Ancient Grains Archive
A Brief History of Nuts I’ve Accidentally Eaten
Ancient Grains, Food
Dec 19, 2013
Walnut, Age 2.
My first encounter with a nut was at age two. One of my father’s colleagues was throwing a party at his house. It was a swanky affair, where the children were segregated from the adults and made to stay outside and be neither heard nor seen. These being simpler times,
...Read More
Link Roundup
Ancient Grains, The Internet
Dec 19, 2013
My little brother got married yesterday to a wonderful woman he met while playing "The Towers of Jadri," who is not taking his name and did not make me dress up, so I'm in a warm, expansive mood (part of that is the gloriously autumnal weather in Chapel Hill.) You have my
...Read More
This Invitation To Share In Your Joy Fills Me With Contempt And Bile
Ancient Grains, Relationships
Dec 18, 2013
When I saw the little red notification this morning, my heart both sank and hissed in delight within me. How he has sunk, I thought to myself, and I was not at all wrong. You abject, you pathetic, you craven child, to come crawling to me, begging me to approve of whatever vile
...Read More
Mrs. Dalloway Buys The Flowers Again
Ancient Grains, Books
Dec 18, 2013
Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself. She said it -- as she said it every day -- to an empty room, just a little after nine o'clock in the morning, and appeared satisfied with the answer. She spent a moment arranging herself. Shoes had become more difficult since the
...Read More
I Love the ’90s: Cool Girls in Track Pants
Ancient Grains, Music
Dec 18, 2013
Beyoncé’s latest album, which I love, has reignited the eternal conversation about music, the female body, and feminism. Here's Mia McKenzie, on Beyoncé’s use of the work of feminist Chimananda Ngozi Adichie:
In Adiche’s words, a feminist is “a person who believes in the social, economic and ...Read More
The Only Professional Advice I Have Worth Giving
Advice, Ancient Grains
Dec 18, 2013
In the course of my daily work, I sometimes find occasion to visit coffee shops, where I am often witness to introductory job interviews. I could not put my finger on what exactly about these interviews bothered me -- other than the inherent degradation -- until this morning, when I heard yet
...Read More
I Have Arrived (On Late-Night Canadian College Radio)
Ancient Grains, Interviews
Dec 18, 2013
Please do not look at me directly in the eyes; I am a late-night Canadian college radio star now. You may refill my cigarette holder; there's a good darling. No, don't touch it with your skin; it's ruined now. Bring me a fresh one.
...Read More
A Christmas Story
Ancient Grains, Family
Dec 18, 2013
Heather Seggel's most recent contribution to The Toast was Class Navigation: On Being Poor.
In December 2011 I hung lights inside and outside my trailer. They were asymmetrical and droopy, but it didn't really matter because I never plugged them in. I felt the need to decorate. My dad had died in
...Read More