One legitimately weird thing about Tumblr is that we literally canât code for shit, many people quit working at Tumblr due to a hostile work environment, and we canât seem to program a simple blogging website to not flood your RAM.
It was a Tuesday in 1981 when the San Francisco police kicked in the door.
Inside the small apartment, they expected to find a hardened criminal. They expected a drug kingpin. They expected resistance.
Instead, they found a 57-year-old waitress in an apron.
The air in the apartment smelled sweet, thick with chocolate and something earthier. On the kitchen counter, cooling on wire racks, were 54 dozen brownies.
The police officers began bagging the evidence. They confiscated nearly 18 pounds of marijuana. They handcuffed the woman, whose name was Mary Jane Rathbun.
She didn't look scared. She didn't look guilty.
She looked at the officers, smoothed her apron, and reportedly said, "I thought you guys were coming."
She was booked into the county jail. The headlines wrote themselves. A grandmother running a pot bakery. It seemed like a joke to the legal system, a quirky local news story about an older woman behaving badly.
But Mary wasn't baking for fun. And she certainly wasn't baking for profit.
To understand why Mary risked her freedom, you have to understand the silence of the early 1980s.
San Francisco was gripping the edge of a cliff. A mysterious illness was sweeping through the city, specifically targeting young men. Later, the world would know it as AIDS. But in those early days, it was just a death sentence that no one wanted to talk about.
Families were disowning their sons. Landlords were evicting tenants. Even doctors and nurses, paralyzed by the fear of the unknown, would sometimes leave food trays outside hospital doors, afraid to breathe the same air as their patients.
Men in their twenties were wasting away in sterile rooms, dying alone.
Mary knew what it felt like to lose a child.
Years earlier, in 1974, her daughter Peggy had been killed in a car accident. Peggy was only 22. The loss had hollowed Mary out, leaving a space in her heart that nothing seemed to fill.
When the judge sentenced Mary for that first arrest, he ordered her to perform 500 hours of community service. He likely thought the manual labor would teach her a lesson.
He sent her to the Shanti Project and San Francisco General Hospital.
It was a mistake that would change American history.
Mary walked into the AIDS wards when others were walking out. She didn't wear a hazmat suit. She didn't hold her breath. She saw rows of young men who looked like ghostsâskeletal, in pain, and terrified.
She saw "her kids."
She began mopping floors and changing sheets. But soon, she noticed something the doctors were missing. The harsh medications the men were taking caused violent nausea. They couldn't eat. They were starving to death as much as they were dying of the virus.
Mary knew a secret about the brownies she had been arrested for.
She knew they settled the stomach. She knew they brought back the appetite. She knew they could help a dying man sleep for a few hours without pain.
So, she made a choice.
She went back to her kitchen. She fired up the oven. She started mixing batter, not to sell, but to save.
Every morning, Mary would bake. She lived on a fixed income, surviving on Social Security checks that barely covered her rent. Yet, she spent nearly every dime on flour, sugar, and butter.
The most expensive ingredientâthe cannabisâwas donated. Local growers heard what she was doing. They began dropping off pounds of product at her door, free of charge.
She packed the brownies into a basket and took the bus to the hospital.
She walked room to room. She sat by the bedsides of men who hadn't seen their own mothers in years. She held their hands. She told them jokes. And she gave them brownies.
"Here, baby," she would say. "Eat this. It'll help."
And it did.
Nurses watched in amazement as patients who hadn't eaten in days began to ask for food. The constant retching stopped. The mood on the ward shifted from despair to a quiet sort of comfort.
Mary Jane Rathbun became "Brownie Mary."
For over a decade, this was her life. She baked roughly 600 brownies a day. She went through 50 pounds of flour a week. She became the mother to a generation of lost boys.
She washed their pajamas. She attended their funerals. She held them while they took their last breaths.
She did this while the government declared a "War on Drugs."
By the early 1990s, the political climate was hostile. Politicians were competing to see who could be "tougher" on crime. Mandatory minimum sentences were locking people away for decades.
In 1992, at the age of 70, Mary was arrested again.
This time, the stakes were lethal. She was charged with felonies. The district attorney looked at her rap sheet and saw a repeat offender. He threatened to send her to prison.
