Samuel Foote’s comedyThe Nabob, now obscure, is the first linkage of picnic with the euphemism “nick-nack.” He used in the sense of dining en piquenique, which suggests familiarity. The alliterative corruption is meant to be humorous for those in the know of the trendy Parisian custom: Janus Time enough. —You had no particular commands, master […] read more

Potter borrowed freely from Aesop, Horace, and many other tellers of the “The Country Mouse and the City Mouse,” including  Mary Belson Elliott’s The Mice and Their Pic Nic.  “The dinner was of eight courses; not much of anything, but truly elegant.” Timmy Willie eats but is unfamiliar with the new foods. Potter refrains from describing the […] read more

Succumbing to ethnic paranoia and anger, the United States Congress authorized President Franklin Roosevelt to intern Japanese Americans whether they were U.S. citizens or not. The law was signed in February. In May 1942, Lee documented some of the “evacuations” in a series of photographs in California, San Benito County, California. Japanese American Girls Prepare […] read more