The week of February 23, 2019 was the pursuit of ranch dressing; exploring the horizons of TJ Maxx; and avoiding Wallace’s Giant Bee.

In honor of our queen’s birthday, we hope that you get your money, b*tch.

Mash-Ups In The News:

The Latest Trend At D.C. Restaurants? Spam

Spam musubi? Spam fried rice? Welcome to the party, D.C. Spam continues to live long and prosper as a literal mash-up ingredient of mash-up cuisine. 

via Washington Post

These Are The Americans Who Live In A Bubble

“It becomes really easy to dehumanize people who we don’t have identities in common with.”

They don’t interact with people who look, act, or think differently from them. For them, diversity and difference is far from an aspiration. It’s the anti-mash-up world.

via The Atlantic

Baltimore’s So Segregated, Even Strava Shows It. These Runners Want to Change That

Strava doesn’t just track running routes — it can also track the segregation those routes reveal. Baltimore’s most popular routes mark the borders dividing its affluent and impoverished neighborhoods, but runners like the Black Running Organization know how to take action to change it.

via Runner’s World

How My Southeast L.A. Culture Got To Japan

Chicano and Chicana “lowrider” culture has spread to Japan. Just another example of cultural appropriation, or an instance of cultural exchange and general mashiness? As usual, it’s all about the people, communities, and culture — not the aesthetic.

via New York Times

A Critic For All Seasons

The only Black patron at New York’s finest dining experience might have a different experience than the white food critics who came before. “Restaurant criticism is fundamentally cultural criticism and just as our society isn’t a monoculture, our restaurant critics shouldn’t reflect one.”

via Eater

An Adopted Obsession With Soondubu Jjigae

Soondubu jjigae, a Korean soft tofu stew, is spicy, tangy, scalding, tasty and sweet all at once. Brian Washington grew up with Jamaican jerk chicken, but this Korean dish introduced by his friend hijacked his taste buds, and trust us, it’ll hijack yours too.

via New Yorker

The Latest Instagram Influencer Frontier? Medical Promotions

Why are former Bachelor contestants trying to tell you about their (suspiciously invisible) psoriasis? Might have something to do with her paid partnership with big pharma. Just a hunch. Is it regulated? Is this ethical? Hahaha.

via Vox

Oldie but Goodie:

I Was Trained For The Culture Wars In Home School, Awaiting Someone Like Mike Pence As A Messiah

Weekly reminder that the 2016 election did not come out of nowhere, and the Christofascist takeover of the US government has been seeding and growing for decades. They’re trying to “take back” our country for Christ, so we’ve gotta keep and protect it for literally everyone else.

via Autostraddle

Reconciling Asian-American Identity Within Transracial Adoptions

What is it like when you feel like a foreigner among your own family? When family photos surround you with people who “don’t look like you”? What makes a “real” Asian, and how do we reconcile differences in experience with authenticity? Meanwhile, here are Korean sisters who were adopted to Belgium and the U.S. who have been reunited after 47 years. Tissues, please. 

via NY Times

Leaked Footage Shows Tucker Carlson’s Epic Meltdown After Being Schooled By Dutch Historian.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson couldn’t even remotely keep his cool on NATIONAL TELEVISION when Dutch historian Rutger Bregman took him on, and we’re so thankful for cell phones for capturing this moment for the world and for eternity.

via Upworthy