The Weekly Wrap: March 30. 2025

Earlier this week, the President issued an Executive Order stating that the Smithsonian Institution is "ordered" to remove the inclusion of any "corrosive ideology." That ideology is, essentially, anything that the current President does not agree with. 

To say I was livid would be an understatement. (I'm livid about a lot of things happening in Washington right now.) The night this EO was released, I went on a bit of a tear on Bluesky. I've adapted that tear here.

***

I want to share a reminder that an Executive Order is not actually law. The Smithsonian can comply by simply saying, "Everything checks out fine!" Just because one (little, little) man thinks his version of history is right doesn't make it so.

The PR battle of this EO closing every single Smithsonian would not be a good one for this administration. Sometimes the win comes from doing nothing.

So, fine, close all the Smithsonians. Take everything out and put it in storage. Lock the Zoo's gates to the (recently returned) pandas.

Let that play on TikTok and see what happens.

I am so sick and tired of educational institutions capitulating in advance. It's time to grow a spine and say, "Make me."

Dare them to padlock the doors. Make them say, "We believe slavery isn't real." Make them turn the lights out on the ACTUAL Declaration of Independence.

This is a moral battle as much as it is a political one. Make them stand on the side of history that says, "You know what. Only white men matter." And make them do it loudly in the media.

Make them actually work for the horrors they want to achieve.

---

• We find reward in effort. [The Atlantic - gift link]
• Things you should know about your house. [Lifehacker]
• Look at these pretty birds! [howstuffworks]
• The Signal group chat is bad. Really bad. [On Democracy]

• Runners talk about the culture of running. [Culture Study]
• Living in a mall on the down low. [99% Invisible]
• Putting some guardrails around kids' social media use. [Booming]
• The value of a diamond. [Planet Money]
• Watching Area 51. [Atlas Obscura]

• I had high hopes for Den of Thieves 2: Pantera. Sadly, it not nearly as good as the first. This entry in the series was less heist movie and more, dare I say, buddy dramedy. It is also weirdly slow. While the heist scenes themselves are great (I love that they went no music for tension), this one was just messy. [Netflix]
• I'm not a gamer. The husband occasionally busts out a controller. One game he plays is Assassin’s Creed. We randomly threw on the movie based on this game series. I'm not sure how closely it follows the game plot, but the style of the characters and how they move rings true. I'm sure there were lots of Easter eggs that went over my head. I was bummed that the gorgeous music from the games was absent. [Max]

• I defrosted some salmon portions to make honey-soy glazed salmon with spinach and peppers. I hate how the honey burns on the pan (it's why we use tinfoil), but I love how easy this dish is. Aside from mixing the sauce and chopping the pepper, not much prep goes into this one. [Real Simple via My Evernote]
• Potstickers are one of my favorite proteins, but I keep making the same recipe over and over again. This week, I broke out of a rut and made potsticker stir fry. It's a few more steps but has different ingredients and a different sauce. This was delicious. The husband added peanuts on top and said the addition worked well. [The Kitchn]
• For my lunch meal prep, I mixed up chickpea and roasted red pepper lettuce wraps with tahini dressing. I skipped the "wrap" part of this dish and just ate the mixture with a fork. This gives falafel vibes. I loved the crunch from the almonds. [Eating Well]