Articles published under The Department are by the collective editorial board.
The Department of Information Office of Public Awareness, Division of Film, Radio, Television, and Books is proud to release the first publication in a series of unsanctioned but greatly improved reproductions of original USDA Fruit and Vegetable Market News Reports from the National Agricultural Library. These semi-faithful reproductions have been lovingly brought back to life […]
The United States Department of Agriculture began publishing reports on supplies, demand, and prices of “over 400 fresh fruit, vegetable, nut, ornamental, and other specialty crops” in 1915 according to a strange corner of the USDA National Agricultural Library website. These “Fruit and Vegetable Market News reports” were and are published under something called the Agricultural Marketing Service and are intended to help growers, buyers, and producers navigate an often fluctuating produce market.
Garbology – noun – Garbology is the study of trash and modern waste, focusing on its origins and serving as a major source of information on nature and human society.
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) is a nonviolent movement promoting boycotts, divestments, and economic sanctions against Israel. Its objective is to pressure Israel to meet its obligations under international law. In the spirit of the current moment we have instructed one of our officers to compile a collection of some of the more interesting BDS […]
On a recent Department field trip to a local bookstore (for our bi-monthly cultural enrichment outing and team-building activity), our visiting botanist-in-residence and eclectic zine expert, Bjorn, picked up an interesting book by Brooklyn-based artist, designer, and author, Nikki Scioscia. Sentient Sidewalk: Lessons from New York City’s Wild Medicinal Plants is a striking risograph-printed and […]
To kick off our new ongoing visual series, ‘Back to the Office’, we are taking a stroll down memory lane. Which specific memory, you might ask? The one where you drove your Oldsmobile to a sleek, carpeted 1980s corporate office building on the edge of town near the mall and the interstate. We are taking a look at the absolute best reception areas and common spaces from the 1980s commercial office buildings.
Wow, what a year. With 2024 just around the corner we are looking back at some of the most exciting requests for proposals, goods, or services in government or quasi-government spaces in 2023. Here are eight procurement listings and notices that absolutely blew our socks off.
Governmentality – noun – The art of government; or the organized practices, mentalities, rationalities, and techniques through which subjects are governed by a positive means rather than a disciplinarian—as first introduced by French philosopher Michel Foucault.
Sensorium – noun – The sensory apparatus as a whole through which someone or something experiences the environment around them—feeling, seeing, smelling, hearing, sensing, etc—and use of physical and remote faculties of the mind, phenomenal and psychological perception, cognition, intelligence, and intuition. The seat of sensation.
During a recent official Department research expedition that took place deep in the mountains of Colorado our team uncovered a peculiar artifact. The object appeared to be a self-published journal of observations from a respected and storied career medical professional. The subject of which focused on the personal treatment possibilities of legal (state-level in Colorado, […]
In August 1950, the CIA secretly purchased the assets of Civil Air Transport (CAT), an airline that started in China. CAT would continue to fly commercial routes throughout Asia, acting as a privately owned commercial airline. Under the guise of CAT Incorporated, it provided airplanes and crews for secret intelligence operations. Naturally, with any substantial […]
Bi·o·de·grad·a·ble – adjective – A once-living substance or object that becomes capable of being decomposed by bacteria or other living organisms — often to live again through growth or repurpose
in·ter·pass·iv·i·ty – noun – The delegation or outsourcing of enjoyment, consumption, action, or (inter)activity through passivity and inaction
haun·tol·o·gy – noun – First introduced by French philosopher Jacques Derrida in his 1993 book Specters of Marx, Hauntology is a portmanteau of haunting and ontology. It usually refers to the return, celebration, or persistence of elements from the past, as in the manner of a ghost and in anticipation of a future that never occurred.
bio·re·gion·al·ism noun A kind of cultural and political localism with an ecological foundation, cited by environmentalist movements advocating political boundaries coincide with bioregions. via Google Ngram Similar to many indigenous cultures’ relationships to land, bioregionalism is first and foremost based on observation and recognition of what grows where, as well as an appreciation for the […]
en·to·moph·agy noun The practice of eating insects, especially by people. via Google Ngram Many countries already are “entomophagous,” feeding on bugs such as beetles, mealworms, and grasshoppers as a culinary delight: 36 African countries, 23 in the Americas, 29 in Asia, and 11 in Europe National Geographic Peripheral Resources Why Not Eat Insects by Vincent […]
dis·cor·di·an·ism noun A paradigm of a parody religion or a metaphor for a governing philosophy; based on Eris, the Greco-Roman goddess of chaos and discord; born of the 1963 book Principia Discordia by Malaclypse the Younger (Greg Hill) with Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst (Kerry Wendell Thornley). via Google Ngram Drest had made a careful study of […]
fu·tur·olo·gy noun A study that deals with future possibilities based on current trends. via Google Ngram Since we cannot know the future with complete certainty, and as futurology is not yet a science based on empirical proof, moral science will have to rely partly on artists, philosophers and other speculative minds who hold up a […]