In the Loop: January 2023
This is How We Brew It!
It's our first newsletter of the year and we have a shiny new look! We have answers to your burning editing questions, a thematic playlist, high-quality musings you *might* not want to miss, and so much more.
Thanks for supporting us as we grow this newsletter and expand our editing business. Tell all your friends! (For real, though. Tell them.)
We hope you enjoy this fresh-brewed, high-octane newsletter. We only wish we could enjoy it together over a cup of joe. (Although what genius decided to call it "coffee talk" instead of "jitter chatter"?)
Editing Q&A: Did you Know?
A retronym is a term (noun + modifier) created from an existing word in order to distinguish it from a new meaning that has emerged through progress, invention, or development. A retronym is formed when a noun needs a new modifier to signify its older meaning.
Sounds weird, right? Kinda complicated? Check this out:
The term silent film didn’t come into use until after the invention of talkies. Acoustic guitars were just called guitars until electric guitars were invented. Cloth diapers, whole milk, meatspace, hand grenade, and film camera are all fine examples of retronyms.
Once upon a time, coffee was coffee (and it was amazing). Regular coffee was coined after decaffeinated coffee hit the scene. And nowadays, you might need to specify regular coffee to distinguish it from espresso, French press, percolator, or any other form of hug in a mug.
Wake Up and Smell the Playlist
What's the Diff?
There are a lot of sneaky words out there—words with similar spellings, similar sounds, or just similar vibes. Here’s the lowdown on some of those commonly swapped-by-accident words.
Pore Over (v.): To pore over means to stare or study something intensely, to read with great attention. You might pore over evidence, pore over a map, or pore over your study notes in advance of a test. This is no cursory glance, friends. There is intensity and close attention to detail here.
Pour Over (v.): The verb pour over is only used to describe a liquid being made to flow over the top of something else. Pour-over coffee is a brewing technique imported from Japan that involves pouring a stream of hot water through freshly ground coffee and a filter.
You might drink pour-over coffee at a café while poring over a book at your table, but if you were to pour over your book, you would be spilling something and you would probably be bummed out.
Cool Guides
Stuff We Like
Climate crisis equals coffee crisis. It’s getting awfully hard to grow coffee, my dears.
From dancing goats to George Washington, here are some fun coffee facts!
Like Shrek and Donkey, like tequila and lime: Some things are better together (like coffee and coffee cake).
Michael Pollan is super smart and says that you don’t have to quit drinking coffee.
Prince (yes, that Prince) performs “Starfish and Coffee” with some Muppets.
Kopi Luwak is the most expensive cup of coffee in the world but do you want to know why? (No.)
What if Starbucks were named after a different character from Moby Dick?
A rose by any other name? Coffee was called “Satan’s drink” until Pope Clement VIII realized it was awesome.
A coffee for the ‘Gram.
Bach’s “Coffee Cantata” is essentially a miniature comic opera about a disgruntled father who argues with his caffeine-obsessed daughter about indulging in too much coffee. We’re so fancy!
Futurama fans will enjoy this supercut of Fry drinking 100 cups of coffee.
Have you ever had a coffee nap? Drink coffee then have a twenty-minute nap. You’re welcome.
Once upon a time, Jim Henson made some wacky commercials for Wilkins Coffee. And he wasn’t alone.
Peel, pinch, pucker, puncture: Which coffee lid is the best?
Social revolution, brought to you by coffee houses. Complaining about social revolution, brought to you by coffee houses.
Pay It Forward
Meet Erika Dudley!
Erika is with the University of Chicago as the Director of Civic Leadership Initiatives. She is responsible for deepening the university’s commitment to leadership opportunities on and off campus.
If you give her a chance, she’ll happily share why she thinks coffee is the nectar of the gods. She and her mom are writing books inspired by their website, Onion Dip for Breakfast.
Erika has led workforce initiatives in marginalized communities at Literacy Chicago and STRIVE. She coordinated a national organizing campaign on community safety and police accountability at the Center for Third World Organizing. She was the yearlong interpreter-in-residence at the Smart Museum of Art and the architect of its Museum Educators paid engagement program, a first of its kind in the nation. In addition to being a chef, she is a trainer with Dismantling Racism in the Food Systems. She is the Chair of the Board of the Hyde Park Art Center, Board President of Urban Growers Collective, Board Vice Chair of Chicago Art Department, and a Board Member of Green Era Sustainability. Educated at Harvard University (French History) and Le Cordon Bleu Paris, Erika weaves both scholarship and practice in her work.
Pretty amazing, right? Click over to the blog, where Erika shares some of her insights about coffee in the Black Garden.
