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Jan 14, 2023Liked by Roni Loren

Home Ec was required for girls back when I was in the 7th grade (while Shop was required for boys; this was 1971). It was actually a useful class for me, the cooking part especially as I'd never done anything more elaborate than make a sandwich before then. I still remember the family dinner I made all by myself as a homework assignment - beef tips in gravy with rice, steamed broccoli in garlic sauce with mushrooms, and yeast rolls. Turns out mise en place is a big help.

I'm looking forward to Good Girl Fail! I got Leigh Bardugo's latest this past Tuesday and am rereading the first book right now (the new one's a sequel). I should finish both of hers this weekend, thus clearing the way for the coming Tuesday's new arrival. :)

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The Secret History of Home Economics: How Trailblazing Women Harnessed the Power of Home and Changed the Way We Live by Danielle Dreilinger sounds amazing.

While the Home Ec. classes were still offered when I was in middle and high school, if you were on the college prep track, you were discouraged from taking them, so I didn't. I wish I had had some of those classes.

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Jan 13, 2023Liked by Roni Loren

This is not going to be quite the response you're expecting: it's funny how I gained a plethora of adulting skills from my honours BFA in art studio where I was taught a variety of practical skills (working with a wide variety of tools to build oversized canvas stretchers, woodcut printing blocks and wooden sculptures, welding to create armitures for clay and plaster sculptures, as well as working with molten bronze). We won't even get into the mental training to creatively and practically approach any production challenge I ran into. That balance of right and left brain thinking has set me up for life. When I eventually left the world of being an art and photography high-school teacher when I had children later in my 30's, that practicality kept me from hiring cleaning, plumbing, and much renovation help thereby saving that money for investing. All that from a degree most people now believe only prepares you for the life of a starving artist.

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Jan 13, 2023Liked by Roni Loren

I love random history stuff, so I'm siding with you rather than Dawn on the Home Ec book. Yay for weird Roni picks! Amazon keeps reminding that I recently looked at Ten Tomatoes that Changed the World, so I may need to go ahead and grab that one too.

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