Clipppings: Burnt Ale & Dissociative Fugue

[ellenkushner]

The New York Times offers a recipe for Red Hot Ale made with a hot poker. God, I miss my wood stove (and associated tools!). It caramelizes the sugar in the ale. Burnt Caramel is my favorite flavor (well, top 3, anyway). (If you don't want to sign up for the NYTimes, it's also here.)

Remember the 23-yr-old recent Bryn Mawr grad who mysteriously disappeared from her apt in NYC on August 28th? She was found drifting in New York Harbor on Sept. 16th, and just gave a fascinating interview to the NYTimes: she was suffering from dissociative fugue, a rare form of amnesia that causes people to forget their identity, suddenly and without warning, and can last from a few hours to years. “It’s weird,” Ms. Upp said. . . .“How do you feel guilty for something you didn’t even know you did? It’s not your fault, but it’s still somehow you. So it’s definitely made me reconsider everything. Who was I before? Who was I then — is that part of me? Who am I now?”

Our Boston friend, artist Tabitha Vevers, has a show up at the DeCordova (Lincoln, MA) right now. It just got a great review in the Boston Globe. The mermaid picture in the first paragraph is in fact owned by us; we lent it for the show. Very cool; someone from an art shipping firm came to our house to crate it up. There are 7 more images of her work up online here.

Comments

[themaskmaker.livejournal.com]

I want Red Hot Mulled Wine! We have an electric fire place. We can't have a real one, because our suburb rules don't allow it. Sigh.

On a funny note, though, a little girl in my son's class last year wrote a Christmas poem with the lines,

"We get up early
We turn on the fireplace..."

[casacorona.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the follow up on Hannah Upp. I hadn't heard what had become of her, and this is very strange, allusive story.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Ennit? Thanks.

[orbitalmechanic.livejournal.com]

Good lord, I completely misread the meaning of "found drifting in the harbor" and then could not comprehend the rest of the sentence! Got it now.

[sinboy.livejournal.com]

Blowtorch + Poker = win

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

OK, but we're doing it at *your* house!

[sinboy.livejournal.com]

Sweet! When?

[handworn.livejournal.com]

It occurs to me that you'd probably enjoy blacksmithing. Ever do it?

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Naw - I'm not into the tools, just the final result.

[lmarley.livejournal.com]

When I read the story of Hannah Upp, I made a mental note to remember dissociative fugue. Amnesia is great fiction fodder. I hope it won't happen to that poor kid again, and I'm glad she's safe and sound

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Yep!

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't a red-hot poker be an approximation of a sailor's loggerhead?

[dryfoo.livejournal.com]

I should send you my recipe for a "Franklin Stove" -- the drink, not the household object.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Cool.