Good Monday morning.
My social media feeds this morning are flush with content about self love and champagne pajama parties and home spa treatments and strengthening one’s female friendships and being a boss lady who conquers the world while maximizing work-life balance and prioritizing “me” time.
This can only mean one thing: It’s Galentine’s Day.
The only good thing about this made-up holiday is that it doesn’t pretend to be anything but what it is, which is to say a fictional celebration created by a fictional character.
In case you’ve been living under a rock, or perhaps are a person of a certain age who stopped watching sitcoms decades ago (hi, Dad!), we’re speaking here about Leslie Knope, the protagonist in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation (AKA Parks and Rec) who was portrayed by supremely funny and super talented Amy Poehler.
The show was on the air for seven seasons, but the episode we’re focused on today occurred in 2010 during season 2.
The episode in question – No. 16 of the season, and No. 22 overall – was called, what else? “Galentine’s Day”, which is, as Leslie Knope put it, all about “ladies celebrating ladies” by gathering together and leaving their significant others at home.
In this particular instance, the gathering was an annual all-woman brunch that featured a menu of waffles and booze. Galentine’s Day has since evolved to be pretty much whatever it is observers want, as long as they’re celebrating platonic relationships.
That could mean, as far as I can tell, people or any gender, sexual preference, and/or gender identity whom one considers a friend, even though the name of this “holiday” seems to suggest it’s reserved only for women.
This fake holiday – pseudo holiday? – is so popular that it has been coopted by any number of companies that seek to sell you all manner of Galentine’s Day. It’s right up there with Friendsgiving and Festivus – two other so-called holidays that were created by pop culture (the TV shows Friends and Seinfeld, respectively) and then caught on to become traditions in their own right.
Galentine’s Day is now such a phenomenon that it was officially added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary in September 2022. As an aside, Friendsgiving was added in 2020,
Perhaps you – like me – find Galentine’s Day a bit on the cheesy side, and you’re looking for something else to focus your attention on. Well, you’re in luck, because today ALSO happens to be National Cheddar Day.
This, too, is a fake holiday that was created by a company with skin in the game – the Tillamook County Creamery Corporation, which selected the date of its birthday to celebrate its signature product. But given how good cheddar cheese is, really the superlative of cheeses, in my humble opinion, I think I can overlook that.
Cheddar, by the way, is America’s favorite cheese, and accounts for more than a third of ALL the cheese sold in the U.S. Ironically, however, its roots are not on this continent, but rather in England – Cheddar Gorge on the edge of the village, Cheddar in Somerset, to be exact.
What makes cheddar cheese special is, fittingly, a process known as “cheddaring”, during which the curd is kneaded with salt, cut into cubes to drain the whey, and then stacked and turned, giving the final product a denser and more crumbly texture.
So, there you go. Pick your poison – Galentine’s Day or National Cheddar Day. OR, if you’re feeling really inspired, merge the two and serve some cheddar and crackers, or cheddar quiche, or cheddar fondue, or what have you, at your Galentine’s gathering.
I might be overly optimistic, (and yes, I’ve seen the memes about the vagaries of upstate weather), but maybe, possibly, perhaps, perchance, fingers crossed…spring might be around the corner? I know. Now that I’ve said it out loud, we’re in for a major storm.
We’ll have partly cloudy skies today, with temperatures in the high 40s.
In the headlines…
An unidentified object was shot down over northern Canada over the weekend, marking the third time in a week that US fighter jets have taken down objects in North American airspace.
On Friday, an unidentified object was shot down in Alaska airspace by a US F-22, and last weekend, a Chinese surveillance balloon was taken down by F-22s off the coast of South Carolina.
“I ordered the take down of an unidentified object that violated Canadian airspace,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement posted on Twitter.
The unidentified “objects” the U.S. shot down over Canada and Alaska are both believed to be balloons that were carrying a payload, a senior U.S. official confirmed.
Airspace over Lake Michigan was briefly closed yesterday due to Department of Defense (DOD) activities and has since been reopened, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
A top US official said that the stark increase in the military spotting and shooting down aerial objects in recent days may be due to enhancing radar systems.
Biden weighed in on the showdown taking place in Israel over Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s judicial reform plan.
In reply to a question from The New York Times‘ columnist Thomas L. Friedman, Biden said that for any fundamental change to be sustainable, consensus was required.
