referring to President Andrew Garfield…
“Fair play with others is primarily the practice of not blaming them for anything that is wrong with us. We tend to rub our guilty conscience against others the way we wipe dirty fingers on a rag. This is as evil a misuse of others as the practice of exploitation.“ (Eric Hoffer, 1958)
Not the right tie, and too narrow for his face. It’s inside the line of his ears which makes it clownish.
Before clicking and sharing the articles, maybe pause. There is no such thing as a tariff on people. It is nonsense. The governor who made the remark about New Yorkers moving to his state is trolling and certain online personalities and digital newsrooms are running with it for attention and clicks.