Birds, God, and Aretha Franklin

Three weeks without a real blog post. Those of you on the paid subscription plan can apply for a rebate. Also, I've renamed this thing 'Weekend Update,' because I write it on the weekend, and any callback to classic SNL is a good thing.

The Audubon Society was in the news this week for deciding not to rename the organization. John James Audubon, like many white men of his time, owned slaves. I totally understand the desire to rename the organization, but I'm also okay with leaving it as is. There is a line somewhere between erasing every human that ever enslaved another human and honoring people because they promoted and defended slavery. I don't know exactly where that line is, but honoring some people for the things they did, in spite of the fact they were enslavers, seems okay to me. The key is to account and maybe atone for the fact they were enslavers, and not bury that aspect of their history.

This story of the Aretha Franklin documentary that took 46 years to get made is wonderful. Also, I learned what a clapperboard is, and why they snap that thing loudly when they say action while filming a movie. I thought that was a trope, maybe something left over from the early days of movie making. It actually has a very important function that is the reason the Aretha Franklin documentary sat in the archives for 46 years.

This website is wrong. Tacos and hot dogs are not sandwiches.

I don't have any crazy St. Patrick's Days stories for you this year, because I'm old. However, this charming story from Bitter Southerner about what it takes to get a coveted parade route spot in Savannah will fill that void.

And finally, those of you that were blogging back in the 'oughts may remember Waiter Rant, a blog by a waiter at an upscale bistro in NYC. He ended up with a book deal from the blog. He might have been the first person to turn a blog into a book. The author is a social worker in NJ these days, married with a 9 year old daughter. He is still blogging, and this week's story of discussing religion with his daughter is fabulous.