Thursday, August 30, 2018

Underground Man

"Er ligt in der erd un bakt beygl."
"He lies underground and and bakes bagels"
- Old Yiddish saying to describe a person depressed.

Task Switching

Baking is a controlled task switching exercise.  I might have three doughs to mix, one rack in the oven, three employees forming loaves, and a meeting about to walk in in an hour.  There is a necessary schizoid property to this that goes beyond your everyday short order cook kind of multi-tasking.  It is a sensation of juggling that ends up feeling like a runner's high.  Ernest Hemingway always liked to finish the day by leaving his last sentence unfinished.  To conceive of work as a flow, where one might drop in like a wave, is a means to be enmeshed in the world, and to achieve an immanence impossible in ordinary life.  The moment you tie up your apron like it was an obi, you enter into a world where you might as well be tapping a spiderweb with a tuning fork, and waiting for the resonance, set a whole series of events into motion.

Change is Person to Person

I never knew about Instagram until someone literally showed it to me on their phone.  Same for Snapchat.  Same for Google Maps.

Change is person to person.  If I put one loaf of good bread in a person's hands, that could be a transformation.  If we are generous, perhaps that could transform someone's day.  Maybe they will be generous with the next person they meet.  Maybe if we change the codes, and bake the good breads, we will feel the benefits of this difference.

Thursday, August 23, 2018

Ms Jacqueline Retires


Ms. Jacqueline has been on extended medical leave and now has decided to retire.  We will miss her dearly here at the Bakery.  Ms. Jacqueline Wilkins was the heart and soul of our operation for twenty-one years.  She started as a bread slicer in 1996 and moved up to eventually run the cafe and become head purchaser.  She has seen Durham and the Bakery grow and change over the years and has many stories about the old times before Downtown Durham became the bustling urban hub that it is now.  Her welcoming spirit and infectious warmth are unique.  She is one of the few people in Durham who might send off a customer with a "Have a blessed day" and it truly felt like a small blessing.  Ms Jacqueline intends to enjoy her retirement with her loving husband Theodore.  Humble as she is, she denied multiple requests from us to throw her a retirement party, so if you wish to send a message along, please contact me (Ari) and I can give you her email address.