PicoBlog

FYI, this is the Eilise Guilfoyle video that got me to finally follow her. —Kate The more you settle into TikTok, the more a community of creators forms around you, becoming familiar faces in your daily For You Page scroll. That’s usually how I determine if someone is about to blow up—if I don’t (yet) follow them, but TikTok has served their videos to me more than once, then the algorithm has chosen them to be the next big thing.
Claudia Piñeiro’s Elena Knows, translated by Frances Riddle, is beautiful and devastating. Those are the same words I used to describe Daisy Hildyard’s The Second Body; I’ve somehow been picking up books that reach me in a particularly emotional way, and I’m not sure I like it. Stop making me feel things, literature! It’s painful! The Elena of the novel’s title is a woman in her 60s whose daughter, Rita, has recently died.
I recently re-watched the demented 2017 dark comedy Mom and Dad for my podcast Travolta/Cage and The Travolta/Cage Project. It’s an instant cult classic about a world where a strange spell falls over the parents of the earth that causes them to want to murder their children.  Mom and Dad boldly chooses not to give a definitive explanation as to why parents suddenly transformed into murderers en masse but it’s clearly something supernatural.
Happy April, Fancy Comma newsletter readers! After a long 3+ years, I feel like I can finally imagine a post-pandemic world. Along with that, life has felt chaotic and bursting with new opportunities that may once again be possible — those simple things like being able to walk around with a coffee in a mall without feeling like you could create a COVID-19 hot zone. I’m looking forward to sharpening my social skills!
This is the 150th issue of my newsletter and I’m feeling anything but celebratory. Sorrow, apprehension, and dread is more like it. My sole subject today is the Israel-Hamas war — not the origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, divergent historical narratives, or the toxic discourse around “apartheid,” “settler colonialism,” etc. I’m fixated on the littlest and least powerful Palestinians, and the largest, most commanding Jewish imperatives. Years ago, Elie Wiesel, perhaps the world’s pre-eminent Holocaust survivor, uttered words that echo now with stark urgency:
Podcast Episode Watch on YouTube Gather a group of university humanities professors and ask them to give you one word to describe the root of the problems in Western culture and the word you’ll most often get back in response is this one: Patriarchy. They use this word as a way of describing historic systems created by men for men to dominate and subjugate women and other minorities. But what’s strange about this theory is the word patriarchy literally means “father rule”.
In Cajun cooking, every dish begins with the Holy Trinity: equal parts carrots, onions and celery. The Holy Trinity is a take-off from French cooking, which uses similar ingredients in different combinations to make what’s called a Mirepoix. In many ways, preparing delicious food is similar to preparing to become a great leader. There are basic foundations that each must possess. However, certain ingredients must be used in extreme moderation, if at all.
Customer Success Associates (CSAs) are more important than ever. They're key for helping companies retain their customers and drive loyalty by offering support and guidance. Because of this, there's a growing demand for skilled CSAs, and executive search firms are working hard to find the best candidates for the job. The idea of Customer Success started in the late 1990s alongside the rise of Software as a Service (SaaS) models. Instead of just selling products, the focus shifted to making sure customers reached their goals when using the product.
Elizabeth Barton (1506 - ) a prophetess also known as the Maid or Nun of Kent. Rafe brings Cromwell the details. She is down at Canterbury. She claims to have visions, she goes into trances, she can cure the sick. “She claims she can raise the dead.” Warham says “she is a blessed young woman” with a gift. Bishop Fisher has visited her, as well as the Cournteys. On the king’s progress to Dover and Calais, he stops at Canterbury.