Rennie @sailwithrennie - Tumblr Blog

the pistachio food trend is soooo interesting because it's like. i've been following the californian pistachio water politics for years, as a californian with personal connections to agricultural workers but! basically there's been a big push in california agriculture over the last decade to pressure farmers to produce pistachios, because iran has dominated the global market in pistachios for decades, and the US government has been trying to weaken iran economically, so they want to make california pistachios a competitor. which is ridiculous, because california's agricultural infrastructure is suffering under a drought, and pistachios take insane amounts of water. so a ton of water is being redirected from the people in order to engage in a trade war with iran over fucking. pistachios.

anyway now that the US (i.e. california) is producing more pistachios than iran, the next step is to drive consumption of pistachios, so that the farmers who are producing these pistachios can continue to make money on them. ergo all the fancy pistachio coffees at starbucks and similar shit like suddenly being able to find pistachio butter in grocery stores when five years ago it was exclusively available at specialty stores and online, and the huge boom in pistachios foods in instagram and tiktok recipe content. like i watch a lot of instagram foodie reels (cooking/baking is one of my hobbies) and these get thrown onto everyone's feeds, to promote the purchasing of pistachios, so that the US can stick it to iran. it's. kind of incredible to watch this happen in real time, because it sounds like deranged conspiracy thought, but like. i've been watching this trend for the past decade and it's fucking real.

anyway one of the vegan recipe accounts i follow just posted like five pistachio-based recipes in a row and it makes me feel some kind of fucking way

sadhoc

it is extremely relevant that pistachios are so easy to acquire here, but acorns, which are an indigenous California food staple crop, are impossible to find even in the best stocked grocery stores, and knowing how to prepare them for consumption is a rarer skill than sourdough starter

acorviart

not to sound like a boomer, but I need some people to learn how to write emails in a semi-professional (at the very least) format so you're not cold emailing a business/potential employer/any other stranger about formal matters in the exact same way you'd DM a close friend on instagram

the formality/language can loosen up in the email chain once you've established a rapport and you match the other person if they're being less formal, but please don't have the very first email you send a stranger be written in all lowercase ultra-casual sms slang with no greeting or signature and a billion emojis

wayward-exulansis-reactivated

Can I just ask, why?

acorviart

(adding your tags since I'm addressing them)

It’s polite, for one. Professional doesn’t need to mean elaborate—in fact, most professional emails are aiming to be as clear and concise as possible. (in english at least, I know some other languages have some very complicated and elaborate email etiquette)

Greetings and signatures also don’t need to be elaborate. I feel like lots of people overthink it and assume that professional emails need the whole “dear x, my name is x and I am writing this email to inform you about [topic], sincerely [my name and all my contact info]” shebang, when really it’s as simple as adding a quick greeting/signature and avoiding super informal slang.

Here’s an comparison using art commission inquiry as the topic, written with zero extra fluff:

Hi, Are you currently open for commissions? Thanks, [my name]

If I want to add a little more fluff, maybe I write:

Hi, I love your art and wanted to ask if you're currently open for commissions. Here are details of what I'm interested in. Thanks for your time! Thanks/best/etc, [my name]

Those are very short while also being more polite than an email that just says:

are u open for comms??

with zero greeting/signature and very informal tone.

There’s still a person on the other side reading that email, and just like how being polite with a customer service agent on the phone will get you better results than being rude with them, sending a clear and professional email will have you taken more seriously by whoever is reading it. All 3 emails get the same point across, but the last one leaves a much worse impression. You don’t speak to your close friends the same way you’d speak to strangers, and it’s the same in text form. I get so many emails that are just abrupt questions, with not even a quick "thank you" either in the initial email or as a follow-up after I respond, because they ghost me as if I'm just a chat bot answering questions.

I know complaining about email language sounds like a ~corporate america white-collar bullshit~ kinda thing, and there is indeed significantly more elaborate email etiquette that can vastly differ depending on your job/field that I’m not addressing at all, but just having the very basics goes a long way in how your emails are viewed by other people.

enonem

As an addition, professional language acts as a social boundary setting to the protection of both parties.

Long story short, it indicates that this is a professional relationship, not a personal one.

That matters because when you are dealing professionally with someone (be it within a corporate office or commissioning an artist on tumblr), there are going to be discussions and disagreements. Maintaining that professional language ensures (at least in theory) that those disagreements are treated as part of the work and not as professional attacks. It also ensures that work will be done during work times and for appropriate recompense. This is work after all, not a favour for a friend.

charlesoberonn

I'm teaching myself how to draw which means I can bring my bad puns to life.

2x2 version:

charlesoberonn

Post found its target audience

thewelllitweenie

Flares are great for drawing attention to a desired audience

katjohnadams

@sapphoandvanzetti

I'm not sorry for tagging you at all

Leave no trace.

two knights fucking yah just really going at it CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG ya know

she’s fuckin SLEPPY

Adding pomade to my bush to give it some texture