One prosecutor famously whispered to a colleague that he was going to "kick this old lady's ass."
They underestimated who they were dealing with.
They thought they were prosecuting a drug dealer. In reality, they were attacking the most beloved woman in San Francisco.
When the news broke that Brownie Mary was facing prison, the city erupted.
It wasn't just the activists who were angry. It was the doctors. It was the nurses. It was the parents who had watched Mary care for their dying sons when the government did nothing.
Mary turned her trial into a pulpit.
She arrived at court not as a defendant, but as a grandmother standing her ground. The media swarmed her. Reporters asked if she was afraid of prison. They asked if she would stop baking if they let her go.
Mary looked into the cameras, her voice gravelly and firm.
"If the narcs think I'm gonna stop baking brownies for my kids with AIDS," she said, "they can go fuck themselves in Macy's window."
The quote ran in newspapers across the country.
The court didn't stand a chance.
Testimony poured in. Doctors from San Francisco General Hospital wrote letters explaining that Maryâs brownies were medically necessary. Patients testified that she was an angel of mercy.
The charges were dropped.
Mary walked out of the courthouse a free woman. But she didn't go home to rest. She realized that her personal victory wasn't enough. As long as the law was broken, her "kids" were still in danger.
She needed to change the law.
August 25 was declared "Brownie Mary Day" by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. It was a nice gesture, but Mary wanted policy, not plaques.
She teamed up with fellow activist Dennis Peron. Together, they opened the San Francisco Cannabis Buyers Clubâthe first public dispensary in the United States. It was a safe haven where patients could get their medicine without fear of arrest.
But Mary wanted more. She wanted the state of California to acknowledge the truth.
She campaigned for Proposition 215. She traveled the state, despite her failing health. She spoke in her simple, direct way. She didn't talk about liberties or economics. She talked about compassion. She talked about pain.
She forced voters to look at the issue through the eyes of a grandmother.
In 1996, Proposition 215 passed. California became the first state to legalize medical marijuana.
It was a domino effect. Because one woman refused to let her "kids" suffer, the public perception of cannabis shifted. The Economist later noted that Mary was single-handedly responsible for changing the national conversation.
She never got rich.
She had always joked that if legalization ever happened, she would sell her recipe to Betty Crocker and buy a Victorian house for her patients to live in.
She never sold the recipe. She never bought the house.
Mary Jane Rathbun died in 1999, at the age of 77. She passed away in a nursing home, poor in money but rich in legacy.
Today, over 30 states have legalized medical marijuana. Millions of people use it to manage pain, seizures, and nausea.
Most of them have never heard of Mary.
They don't know that their legal prescription exists because a waitress in San Francisco decided that the law was wrong and her heart was right.
They don't know about the 600 brownies a day.
They don't know about the thousands of hospital visits.
Mary didn't set out to be a hero. She told the Chicago Tribune years before she died, "I didn't go into this thinking I would be a hero."
She was just a mother who had lost her daughter, trying to help boys who had lost their way.
She proved that authority doesn't always equal morality.
She proved that sometimes, the most patriotic thing a citizen can do is break a bad law.
Every August, a few people in San Francisco still celebrate Brownie Mary Day. But her true memorial isn't a date on a calendar.
It is found in every oncology ward where a patient finds relief. It is found in every dispensary door that opens without fear.
It is found in the simple, quiet courage of anyone who sees suffering and refuses to look away.
Mary taught us that you don't need a law degree to change the world. You don't need millions of dollars. You don't need political office.
Sometimes, all you need is a mixing bowl, an oven, and enough love to tell the world to get out of your way.
Sources: New York Times Obituary (1999), "Brownie Mary" Rathbun. San Francisco Chronicle Archives (1992, 1996). History.com, "The History of Medical Marijuana." Weird Everything, FB december 12, 2025
I'd be only too happy to do that. I was suspicious to start, too. It seemed a bit on the nose to have the weed brownie grandma named "Mary Jane," but also, that's a very common combination in a certain place and time, so I thought it was worth the extra effort.
What I did was find sources that made the claim (in this case, that a woman named Mary Jane was a medicinal marijuana activist in California, USA in the 1980s and 90s.) I checked the dates to get some certainty those sources aren't AI slop, then checked that the sources are generally reliable.
