GOOD EVENING! THIS was the last day of the very long and ragged end of the New York City public school year (so long and ragged that one of the kids has already gone off to summer camp), and after the last school pickup of the year, your editor had to deal with the air-conditioner repair person, who was very nice but who, after quite a while of careful attention to the problem, had irrevocably bad news about the compressor on the barely-out-of-warranty Frigidaire unit in the living room.
Your creative director, meanwhile, is on a rustic holiday getaway. Therefore, by editorial consensus, instead of cobbling together a late-night full-length edition of Indignity, we are delivering one of our shorter summer versions today, and aiming to deliver a full edition at a reasonable hour tomorrow, with premium content for our paid subscribers. Thank you for your patience, and if you're not already a paid subscriber, please consider becoming one. (See: air conditioner compressor, above.)
WEATHER REVIEWS
New York City, June 26, 2023
★★★ High, silvery clouds showed when the shutters opened, but by the trip to school the clouds were low and dull, with the humidity almost thickening into mist. Still nothing had washed down the sidewalk. One weather app said showers were coming at 8 and the other showed no such thing on the radar. At 8, in fact, the sun broke through for a while. White bars flashed on a mockingbird's wings. Later in the morning, though, there was thunder, finally resolving itself into a downpour. After it passed, sun and clouds kept chasing each other, with the sun raising even more humidity from the pavement. A man dressed in a cream-colored sweater and no pants at all walked a bicycle off the uptown B train. In Morningside Park, a golden rain tree had dropped its flowers into a yellow circle on the path below it. A puff of wind brought a whole pattering of raindrops forth from the trees. Up on the usually desolate concrete and asphalt, away from the sunny swampiness of the park's soggy growing things, a decent breeze picked up and the air felt suddenly breathable. A few hours later, the Midtown walk from the B to the N/W was gloomy but dry. Clouds trailed dark, ragged bits over the train to Astoria. A saxophone played under the elevated tracks. Rain drummed heavily and briefly on the corrugated plastic roof of the sidewalk dining shed—so briefly that after it passed, the 11-year-old asked if it had really happened. Another glimpse of sun appeared and disappeared. The mugs of ice water sweated drops heavy enough to fall onto the lap. At dusk, the half-moon shone with a startlingly warm gold light through the gray and blue-gray clouds. At least one more shower came through in the night, as episodic and disconnected as everything else had been.
VISUAL CONSCIOUSNESS DEP’T.
The Pool Store
More consciousness at Instagram.
EASY LISTENING DEP’T.
SANDWICH RECIPES DEP’T.
WE PRESENT INSTRUCTIONS for the assembly of select sandwiches from Nine Hundred Successful Recipes, by Lulu Thompson Silvernail, Domestic Science Teacher for The Southwestern Milling Company, Inc. Published in 1923, this book is in the Public Domain and available at archive.org for the delectation of all.
DELIA’S SANDWICH FILLING.
24 ripe olives
2 canned pimentos
1 cup nut meats
2 hard cooked eggs
Mayonnaise dressing
Seed and slice olives in chopping bowl. Place the pimentos, nut meats, and hard cooked eggs in bowl and chop all as fine as it is possible to chop. Add enough Mayonnaise dressing to make of thick paste consistency. Spread between thin slices of buttered bread. Ingredients may be ground instead of chopped if found more convenient.
If you decide to prepare and attempt to enjoy a sandwich inspired by this offering, be sure to send a picture to indignity@indignity.net.
SARDINE AND EGG SANDWICHES.
1 small can oil sardines
4 hard cooked eggs
2 tablespoons horseradish
1/2 crisp head of lettuce
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
Remove sardines from can and take all bones from fish. Place sardines and oil, in which they are canned, in bowl. Place hard cooked eggs in bowl, also horseradish and lettuce. Chop all together until fine enough to spread. Add salt and pepper and spread on thin slices of buttered bread.
If you decide to prepare and attempt to enjoy a sandwich inspired by this offering, kindly send a picture to us at indignity@indignity.net.
MARKETING DEP'T.
Thanks for reading INDIGNITY, a general-interest publication for a discerning and self-selected audience. We depend on your support!