U: Uganda
V: Vietnam
W: Warhol, Andy
X: Xenophobia
Y: Yoruba
Z: Zest
Whew. X and Z were tough this round. Where to next, friends?
While I still giggle about some modern art because my cat really could do that, the fact of the matter is, it is simultaneously true that anything can be art and that work that isn’t to my taste may be a masterpiece to the person standing next to me, and I don’t get to judge. The most important lesson I learned from Andy Warhol is that no one else gets to be anyone else’s arbiter of taste; that has made me accepting of not only a wider range of other people’s taste, but also more accepting of my own and more willing to stand up for what I like when other people poo-poo it. I am more comfortable in my body and my clothes and my hair and my makeup in my 40s than I was in my 20s or 30s and I owe some of that, and my decreasing number of fucks, to this gent right here.
It isn’t enough to remind them, but at least it reminded us. It mobilized us. That doesn’t mean we stop fighting though. There’s still a lot of work to be done, so grab a copy of They Called Us Enemy. Read it. When you finish, pass it to a friend or a loved one or even a complete stranger. Tell them to do the same.
The people in the dark are still depending on us.
Hopkinson uses the Haitian descended versions of Yoruba gods, or loa, in House of Whispers, focusing on Erzulie and Shakpana. The former was associated with water and the feminine, love and beauty. The latter was the god of infectious disease and plague.
There are, however, ratios and formulas one can learn that will allow you to bake with, if not the freedom with which you cook, then at least with a great deal more than you can when chained to a cookbook. These ratios and formulas have been calculated with great care throughout the ages after what I am sure were many messy, and even some downright disgusting, failures so let us give thanks to those who came before and respect also the measurements for the zest of various citrus fruits they have also worked out for us (there’s a recipe for lemon meringue pie in Bake Like a Pro, so…).