Then I followed useful details about the place and time, and other people involved, to explore it more fully.
The first thing I did was search for "Brownie Mary" and see if that turned anything up at all. It turned up a LOT of results. Predictably, some of them were recipes, but not all of them.
Next up, I checked sources and dates. Wikipedia can be dodgy for academic use, but their policy on LLM-generated input is very clear: they don't want slop. I started by reading that page and then went on to read others.
The Atlas Obscura article is from 2018. I found another one from SFWeekly from 2017.
Both of those are decent sources - Atlas Obscura gets a High factual reporting rate from MediaBiasFactCheck, and while MBFC doesn't have a rating for SFWeekly, the verbiage in that article is very close to what GastroObscura has. (Also to what the post itself has, right down to the choice of pull quote.)
Now, we can stop there and feel pretty confident that articles published before the wide availability of LLMs are not, in fact, LLM generated.
...or we can go deeper, and run this all the way back to source.
I spotted references to a Chicago Tribune imterview of Mary Jane Rathbun, published in 1993.
My search string of "Chicago Tribune 1993 Mary Jane Rathbun" hit it in the top 3 results. That article includes some fun new details: she wore a cannabis leaf shaped pendant to her trial!
She also objected to being portrayed as a cuddly grandma up against The Man, so I must retract my flippant tags, above.
The evidence now strongly points to Brownie Mary being a real woman who really went to court for giving AIDS patients weed brownies. But can we get closer? I've now seen several mentions of a 1980 attempt at convicting her too.
The articles have mentioned Sonoma County and a nonprofit called the Shanti Project, so let's hook onto that and see what we get.
Searching for "Mary Jane Rathbun Sonoma County 1980" gets me an article from a law firm; that mentions the prosecuting attorney by name, and points to a book: Lust for Justice: The Radical Life & Law of J. Tony Serra, by Paulette Frankl. It even has an excerpt!
We can run the book down too, just for fun (now we have a primary source.) My favorite used book site has a copy for $1. Amazon gives a view of the back cover, too:
...wow. I should see if my library has that!
The excerpt on the site has a mention of a candelight vigil held for her death in 1999. It took some hunting past things I'd already read and a bunch of shops giving written tributes, but I found a news report about that, too.
There's a lot of information out there, and it's worth digging into. Otherwise it's altogether too easy to think something real and worth knowing is just another bit of slop.
fucked that you canât fix other people especially when you really care about them. Oh so im just supposed to be there for you while you suffer. like a useless cunt gargoyle
"Sewing is a gateway drug to thinking through complex problems. It seems really simple; culturally, we make it women's work. Let me tell you: real sewing at any kind of level of proficiency is a bloody magic trick. Sewing, like mold making, involves mental frames that require one to think inside out and backwards. It requires one to work on an order of operations that is often taking into account the reverse. It's a really, really important skill, and if you learn how to sew, you're mostly on your way to carpentry and welding and sheet metal work. I'm not kidding: these are planar forms meeting under rules and conditions. And if you can make a sleeve work, I swear to God, you could build a house."
Vollema is a hand-drawn 2.5DÂ adventure available right NOW on Steam and Itch!
In Vollema, you assume the role of a college student on your university's volleyball team. While en route to The Big Game, you and one of your teammates accidentally stumble upon a major conspiracy surrounding the school, local politics, and a cult-like paramilitary organization.
Looks like the tournament is going to have to wait.
As you unravel the story, you will...
đ Recruit new party members capable of countering different attacks during combat, indicated by color and sound cues.
đ Explore various unique and colorful locations, each one giving you and your party a slightly different look.
đ Wrestle a goat.
đïž Encounter manmade horrors beyond your comprehension.
𫀠Meet some... unique individuals and creatures inhabiting the surrounding area.
