I like observing kooky Twitter as it develops to match what its users want, or claim they want. It fascinates me that something with so much activity around it hasn’t found a way to make any money yet, and yet they continue on their merry way. I just noticed this helpful obviously-human-curated development that they offer on their homepage: explanations behind trending topics.

UPDATE: Twitter is pulling the information from this user edited site What the Trend. Note: Seeing all Twitter trends clearly broken down is pretty weird, a bit like explaining a joke after everyone else laughed.

I’ve been selling books at the Midwest Homeschool Show the past two days; tomorrow is my last day. Before I say anything, know this: I was homeschooled until 8th grade and I liked it. I have six siblings, and I had really long hair and liked to wear dresses that my mom made. And I consider doing the same thing to my children. If you are unaware of how stereotypes  from the ’80s involving homeschoolers, jean skirts, and long braids continue to thrive, then it probably won’t make sense that I’ve spent a good bit of my life trying to make amends between the two parties (party #1 Impossibly jaded public school kid. party #2 Hopelessly cheerful dorkathon.).

So when I tell you that the dirty looks from the ladies down at the “Modesty Matters” booth convinced me to wear linen pants today instead of ever showing up in that skirt again, do not think I am purposefully misconstruing the situation. Nor when I say that there was a fellow exhibitor whose chosen cause was convincing all Christians to pull out their kids out of public schools. Even after standing on my feet and smiling for for ten straight hours, I thought it was a worthwhile idea to cheerfully banter with (read: frantically try to dissuade) this young man about his goals.*

When we started hedging around the topic of health care (I did stay in the banter category here) the only thing I could think of was an anniversary I missed announcing on this blog yesterday: The WPA.

Perhaps someone in a burrowed office in the pentagon thought the extraordinarily over-endowed advertising campaign for the 2010 Census was compensation enough. As we all lament, it was not.

As I romance it, the days of the WPA were the fabled promise land. Artists were paid to create posters with helpful messages. Photographers were paid to document daily life across America. And writers were funded to travel among the people and tell of what they saw. Unless the government is somehow behind this American craftsmen project, I can think of no modern equivalent.

So Happy Anniversary WPA! from one confused homeschool expatriot in Cincinnati, OH.

*(On the other hand: by golly these Midwesterners are friendly!)

My friend Grant, who is currently drawing away down at SCAD, made this cutout to accompany a letter to a friend. Grant observes:

Getting something like that in the mail is really fun because it doesn’t just sit there, you have to interact with it, and then when it’s done, you have a little collectible ‘thing’ sitting around.

This is just one of several proven reasons it’s good to keep artist-friends close to you.

It feels like I’ve been cooking a lot lately. I’ve made sultry meatballs with yogurt sauce, and saucy roast chicken husked in shallots, murky and satisfying chicken with lentils, peppery glass noodles with crab, and I have to say, none of it is making up for the fact that it’s been raining for three days. Cooking all that stuff does not make me feel like I’m living in a world of foodblog photography of the likes of smittenkitchen‘s glowing haze, and it certainly does not make me feel like I’m curled up with Mollie Wizenberg’s cozy A Homemade Life, reading about dutch baby pancakes.

But, what is always wonderful to look through, and somehow reliably soothing is Ming Makes Cupcakes. I’ve purposely included a tempting image here, with that half-cupcake that appears to be just above the fold but is actually just an image folks! It will be by sheer force if you’re still reading this and haven’t already left to browse the cupcakes. It’s true that I have not once made one of the cupcakes reciped on Ming’s site. But personally, I don’t think this website is about the cupcakes. It’s about the sheer click-stopping power of a well designed page. It’s a zen garden of food curiosity and eager trial-and-error (see: parnsip cupcakes, what?). Check it out and don’t bother coming back for awhile.

I like what Atlas Obscura is pulling out of the woodwork for their Atlas Obscura Day (NB: the Boston component is already sold out, capacity was 15 people). Eccentric museums, little known city-artifacts, and private collections should always be organizing exposure like this (Harvard & Oxford, we’re judging You right now). Those exposed might turn into donors some day, right?

Atlas Obscura is a nicely designed, user-written site that brings strange and unexpected tourist attractions across the world to light.I think it’s successfully done, and my Midwest friends should submit their own Abandoned Railways and Crop Circles to make sure they are well represented. Around Boston, I often feel a little weird about bringing out-of-towners to my favorite parts of the city (“So, this is that intersection that I like”), like the Round House of Somerville, and the Mount Auburn cemetery. This guide helps justify my feelings behind what is really nice to see when you’re in town. It’s yelp for the uncynical. It’s wikipedia for those who are actually showing up.