Biden’s call for stronger penalties to crack down on fentanyl trafficking during the his State of the Union address last week drew mixed responses from experts.
Biden has found a new target: the hidden fees and surcharges that surprise consumers at the checkout.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said the House GOP’s jeering at Biden during the State of the Union address last week was a “big mistake” by the party.
Gov. Kathy Hochul says embattled Rep. George Santos is a “huge distraction” and she wants him “gone.”
Santos, describing his tense encounter with GOP Sen. Mitt Romney ahead of the State of the Union address, claimed he received some positive words of encouragement from Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, the Arizona independent. Her office says that’s “a lie.”
When Santos allegedly gave his campaign $705,000, he claims to have done so in the form of personal loans. And thanks to a Supreme Court ruling last year in favor of Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, he can still repay himself every penny.
The Federal Election Commission is asking Santos to declare whether he plans to run again in 2024 after the Long Island Republican crossed a post-election fundraising threshold that now requires him to make a formal declaration.
The FEC says Santos has until March 14 to “either disavow these (fundraising and spending) activities by notifying the Commission in writing that you are not a candidate, or redesignate your principal campaign committee by filing a Statement of Candidacy.”
A Manhattan-based vetting firm is banking on the Santos scandal to drum up business, warning potential clients they don’t want to get “Santos’d.”
Kellyanne Conway, the former political consultant for Donald Trump, said Biden’s age will not be a hindrance in 2024, breaking with the prevailing wisdom among both sides of the aisle.
A research firm commissioned by Trump’s 2020 campaign team to prove his electoral fraud claims instead failed to substantiate his theories.
Trump’s legal team turned over more materials with classified markings and a laptop belonging to an aide to federal prosecutors in recent months.
As the former president lobs insults and calls him “Ron DeSanctimonious,” Gov. Ron DeSantis is carefully avoiding conflict. But if he runs for president as expected, a clash is inevitable.
A lawyer for Donald Trump said the former president was willing to provide a DNA sample as part of a lawsuit filed against him by the writer E. Jean Carroll, who has accused Trump of raping her in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the mid-1990s.
Named less than three months ago to oversee investigations into Trump’s efforts to hold onto power and his handling of classified documents, the special counsel, Jack Smith, is moving aggressively.
Real-estate bigwigs who dumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into Hochul’s campaign last year are set to win big if her proposed budget gets the green light.
A debate over whether to increase taxes once again is brewing in the state budget negotiations as progressives urge Hochul to reverse her opposition to increasing the personal income tax rate for rich people.
A lawsuit aiming to force a full state Senate vote on Hochul’s pick for the state’s top judge will be successful, ex-Gov. David Paterson predicted.
Hochul has scrapped the mask-wearing edict for anyone entering hospitals and nursing homes — evidence that health officials believe that the deadly COVID-19 pandemic has faded as a strong public health threat.
As of yesterday, health care facilities like hospitals and nursing homes can set their own rules for when masks are necessary.
Hochul is pushing a proposal that may be radioactive in the bedroom communities that dot the New York City suburbs that almost cost her the 2022 election: A plan to mandate more housing in suburban counties, some of the nation’s largest and wealthiest.
The governor’s housing plan is facing especially strong resistance on Long Island, the politically-influential region that’s home to millions of residents and boasts some of the most affluent communities in the United States.
Jeffrey Wiesenfeld — a CUNY trustee from 1999 to 2014 and open critic of bail reform and other criminal justice issues — said he got a message in the fall from Twitter that Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie removed him as a follower.
The top Democratic lawmakers on the state Legislature’s labor committees called for a measure that would create a statewide temperature standard across multiple sectors of the economy.
Anti-tobacco advocates in New York are cheering the effort to ban flavored cigarettes in the state and increase taxes on cigarette purchases, calling the move key for limiting tobacco use among young people.
New York State United Teachers President Andy Pallotta will retire from his leadership post in April, he announced on Friday.
The omission of a single Roman numeral in the text of the New York law legalizing cannabis for adult use has made it difficult for those with certain cannabis convictions to clear their names.
As one of his first major infrastructure initiatives, Mayor Eric Adams plans to reconstruct Fifth Avenue, wading into a fiery debate that has pitted high-end retailers and transportation advocacy groups over the future of car access in the heart of Manhattan.
