CultureDesk

The "slop bowl" — nutritionally balanced bowls of sludge that combine ingredients like ground beef, scrambled eggs, cheese, yoghurt and ketchup — may appear to be a very modern phenomenon. But according to @AtlasObscura, something like it existed at nearly the start of human civilization. "Recent tests run on “bevel-rimmed bowls,” found in abundance at Mesopotamian archaeological sites, suggest that these cheaply made, disposable containers were likely used to serve up pre-cooked meals made of grains, dairy, and meat," writes Allegra Rosenberg. Find her story about the history of "midday mush" at the first link; at the second one, there's a GQ story about what slop bowls actually are — because we had to look it up.

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#Food #History #FoodCulture #SlopBowl #History @histodons@a.gup.pe

Asian American media platform @Joysauce is usually focused on celebrating joy in the AANHPI community. "But how do we do that when things seem so bleak?" wrote editor Samantha Pak in her introduction to our Good Life newsletter last week. Here's the collection of stories she curated, which center on stories of activism — think Wong Kim Ark, the man who is responsible for the birth of birthright citizenship in the U.S., Hawai’i’s Queen Liliʻuokalani, and the immigrant women of the Jung Sai factory strike. "From organizing and creating new laws, to breaking down barriers and using art to spread awareness, these AANHPIs are reminding us to not lose hope, and to keep fighting the good fight," Pak concludes. Here's the @Flipboard@flipboard.social Storyboard she created.

https://flipboard.com/@joysauce/fight-back-this-aanhpi-month-with-joysauce-q58v9npns2ct362v

#AAPIHistoryMonth #AANHPIHistory #History @histodons@a.gup.pe #Culture #Activism #USHistory

At its peak in the 1700s, the 25-square-mile Kōhala Field System on the northern tip of the Big Island of Hawai'i fed between 30,000 and 120,000 people. Then came the Europeans, bringing disease that decimated the Hawaiian population and destroyed the traditional knowledge of how to cultivate the 50 or 60 varieties of sugarcane and 50 types of sweet potato that once grew there. A non-profit, Ulu Mau Puanui, is now researching the system, guided by culturally centered science, with the goal of restoring that lost knowledge. Atlas Obscura's Sarah Lohman spoke to Ulu Mau Puanui's Kehaulani Marshall about the work she and her team are doing, and the question she wishes she could answer: What would the land have looked like without colonization? "We wonder, what the heck was coming up next in their plans. Because we know all ancestors plan for generations ahead,” she says.

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#Hawaii #History @histodon@a.gup.pe #Colonization #Agriculture #Science #AANHPIHeritageMonth #Farming

What do you call a low, collapsible camp bed? And what's the past tense of the word "catch?" If the two answers sound basically the same, you might be from California. For Alta online, Adam Rogers spoke to linguists about the development of the California accent, which is influenced by Spanish, the Gold Rush, migration from within and outside the U.S., "Valley Girl" speak, and more.

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#Linguistics #Language #Culture #History #USHistory @histodons@a.gup.pe #California #Culture #PopCulture

There's little doubt that Singapore's ruling People's Action Party (PAP), which has been in power since 1959, will win the country's election on May 3. But @BBCNews reports that the government is pulling out all the stops to gain favor with young people, who are experiencing the same issues as younger generations everywhere: A high cost of living, uncertain job prospects and the specter of Trump's tariffs. The PAP has taken to social media, partnering with influencers and using the theme tune for "Friends" on TikTok videos, in order to reach youngsters.

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#Singapore #SingaporeElection #PeoplesActionParty #WorldNews #PopCulture #SocialMedia #TikTok #Culture

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made a number of incorrect statements about autistic people recently, one of which was that "they'll never write a poem."

Bradley J. Irish, an autistic professor of English, writes for @TheConversationUS@newsie.social about the remarkable corpus of poetry written by autistic people, from modern poets like David Miedzianik and Adam Wolfond, to people from the past who may have been neurodivergent or autistic. Neurodivergent poet and educator Chris Martin describes working with autistic students: “Time and again, I have watched my students … grasp the hand of poetry and begin dancing like they’ve been doing it their whole lives.”

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#Poetry #Culture #Literature #Writing #Autism #Neurodivergence

And so say all of us, @brianbilston@mastodon.online

#Poetry #Culture #BrianBilston #Poem

The website of the U.S. Mint has removed medals honoring the police officers who protected the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot. "Former Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, who was injured by the mob on Jan. 6, told NBC News that he tried to purchase a number of the replica medals this week, planning to hand them out as gifts, and was surprised to see they were no longer available." Gonell says the erasure of the medals fits a broader pattern. Here's NBC's full story.

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#USPolitics #History #Culture #USMint

In 1960, 16 newly independent African countries, including Congo, became part of the United Nations. In 1961, Patrice Lumumba, the first democratically elected leader of Congo, was assassinated. In the intervening six months, jazz greats like Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone, Duke Ellington and Dizzy Gillespie traveled to Congo to perform, not realizing that they were acting as a smokescreen for the coup d'etat in which Lumumba would be killed, and in which the Belgian and U.S. governments may have been complicit.

"Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat," a documentary from Belgian artist and director Johan Grimonprez, tells that story, and it has been nominated for an Oscar. Robert Daniels wrote a review of the movie when it was released last year. "It’s difficult to watch Grimonprez’s intuitive telling of history without feeling the sinister truth of world history: the major powers of the world only see countries like the Congo as an exploitable resource, not as a sovereign state," he says.

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#Movies #Documentaries #Africa #Congo #Oscars #History #Cinema #Film

With the Combahee River Raid of 1863, Harriet Tubman became the first woman in U.S. history to lead a major military expedition. Read about it @mental_floss, including how Tubman, who liberated herself after being born into slavery, repeatedly returned to hostile territory to usher other slaves to freedom along the famed Underground Railroad:

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#Culture #History #BlackHistoryMonth #USHistory

Black History Month began on Saturday across the United States, kicking off a celebration of Black history, culture and education. The history of the month dates back almost a century when historian and author Carter G. Woodson created Negro History Week. “I think Black folks understood what they had contributed to America’s historical narrative, but no one was talking about it,” said Kaye Whitehead, president of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. @AssociatedPress has more on the month’s origins, importance to the American story, and its perseverance in 2025.

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#Culture #History #BlackHistoryMonth #AfricanAmerican #USA

The U.S. Air Force last week halted its course on "airmindedness," which includes videos of the Tuskegee Airmen and Women's Airforce Service Pilots — the first Black and female pilots, respectively, to fly for the military. This was in response to President Trump's order barring DEI programs. Now, the course has been reinstated, albeit in an adjusted form that no longer includes specific DEI material. Here's more from Air Force Times.

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#DEI #TuskegeeAirmen #WomensAirforceServicePilots #BlackHistory #WomensHistory

#history