The week of December 19, 2020 was crawling toward the finish line. We can do this! And we’ll do it with these recipes on the stove; these k-dramas on bingemode; these songs on repeat; and obsessively thinking about … what if?

We out, fam! Mash-Up HQ is closed for the next two weeks. We’ll be back January 9, TWENTY TWENTY ONE. Take so much care of yourselves. We love you.

Mash-Ups In The News

Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett Is Key Scientist Behind COVID-19 Vaccine

We have lots of peeps to thank for our two unprecedented vaccines, and  Mash-Up Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett (a Black woman from North Carolina!) is one of them. Grateful for you, Dr. Corbett, and grateful for those bonus Pfizer doses while we’re at it.

via ABC 

An Elixir From The French Alps, Frozen In Time

A millennium in the mountains, centuries concocting the “Elixir of Long Life,” and one year under COVID. The world went into lockdown in 2020, but not much changed for the monks of the Chartreuse monastery.

via NY Times

Black Americans Donate A Higher Share Of Their Wealth Than Whites

A letter of gratitude to Black philanthropy, community, generosity and strength.

via Washington Post

How Putting On A Mask Raised Naomi Osaka’s Voice

The Japanese-Haitian Mash-Up and US Open champion wore 7 different face masks to honor the names of Black victims of police brutality. Read about Naomi Osaka’s journey to find her voice and have it heard.

via NY Times

Why The Irish Love Making Fun Of ‘Wild Mountain Thyme’

Americans might call this Irish-farmer-romance movie “good.” All of Ireland might call it “mystifyingly awful,” “unfathomably bad,” and “worse than the Famine.”

via Vulture

How The Pandemic Threatens To Destroy America’s Three Remaining Japantowns

LA’s Little Tokyo, SF’s Japan Center, Chinatowns across the country — historic and quintessential neighborhoods of Mash-Up America have been suffering throughout the pandemic, their futures and legacies in jeopardy.

“I feel for all my neighbors…If I don’t help them conquer this, I’ll end up with no neighbors.”

via NBC News

Separated By Design: How Some Of America’s Richest Towns Fight Affordable Housing

Affordable housing in Westport, Connecticut? City zoning, local officials, and wealthy neighbors are working to keep out anything worth under $1mil. Or, how invisible walls are built.

via Propublica

Nearly 8 million Americans Have Fallen Into Poverty Since The Summer

For the first time in history, army ration CARE packages are being used to help Americans. You already know it. $600 is an insult.

 via Washington Post

What A LA ‘Tamale Poll’ Says About COVID-19 And Christmas

The correlation between tamale orders and large family gatherings? Strong. And hey, Mash-Ups in LA: We have a tamelero for you. Call us!

via LA Times