Days after a controversy over transferring migrants to a Brooklyn shelter died down, Adams revived the issue when he appeared to mock the asylum seekers who protested the city’s move by sleeping outside the hotel they were being transferred from.
Adams gave himself a generous pat on the back, claiming his administration scored “unprecedented victories” during his first year in office and whining that the city’s tabloids haven’t given him enough ink for all the “W’s” he’s claimed.
CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez has imposed a hiring freeze and ordered budget cuts as enrollment continues to decline.
Alec Baldwin will maintain his roles as the New York Philharmonic’s radio host and a member of its board of directors, despite the slew of criminal charges and civil challenges he faces over the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
Embattled FDNY Chief Laura Kavanagh is facing a mutiny by her top chiefs, with five already demanding demotions and others threatening to follow suit in solidarity.
Kavanagh asked her top brass for fresh ideas to tackle issues within the department, but her chiefs were more interested in how far outside the city they could drive their take-home cars without getting in trouble.
Nearly half of the City Council Progressive Caucus’ members have departed the influential group in protest of a new set of policy objectives that includes a commitment to “reduce the size and scope of the NYPD.”
The fatal shooting of a 22-year-old man in Times Square – first since the creation of the area as an expansive, signposted gun-free zone – immediately renewed questions about whether such a designation can truly protect the tourist magnet.
Today, U.S. prosecutors will ask 12 people to authorize a punishment that hasn’t been levied on a Manhattan defendant since 1963: death.
Gaming giant Bally’s is betting on The Bronx — by proposing a casino next to the Trump Organization’s public golf course at Ferry Point.
Long wary on public transit, women who found other ways than the subway to get around New York during the pandemic could prove hard for the M.T.A. to win back.
An airplane carrying dozens of passengers from Scotland to John F. Kennedy Airport in New York made an emergency landing Friday after flames erupted from a wing.
The New York Commission of Correction concluded investigations on at least 90 inmate suicides at state prisons and local jails between 2016 and 2021.
Three months after the state Education Department told school districts to drop all mascots, nicknames and imagery related to Indigenous people, just four of 12 Capital District school districts are doing so.
The Coxsackie-Athens Central School District said it will be reviewing its social media policies after coming under fire for a Facebook post that sparked criticism from users who saw it as racially insensitive.
Halfmoon residents hankering for backyard-fresh eggs may get the chance to keep their own chickens, er, egg-laying hens, to be precise, as the town considers easing some restrictions that limit where the birds may be kept.
State agencies and John Brown Lives!, a nonprofit organization focused on human rights and education, are taking a close look at John Brown Farm near Lake Placid and what its future could hold.
Rent stabilization measures for tenants and landlords passed by the city last summer are legal, a state Supreme Court judge in Ulster County ruled Friday. But the historic 15 percent rent reduction passed in November was vacated.
Two former members of the Moreau Republican Committee say they were ousted from the committee because they were not enthusiastic supporters of town Supervisor Todd Kusnierz and the family members who dominate the party panel.
The field at State Farm Stadium turned into a Super Bowl slip and slide last night, and after the Kansas City Chiefs outlasted the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35, the surface was among many hot topics.
Capping a season plagued by shocking injuries and turnover among football’s most recognizable names, Patrick Mahomes, the Kansas City quarterback, dazzled in a Super Bowl win over Philadelphia.
Rihanna performed for the first time in a number of years last night, showcasing her iconic catalogue in a 13-minute Super Bowl halftime show.
Following her performance – featuring hits like “Only Girl,” “Work,” and “Where Have You Been” – representatives confirmed that Rihanna is pregnant with her second child.
After seven years largely away from the stage, the singer and mogul used the halftime show to perform a dozen hits, nod to her nonmusical business and announce she’s pregnant again.
Trump doubled down on his attacks on superstar singer Rihanna following her Super Bowl performance.
A lot of celebrities attended the big game.
Celia Cruz, a Cuban American singer who was known as the Queen of Salsa, will be the first Afro-Latina woman to appear on American quarters as part of a U.S. Mint initiative.
The mint said in a news release on Feb. 1 that Cruz would be featured as a 2024 honoree of the American Women Quarters Program, which portrays prominent women throughout history on the quarter.
