Case of the Mondays? 😞

NOT IN THIS CUDDLE PUDDLE! 😻

Happy National Kitten Day! After a recent string of emails featuring comparatively blah random occasions, I'm overjoyed to have one I can celebrate with enthusiasm. I love cats the way Oprah loves bread.

I also love bread the way Oprah loves bread. We're basically twins.

GIF via Oprah/Weight Watchers

Today is also National Piña Colada Day! A concoction of rum, pineapple, and coconut cream, this heavenly libation is a product of Puerto Rico, rumored to have been created by bartender Ramón “Monchito” Marrero at the Caribe Hilton’s Beachcomber Bar in San Juan on August 16, 1954. Between coquito and the Piña Colada our fellow citizens in PR are really looking out for our tastebuds. Salut!

Finally, it is also National Wyoming Day, as it was on July 10th in 1890 that the great state of Wyoming was admitted into the Union as the 44th US state. Which is lucky for the rest of us non-Wyomingites, because Boredwalk co-founder Meredith and I just spent a few days exploring Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Park, and all I can say is: wow. We have a lot of breathtakingly beautiful places here in the US, but Wyoming really does possess an embarrassment of riches in the natural beauty department. My controversial hot take, though: Old Faithful is kind of a snooze-fest. Sorry/not sorry!

*****

• In addition to Wyoming's statehood birthday, today also marks the day in 1925 when the Scopes Trial began, wherein Tennessee high school science teacher John T. Scopes was put on trial for having the temerity to teach students about evolution in violation of the Butler Act, which prohibited educators from denying the origin of mankind as it was described in the book of Genesis. Now the site of the trial and the school Scopes taught at are historic landmarks in Tennessee. 

• Birthday cake all around for: German brewer and Anheuser-Busch co-founder Adolphus Busch (1839), Serbian-American physicist & engineer Nikola Tesla (1856), French novelist & essayist Marcel Proust (1871), actor Fred Gwynne of Herman Munster fame (1926), soldier & politician David Dinkins, who was New York City's first African-American mayor, forever immortalized in the A Tribe Called Quest song "Can I Kick It?" (1927), jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan (1938), singer & activist Mavis Staples of Staples Singers fame (1939), heavy metal icon Ronnie James Dio (1942), singer-songwriter Sixto Rodriguez (1942), tennis legend & activist Arthur Ashe (1943), singer-songwriter Arlo Guthrie (1947), Pet Shop Boy Neil Tennant (1954), Runaways drummer Sandy West (1959), Colombian-American actress Sofía Vergara (1972), actor Adrian Grenier (1976), and singer-songwriter & actress Jessica Simpson (1980)

• Pour one out for: Chess icon Paul Morphy (d. 1884), ragtime & jazz pianist/composer Jelly Roll Morton (d. 1941), record producer & talent scout who discovered Bob Dylan John Hammond (d. 1987), and Looney Toons/Bugs Bunny voice actor Mel Blanc (d. 1989). That's all, folks, indeed!

*****

Alright! Scroll on down to learn a bit about fellow Boredwalk fan Hunter! If you're feeling even moderately outgoing and would like to be featured in an upcoming Monday email (and are a customer with some Boredwalk tees, tanks, hoodies, towels, bags, or books to show off), just reply to this and let us know and we'll send you some fun questions!

 

We'll be back here in your inbox on Wednesday with some more random holidays to observe, historical tidbits to acknowledge, and fun links to entertaining content! Until next time...

 

Peace, love, and kittens,

 

Matt

Hunter flexing some magical muscles in his (sadly discontinued) Exercise? I Thought You Said Exorcise! tee.

1. What's your actual day job and what's your dream day job?

I am a full-time idealist and over-thinker. (Actually former pastry chef turned artist and writer.) My dream job? I’m a witch, so opening up an occult shop that’s a safe space for all. Also, having my poetry pay the bills would be tops.

 

2. What's your biggest pet peeve?

This makes me sound like a comic, but “injustice.” Haha. Annnnnd water on the countertop. 😅

 

3. What's a life pro tip the Boredwalk community should know?

Skim milk makes a lighter pumpkin pie. Also, not all witches/pagans follow a rede or threefold law. 🤷🏼‍♂️ Food for thought. 😈🖤

4. If you could have any super power what would it be and why?

Can we call “getting through to someone’s thick skull” a superpower? Some understanding could honestly solve so many issues.

 

(Editor's note: We can, and we shall!)

 

5. If you could curse your nemesis with a minor annoyance for eternity, what would you choose?

It’s me; I’m the annoyance usually. Muahaha 😂
How about never making it in time through that green light. 😈

 

(Hunter is his own anti-hero!)

 

6. What experience do you most want to cross off your bucket list?

Having equal rights, and not having them threatened? Annnnnnnd having enough Boredwalk merch to wear for every day?

 

7. What is something you wish you could go back in time and say to your younger self?

Honestly, my younger self would probably be dissociating, and wouldn’t even hear me. 🤣

8. Clear up a misconception (about your job, where you are from, or some other topic you know a lot about).

Though I’ve lived in New York for quite some time, I am a native West Virginian. While the people might seem Southern, the state broke away from Virginia in 1863 – being admitted to the *Union* (so no; it’s not the western part of Virginia). 😒

 

9. Where can the rest of the Boredwalk community find you?

You can catch me and some of my art (and hopefully poetry soon) on Instagram @Hunter_Loony! (Orrrr in a creeepy forest, here in upstate New York, cursing the patriarchy and capitalism.) ✨