Thoughtnami™

When I was still a kid, all bright-eyed, super-optimistic, and not world-weary, and the one thing I loved to do was visit the local mall in my city, Tower Mall.  That retail oasis was a haven from a busy week of school, but since it wasn't somewhere I could visit unless I didn't have a little change in my pocket, those trips were few and far-between. But every now and then, my folks and I always made a trip at least twice a month. It wasn't a big mall, mind you. Military Circle, Greenbriar Mall, and Lynnhaven Mall were all much, much bigger at the time, but they were far from home and tended to be an all-day trip.  Tower Mall had everything you could get at most other malls. The mall was open Mondays through Saturdays because at the time, Virginia had "blue laws" that kept most retail businesses closed on Sundays and oddly didn't go away until Walmart entered the region.  The mall was anchored by Montgomery Ward, Rices Nachmans (later Hess's), Miller &...

Warner Bros Discovery, a once proud and powerful global media powerhouse that has revolutionized the entertainment industry for over a century, is now officially dead. Back in February, the company has announced that it would be purchased by Paramount Skydance, a fascist-leaning media company financed by foreign governments who sponsor state terrorism and heavily favored by a despotic administration who feels he is the permanent leader of the United States and ruler of the world. And today, April 23, a majority of the company's stockholders officially okayed the deal, which is still being thoroughly investigated by several state attorneys general as well as a few global trade organizations. This is not the end I wanted to see, but it was one I was prepared to admit was always a possibility, especially in an era in our history where truly vile nepotic businessmen have determined to rid the world of progressive, diverse, and established media in favor of authoritative, fascist-leanin...

My grandma was the best cook I’ve ever known, and a lot of people would agree with me. She used to fix meals for church and family functions from picnics to massive dinners. I don’t think there was anything she couldn’t fix, and everything she made was done with love and care. A few months ago, someone brought up regional foods on BlueSky, and I thought about her and something she excelled at: Yock. Yock is a regional noodle dish from my part of the world that has Chinese and Black culinary roots, and to be honest, I haven’t had a good bowl of it yock in ages. I just knew my grandma made it better than anyone I’ve ever known or ever will know.  Here’s a brief history about yock. Yock, sometimes called yock-a-mein (a box of noodles), originated with Chinese immigrants who came to the Tidewater region of Virginia back in the early part of the 20th century. The locals largely call the southeast portion of Virginia "Hampton Roads" nowadays, though there are some who still call i...