They closed the Death Wendy's over a year ago and I'm still mad about it. It was a Wendy's located in the middle of a six-way intersection, requiring many pedestrians to cross the street 3 times in a row in order to get to it
It was one of the city's top ten spots for car crashes, multiple people died there, and the service was terrible. I miss it dearly
Not gourmet, BUT here are some low-spoon breakfast tips:
1-Spoon
Switch out your cereal for granola. Granola is jam-packed with nuts, seeds, whole grains etc (and itâs also easy to find a gluten-free or nut-free granola). A dense, nutty granola like âKind Peanut Butter Clustersâ (my personal favorite) gives you protein, oils and all the good stuff that cereal just canât deliver. (NOTE: They just started making single-serve granola in a cup at grocery stores, which even removes the bowl step!)
Yogurt is better than milk. Yogurt has a longer shelf life than milk, and it is full of protein. It comes in tons of flavors, mix-ins and fat %, so you can tailor it to your tastes/needs. + you can easily find single-serve cups, so you can eat it with just a spoon.
Berries rock. If you want something fresh at breakfast, blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries are easy because they donât need to be cut/are hard to eat(like bananas or apples). Add them to yogurt, cereal, oatmeal etc (DOWNSIDE: short shelf life.)
Smoothies/Protein Drinks are easy and can be bought in bulk. For tough mornings, stock up on smoothies or protein drinks. They come in a ton of flavors and options.
âClinicalâ drinks are formulas balanced with all the nutrients you need. Try: Ensure, Boost
âProtein Shakesâ are targeted at athletes, so theyâve got lots of vitamins as well. Often they donât need to be refrigerated !!! Try: Svelte, Muscle Milk
âSmoothiesâ are usually made of fruits and veggies. They arenât as well balanced, but can be great alternatives to fresh fruits/veggies on low spoon days. Try: Naked, Suja Juice
2-Spoon
Oatmeal! Instant oatmeal isnât instant, but itâs pretty quick. Usually, you tear a package into a bowl, add water and microwave. Some stores have started selling oatmeal in cardboard bowls, which removes step #1. Itâs warm + filling and most find it pretty easy to eat. You can add stuff in to make it extra nutritious without major effort. Try:
Try dipping instead of spreading on toast. Even if youâve got a toaster, making toast can be a lot of work. To save energy, donât bother spreading your butter, jam, peanut butter etc with a knife. Instead, plop some on your plate and dip your toast into the spread itself. Sounds silly, I know, but it tastes the same and now you donât have to wield a butter knife. Even easier: find the single packs of spreads so you can skip lifting the heavy jar.
Skip the egg. Eggs can be tricky and quickly energy-draining. For a savory breakfast, substitute your egg sliced turkey, chicken or ham. This gives you the protein of an egg for way less effort, and is great in a breakfast sandwich. If youâre feeling up to it, add a slice of cheese and microwave/toaster oven/oven that sucker so itâs all warm+gooey. Yum.
Raisins or other dried fruits (LONG shelf life!)
Nut Butter (yess protein)
Pre-chopped nuts (ditto)
Jams and jellies, honey, syrup (yumm)
Any fresh fruit youâve got lying around
Brown sugar, cinnamon and other spices
How to (correctly) consume a Muffin
Buy a muffin at the store, store it in your fridge to keep it longer
When the muffinâs death is nigh, place it in a bowl upside down (wrapper side facing the sky)
Remove the wrapper, and microwave 20-30 seconds
Grab a spoon and eat that warm muffin like a champ. You deserve this.
If energy permits, add some yogurt, pb, fruit etc to your bowl oâ muffin.
3-Spoon
Yummy apple slices. Slice an apple, and place on a plate with cinnamon and sugar. Microwave for 30-60 sec. Itâll taste like the inside of an apple pie. Great on toast with nut butter (or whateva)
Egg in a cup. Crack your egg into a microwave-safe mug. Microwave on HIGH for a min (add more time if youâre egg isnât cooked!!). Eat directly from mug. Feel free to mix-in cheese, salt+pepper, canned chicken, leftover pasta sauce etc. There are no rules.
Make a breakfast banana boat (very fancy). Preheat oven/toaster oven to 350. Slice an unpeeled banana vertically, creating a slit. In your banana pocket, add nut butter, chocolate chips, granola, nuts, raisins, really anything your stomach desires. Wrap your banana boat in tinfoil, and throw it in the oven for 5 min. Pull out, eat out of the peel with a spoon. Best part? No clean up!!
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