The Holy Grail Press
Proudly Made On Earth By Earthlings
Word of the Every So Often
alembic: (noun) an old timey name for a still; something used for distillation; something that works as if by distillation. In the alembic of Carl’s mind, Julia really did like him.
Everyday History
It was October 30, 2001, that the National Confectioners Association declared October 30th to be National Candy Corn Day. You know... the candy you only eat during the Halloween season. Kinda like marshmallow chicks at Easter – and the only reason you eat them then is because, well… that’s just what you do. Technically, Candy Corn is a slurry of mellowcreme molded into a corn shape. Just saying that makes my mouth water.
Candy Corn was created by a guy named George Renniger, who worked for the Wunderle Candy Company out of Philadelphia back in the 1880s. At the time, several agriculturally-based shaped slurries of mellowcreme (uummmmm!) were being marketed specifically for kids living on the farm. You know, stuff like pumpkin-shaped, chestnut-shaped, and even turnip-shaped candy. I wonder why that last one didn’t catch on? The thing that set Candy Corn apart from the others was the three different colours.
The recipe for Candy Corn was sold to the Goelitz Candy Company in 1898, whose claim to fame are Jelly Bellies, so much so that that’s their name now. And who can blame them? I mean, I’d much rather have a “Jelly Belly” than a “Goelitz,” even if they taste the same. It’s not clear what Candy Corn was called before the Jelly Belly guys got their hands on it, but they promptly changed the name to “Chicken Feed,” and that’s because prior to WWI Americans didn’t consider corn to be people food. Because of WWI, folks didn’t have a whole lot else to eat, so they figured out how to make it taste better, as humans are wont to do with anything, except maybe Candy Corn.
In the late ‘40s Candy Corn officially became Candy Corn. And it officially became part of Halloween in the 1950s. That’s when Halloween really started to be what we think of it as today – kids roaming the streets threatening homeowners with property damage if they don’t pony up some candy... and it better be good candy, too. None of that nasty stuff. But then, they’re kids. They’ll eat anything that looks like candy, even Candy Corn.
35 million pounds of the stuff are consumed every year, mostly on Halloween. So do your part. Buy a bag of Candy Corn today. Put them in a candy dish. Somebody will eat them.
Cartoon of the Week
"Be one of us. Be one of us."
Stuff
The Dust of Bones
Tonight is the night
when the dust of bones
beneath cold tombstones
Remembers.
They remember.
They remember when
their bones had skin.
And they weren’t buried
quite so deep.
They remember how
their fingers could prove
that dirt can move.
And they’re not buried
quite so deep.
And they remember just why
they shouldn’t’ve died.
And they’re not buried
quite so deep.
And they remember where –
the alleys and the streets,
the course of their feet,
the light and the laughter inside.
And they’re not buried
quite at all!
And know that when –
when the dust of bones
returns to their stones,
they never return alone.
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