It's summer in NYC, which means lines — and line discourse. Earlier this month, the Friday right before the long July 4 weekend, I went for a run and thought I'd grab some pastries from nearby Radio Bakery on the way, guessing that the usual line would be shorter since maybe people were out of town. Instead it was the longest I'd ever seen it. It went down the block around the corner and then around the next corner, a 100 people in line for pastries, truly a sight to behold. nymag calls it "the bread line, in some ways" (paraphrasing). Of course I kept on going, right past. And I came back on a random Tuesday morning a couple of weeks later, when there was no line at all. I got two croissants, a stone fruit one and an heirloom tomato one, which were admittedly delicious, all the more so for the smug taste of not having to wait. But don't mistake me for a line hater: I do enjoy standing around with a friend and catching up while waiting for something good to snack on, recently I've been doing something called dosaturday where we get in line for dosas at the Brooklyn Curry Project. Anyway hope this long line (paragraph) of text was worth it, here is line discourse #1 and line discourse #2 (bloomberg, nymag).
In other links from the backlog line:
- Somehow also about lines: Culture Is the Mass-Synchronization of Framings.
- The Dying Art of Serving Dim Sum, a lovely NYT Cooking video about two women who work together at a traditional pushcart dimsum place in Brooklyn.
- ze frank's true facts about the hedgehog from 2012 is pure absurdist nostalgia for me, so I enjoyed this interview with him about making things (via).
- Related in my mind because it's also about wonder and curiosity and creativity, and because I also keep trying to get other people to watch it: Wes Cook and the Incredible McDonald's Mural
- Finally a little bit of poetry (list poetry, also a kind of line) from The Types of People to Keep Around (via kottke with more links)
Enthusiastic listeners. People who don’t make you guess if they’re mad. Direct communicators. The friend who helps you clean your room. Those who are kind to those who can do nothing for them. Messy folks who repeatedly get it wrong but never stop trying to get it right anyway". As a socially awkward person who needs help knowing how to be a good friend, this is also a nice aspirational reminder of how I can show up for others.