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What will wake you up faster than 10 cups of coffee? ☕
Happy National New Mexico Day! The Land of Enchantment is presumably worth celebrating for an entire day. I'll find out for myself what all the hubbub is about a week from today when I'm passing through and stopping for the night in Santa Fe on my way east to visit my family IRL for the first time since late 2021. I expect the New Mexicans to greet me with open arms full of yucca flowers and biscochitos! No tarantula hawk wasps,* though, please.
Some days have a lot to offer! 😃
TODAY...IS NOT ONE OF THOSE DAYS 😒
Happy National Red Rose Day! Yes, I am aware that the roses in the It Will All Work Out In The End design featured above are more of a lavender hue, but this is what I'm reduced to when the random occasion powers-that-be are scraping the bottom of the barrel.
I mean, come on — National Jerky Day? National Peanut Butter Cookie Day? International Falafel Day? Nothing against these foods, each of which I have enjoyed at various times in my life, but none of them would feature in my starting lineup of can't-miss snacks.
Jerky is fine when you're on a road trip and feeling peckish in a remote location. Falafel & tahini sauce has kept vegans visiting strange cities alive for decades. Peanut butter cookies are a confection that exists. But, speaking for myself only, none of these snacks are among those that I have ever had an out-of-the-blue hankering for. Get it together, June 12th!
Tomorrow is International Axe-Throwing Day, which is much more exciting than any of the foods listed above.
gif via ABC/Grey's Anatomy
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Thankfully there are at least some notable births and events to celebrate on June 12th — perhaps yours, but if not...
• Eat some cake in honor of the following birthday persons: Diarist/Holocaust victim Anne Frank (1929), singer-songwriter Meredith Brooks (1958), musician John Linnell of They Might Be Giants fame (1959), comedian, actor, and Kid in the Hall Scott Thompson (1959), actor Jason "Jay" Mewes of the Clerks film franchise (1974), and Swedish singer-songwriter Robyn (1979)
• The earliest form of bicycle, the laufsmaschine — derisively referred to as the "dandy horse" at the time — was driven by Karl von Drais on this day in 1817
• The Baseball Hall of Fame opened on this day in 1939
• Anne Frank received a diary for her thirteenth birthday on this day in 1942
• NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers was murdered in front of his home by a Ku Klux Klan member in retaliation to the Civil Rights Movement on this day in 1963
• Anti-apartheid activist and African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life in prison for "sabotage" in South Africa on this day in 1964
• The US Supreme Court declared all U.S. state laws prohibiting interracial marriage to be unconstitutional in the Loving v. Virginia case on this day in 1967
• 49 civilians were killed and 58 others were injured in the Pulse gay nightclub massacre in Orlando, Florida on this day in 2016
• Pour one out for: actor and political activist Gregory Peck (2003), most notable for his portrayal of attorney Atticus Finch in the 1962 film adaptation of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, and character actor Philip Baker Hall (2022), who is probably most famous for his single-episode appearance on the sitcom Seinfeld as Lieutenant Joe Bookman, the "library cop."
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Alright! No new community Q&A this week. However, 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 adequate snacks,
Matt
Vilify me like one of your 🐍-haired girls
You know who probably didn't do much blushing? Gorgons. Medusa and her sisters Stheno and Euryale strike us as dynamic, empowered women who get after what they want, regardless of societal mores.