A beautiful room, a woman at a mirror, and one small red ribbon that changes the whole painting. My latest looks at Frieseke, beauty, composure, and the struggle to remain visible inside the pattern. tinyurl.com/5n8wresm #Art #ArtHistory #Painting
I expected Thunderbolts to be standard Marvel noise. Instead, it surprised me by engaging loneliness, emptiness, and human connection, even if it simplifies the darkness too much. That alone made it worth writing about. tinyurl.com/46ftw9j4 #Thunderbolts #Marvel #MentalHealth
Not every vintage recipe ages well.
This week’s experiment from the 1963 Good Housekeeping “Susan’s Section” – Baked Eggs in Cheese Sauce. The recipe worked… the result was just meh.
A little culinary time travel.
tinyurl.com/3ym6sr8c
#FoodHistory #VintageRecipes #RetroCooking
Great huevos rancheros in a Civil War town?
Maria’s Taqueria in Shepherdstown says yes. 🌮🍳
tinyurl.com/2w6kv5da
#Shepherdstown #WestVirginia #FoodFinds
Capture & proposal work sits at the center of federal contracting.
According to APMP, 81% of the professionals doing it are women.
Some reflections on the profession and the women leading the way – click here: tinyurl.com/57mf2ca2
Mid-1960s pop culture had a strange split.
The radio had the Beatles, Motown, and Dylan reshaping music overnight.
But in theaters? Beach party musicals and Elvis vacation films.
A fascinating cultural gap from 1962–1966.
tinyurl.com/mr3tr4w9
Susan’s final exam: 1963 Cheese Soufflé for Six. 🧀🥚
Ungreased casserole. Carve a crown. Don’t open the oven.
It didn’t tower — it didn’t need to. It rose and held.
Turns out confidence is just repetition + patience.
Full story: tinyurl.com/3xc2x4xf
#SusansSection #MidCenturyCooking #TrustTheRise
Not every cultural shift is loud.
In 1894, John Leslie Breck’s Grey Day on the Charles showed how American artists adopted Impressionist light without abandoning structure. Modernization, held steady.
Why that balance still matters: tinyurl.com/jc7zssmm
#ArtHistory #AmericanImpressionism
'One year of failure.' The Lancet slams RFK Jr.’s first year as health chief - NPR
President Obama had a deal with Iran that trump ripped up without replacing, and now we're in an unnecessary war with Iran that he started without Congress, because he's a small, petty, envious punk.
The Pentagon’s new BOND program embeds private-sector execs in defense acquisition to speed procurement.
Efficiency matters. So do guardrails.
In my latest piece, I examine the ethical and conflict-of-interest risks that must be addressed if reform is going to last.
www.linkedin.com/pulse/bond-b...
1929: Hollywood finds its voice.
The Black Watch, John Ford’s first sound film, is a story about loyalty, reputation, and institutions surviving through performance — released just months before global confidence collapsed.
Empire. Narrative control. Transition.
tinyurl.com/5xvd3mcx
When leaders narrate instead of row, institutions slowly decay.
Confidence rises. Rigor withdraws.
The truth? High performers can stabilize what they resent.
You can’t fix selection bias from below. But you can refuse to internalize it.
tinyurl.com/5df745ux
Early December above the Potomac. Staff in Bavarian garb, Jaeger Schnitzel that made me miss Schwaben, and gloriously vinegary German potato salad.
A Bavarian lodge in WV shouldn’t work. It does.
tinyurl.com/2wfkrpbv
#Shepherdstown #BavarianInn #GermanCuisine
“Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans?”
It starts with moss and the Mississippi, but ends somewhere deeper: “I miss the one I care for more than I miss New Orleans.”
Not a tourism song. A distance song.
tinyurl.com/4s9nej43
#Jazz #LouisArmstrong #BillieHoliday
Rereading John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty in an age where facts feel optional hits differently.
Four pillars: prevent real harm, defend open debate, protect individuality, limit authority.
tinyurl.com/56v5y3zs
#JohnStuartMill #OnLiberty #FreeSpeech #PoliticalPhilosophy #Liberty #Culture
Mary Cassatt’s The Banjo Lesson isn’t about instruction — it’s about modeling. A woman demonstrates. A girl leans in from behind, studying how competence looks up close. Modernity isn’t declared. It’s absorbed.
Read more: tinyurl.com/fc6ytcpy
#MaryCassatt #ArtHistory #Leadership
Napoleon shows power, intimacy, and war at enormous scale, but never settles on what it wants to explain. Ambition without focus turns spectacle into drift.
tinyurl.com/mwc774aa
But they are gestapo and they are kidnappers.
my theme song until all this is over - www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj3E...
The next recipe in the 1963 Good Housekeeping Cook Book was a cheese-and-rice soufflé. No warnings. No reassurance. Just instructions.
It worked. Not because of drama, but because of trust, patience, and teamwork.
Essay here: tinyurl.com/mpbh24vf
#Cooking #TrustTheProcess #Collaboration
My Fair Lady isn’t a romance so much as a wager.
A test of who gets reshaped, who gets praised, and what it costs to be allowed in the room.
Less nostalgic than disturbingly current.
tinyurl.com/yc8ff8c6
#Film #ClassicCinema #Culture #PowerAndLanguage #SocialClass
Actually I’d stop buying ford if they did take action.
Yeah he thinks he’s a bad ass
Statement by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell.
This is fucking crazy!!!!
Yes but that is our government now. Our own government opposes the people.
NOEM: “We can’t trust the government anymore.”
BASH: “You are the government.”
NOEM: “Yes, that’s what I’m saying.”🤔
The only honest thing @KristiNoem said today
When truth threatens the system, which does the system protect?
John Lescroart’s Hard Evidence feels newly relevant, exploring how incentives, authority, and justice collide when a case becomes bigger than the people inside it.
tinyurl.com/5cn7anmy
Not sure why you should be ashamed it’s our fault.
Week two of our 1963 Good Housekeeping Cookbook project stayed in Susan’s section. One extra potato (donated to the trash pandas), a sauce that taught me why double boilers exist, and scalloped potatoes that looked nothing like modern versions but tasted great.
tinyurl.com/22jsnzbr
