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Edamame Are Eda-Yummay!

I recently stopped by my friends’ house for a visit. Instead of being greeted by a hug and the usual chips and dip, they offered me something else- long, green fuzzy pods known as Edamame. I watched them as they hovered over the bowl sucking the beans out of the pod as if it were their last meal. Not pretty but quite intriguing.

Of course these are good, polite friends so they put some pods in a dish for me, but the fact is we were all just sitting there eating these damn edamame non-stop. I had heard of this “soy bean” before but never took the time to get to know it. Big mista

ke on my part.

Edamame is delicious. As a matter of fact, it has replaced Cape Cod potato chips as my latest snack obsession. Thank goodness, since Edamame is a legume (or, bean) and unlike chips it is very nutritious and low in calories. Plus, it takes longer to eat and is almost a social experience.

Grace-ing North Adams with Her Presence

I’d love to write a fancy story about Grace Potter & the Nocturnals’ performance a few weeks ago at Mass Moca, but the truth is all I remember is drinking, dancing  and having a blast.

This is the third time I’ve gone to a show at Moca (Museum of Contemporary Art) without any prior knowledge of the performer, and the third time I have been very pleasantly surprised. While the venue isn’t ideal (kind of big and spread out, a little too dark and mediocre sound quality), the music has always been good enough for that stuff not to matter.

The performance by Grace Potter & the Nocturnals was no different. The  bluesy, chick-fueled rock n’ roll had the crowd (which varied from young to old, college kid to townie, to old artsy townie college kid) on their feet and shaking their ass. Well, at least the group of people I was with.

Grace Potter & Honus Honus... separated at birth?

Anyway, what’s not to love about a band fronted by a blonde babe, especially one brave enough to wear a completely sequined dress onstage?

Click here for photo album, or check out our “media” page!

Universal Healthcare: Why Does it Matter?

Maybe if a certain someone was there to stop it...

At first glance, the sound of universal health care coverage is a seemingly great idea.  What kind of sadistic person has their fingers crossed for suffering people to continue to suffer?

I trip children for fun in my free time and even I, in my kinder moments, have been known to grimace at the thought of a hospital declining to help repair their shattered tibias.

So what’s the deal with all these selfish jerks with their hands clasped around their wads of cash? Why are they so unwilling to sacrifice a little to help others?  Well, maybe some of them are just jerks.  But a good amount of them aren’t, and more realistically, that group of people may see the big picture.

The picture where that small sacrifice isn’t so small after all.

What’s the core of the issue?  Is this about money again?  Because it’s not about donkeys versus elephants (which would be a hilarious satirical fight that I hope someone someday is fortunate enough to capture on tape in the wild).  It’s about rights.  The same rights that others fight so desperately for, for issues like women’s rights or gay marriage, are being thrown away as an afterthought – if even a thought at all.  And I guess people have the right to sit back and watch their rights get taken away.  But you at least owe it to yourself to see what you’re losing.

From the Womb to the Workplace

A: People always ask me what it’s like working with my mom. The truth is, I’ve been following this woman around for her entire professional career.

It's hard not to be the envy of your coworkers when you get a homemade lunch from dad, and a mom around to cut it for you.

When she was a waitress I was a hungry customer. When she was a teacher I was a student in her school (I still remember the first time I got office detention, I walked into the room it was being held and– surprise– there was my mother watching over the other offending students.) Even when she quit teaching and found work in a crunchy little grocery store, I managed to pick up an odd job that would allow me to walk over and annoy ol’ mommo. 

R: I work with my daughter. Years ago I was a teacher in the same school she attended, so it isn’t all that unusual to share space with her in a “professional” atmosphere. Oh sure, she used to come to my classroom to see if I had candy when she was supposed to be going to the bathroom but that was hardly criminal. 

The Return of Futurama

Attention all Futurama lovers and Futurama unknowers:

Coming soon to Comedy Central– the return of Futurama! Wow, after reading Futurama so many times it starts to sound silly. Let’s just say ‘Rama is returning to television this summer.

Very exciting to people who loved the show, and also exciting for people who never got into it. Now everyone has a chance to learn about it and love it. [Wow Jackie, I never knew you were  such a fan. Is it after we watched it in M. Langford’s class? I always cry at the series finale when Fry plays the holophone for Leila and it plays a picture of them holding hands, o god o god. – ab]

Happy International Women’s Day! Psst, Do You Have a Tampon?

It’s International Women’s Day! And rather than burning our bras (Victoria’s Secret is not cheap), I thought Buntology could open up the forum to all our wonderful female readers and encourage them to share what they love about our gender.

For me, it’s the fact that women are able to be so personal with one another even if they are complete strangers. I think this idea is best exemplified by the “Drunk girls in public bathrooms” encounter. I can’t count the number of times I have bonded with women I had just met over boyfriends, ex-boyfriends, boobs, tampons, skin color (that was a funny one), all in the comfort of a graffiti-ridden bathroom.