It's a holiday here in the US, but no one I know is celebrating. But I'm a little shocked by how many people are pronouncing that now they're unhappy with this country and can't stomach any sort of rituals about our so-called "independence." As my friend and yoga teacher Margarita quipped, paraphrasing Frederick Douglass, when I asked her if we were having a class today, "what is the Fourth of July to the Negro?" Indeed.

But here are some things from the past week that are worth celebrating:

• The Future Of — my friends Rose, Tim, and Sava were part of the "writer's room" for this show on Netflix, which seems to draw heavily from Rose's brilliant podcast, Flash Forward. We've only watched a couple of episodes, but I squealed every time Rose appeared on screen.
• Now that I'm done working in and writing about ed-tech, I am finding immense pleasure in unsubscribing from all the education and ed-tech related email lists. Highly recommended for all email lists, to be honest.
• I finally got my hands on some of the misos made by local fermenters Shared Cultures — one morel miso and one cashew miso. I used the former in some savory granola and in coleslaw, and I used the latter in pasta.
• The Automat — Kin and I watched this documentary about the Horn & Hardart restaurants, and I think we will probably discuss it when we record a podcast this week. Last year, I read a book on the "ten restaurants that changed America," and what's notable — sadly — about the Automat is that it did not (even though Howard Schultz claims that he was inspired to found Starbucks based on his experience as a small child visiting the restaurant). There's a lot that's wonderful about the movie, but Mel Brooks — no surprise — really steals the show.
• Kaia is home — she was supposed to land on Friday, but her flight from Seoul was delayed seven hours or so, so she missed her connection in Vancouver and had to stay the night there. Her luggage has been lost, which would suck under the best of circumstances, but considering she had bags with all she'd collected over a year spent in Korea, it feels far more devastating a loss. It's great to have her back here for the summer. She hasn't changed much; and yet she's changed dramatically — and not just with the three tattoos she acquired while abroad.