Hello, my friends. The days here in New Orleans have been amiable, the streets buzzing with energy, and there’s just something in the air… I can’t quite put my finger on it… it’s a fussy energy. An unsettled hum.
I took the long way home on Wednesday thinking I might run into some Eric Garner related demonstrations. No. Just brass sounds from young boys. I also found a few streets that I haven’t walked through in the French Quarter and the dwindling day’s light felt dusty and solemn.
The days between Thanksgiving and the end of the year are a mash, aren’t they? It’s hard to find the room for silence amidst the holiday rush, diamond ring television commercials, blog gift guides, and cookie swaps.
The world is still churning. Here’s what the Internet has to say about it. Distilled:
• What the Eric Garner Grand Jury Didn’t See. We have to see what’s going on. We really have to see.
• Weekend read: ISIS: What the US Doesn’t Understand
• The Golden Quarter: some of our greatest cultural and technological achievements took place between 1945 and 1971. Think about it… civil rights, television, space travel, medicine. And what do we have to say for ourselves now?
• Totally Obsessed: the new age of cultural manias. Ultimately, we’re obsessed with being obsessed. How trite.
• Chris Rock on all things.
• Here’s what we’re going to do… just so you know, it involves a shark tank and a fool-hearted sense of fear. Let’s go! Fear gives my brain the same rush as love.
• How To Be Powerful Likeable and Female from Jenna Lyons. Capable, kind, bossy, and all the other things, too!
• Sorry food critics / NOT SORRY. From Dallas’ top kitchens, reviewer Leslie Brenner is feeling the heat.
• Let’s stay on these coffee trends, ok? Flat White Coffee
• Meet the denim breakers: the people who are paid to break in your designer jeans.
• Now NBC’s The Voice sold 20 million songs without a single star. I mean… this might-could be a problem. What are we actually doing?
• This blog is beautiful! Fork Knife Swoon. So many lovely holiday recipes!
• Last holiday season I made Lip Gloss from scratch. It was a very good idea.
• Speaking of lips. I love a nude… and these lipstick containers remind me of something my mom would have in her purse when I was young.
You deserve a great day. Happy Sunday!
xo Joy
Annie
ISIS misunderstood? Wow. Just…wow. They are terrorists who cut off innocent people’s heads. I
mean, does saying that make me super “white” or “American”? Does that mean I have no culture? Yikes. What has political correctness done to us?
Paulette
Let it be Sunday makes us think about the world around us. What’s going on in the media. It opens up the blogs for the people to give their opinions. Not everyone is right, nor wrong. Still they can voice there concerns without fear of what others have to say. This is one of the things I like reading Let it be Sunday. It educates and instills in us to think, it opens the mind to new things going on around us. It does not make judgement in what we say or think or do. It motivates me no matter what the subject may be. Keep up your good work. By the way have you ever seen a movie called Still Breathing I think you would like it. Its been a long time since I’ve seen it but its filmed in New Orleans I think. Get it you’ll enjoy it. Paulette
Leanne T
Your Sunday mix today is just so spot on, I couldn’t help but add a “thumbs up” in the comments! I printed out the article on ISIS, just so I could read it again and share with my hubby. and I discovered a new blog, ForkKnifeSwoon is a great new addition to my blogs! Thank you for sharing with an honest and open heart, I hope you have a blessed Sunday!
Laura
Thanks for the shout out! Love these links too.
Willow Bird Baking (@julieruble)
“Let the problem be sorted out in court …” How ironic.
Ellen
Great combination of links, thanks for sharing.
Anne
I just traveled to Dallas; wish I would have seen the Leslie Brenner article prior!
Steph
I love the Sunday edition! Any chance we’ll be hearing a podcast soon? I’m suffering through major withdrawals!
Ella
Goodness gracious, bless you, Joy. I love how you aren’t afraid to inject real-world issues and some of your own beliefs into this space. Thank you for being serious [sometimes].
http://www.youtube.com/sparklesandsuch26
Amanda Hawkins
ps. Thank you for the New Yorker read. We have to face the fact that it is 2014. That this is somehow still our American reality. That this reality must, must change.
Greg
Thank you for the post on “flat white”. Am going out to see if our local barista are keeping up with trends. Also, thank you for highlighting Fork Knife and Swoon. I don’t know how I did not see them before this.
Amanda Hawkins
My lord, let me be one to just affirm that voice at the top of the page. We all of us have different faces, and voices, and versions of ourselves, and I obviously come here for whomever you often are. But that one, that black and white version at the beginning? I’d invite her over. I’d nudge her to write more. I’d invite her to join my writers group. Because she’s onto something.
chilebeanz
What the New Yorker article didn’t say is more pertinent. The incident occurred in a black neighborhood, and began when the black business owners went, as a group, to their local police station to complain that Garner was a troublemaker who was preventing people from patronizing their stores. They asked the police to intervene, and when they confronted Garner, he resisted arrest by refusing to follow their directives and he became belligerent. The officer in question used a maneuver that is legal because Garner was an extremely large man who could have easily injured an officer. It isn’t unusual for 4 or 5 officers to be required to take down a suspect of Garner’s size. If the suspect is on certain drugs, they can have the strength of gorilla. He was becoming more agitated every moment. The lesson to be learned is that resisting arrest is just plain stupid. Let the problem be sorted out in court and not on the street. Striking out at a police officer will result in someone’s injury, and that’s a given. Those who have a physical disability such as asthma should understand that they alone are responsible for causing a reaction by someone else that can result in their own injury. The person reacting to safeguard himself and fellow officers cannot possibly know of every encountered person’s medical issues. The black business owners who were hurt by Eric Garner are undoubtedly relieved that they can now conduct their business for the law-abiding public and that they won’t be bullied anymore by Garner, even if they regret that their complaint against him eventually resulted in his death.
mscate
so funny to see flat whites as a trend. As an Australian I’ve been drinking them all my life.
emmajeanne16
Fork Knife Swoon is great. Her photos are ah-mazing!!