You have arrived at the web home of Noah Brier. This is mostly an archive of over a decade of blogging and other writing. You can read more about me or get in touch. If you want more recent writing of mine, most of that is at my BrXnd marketing x AI newsletter and Why Is This Interesting?, a daily email for the intellectually omnivorous.
Dear Pickles,
What have you become? You used to be so bright and crunchy; but somewhere in the pickling process you changed, I barely recognize you. As a cucumber you used to hang out with the healthy crowd. You sat proudly atop salads, hanging out with your friends tomato and lettuce, and blended so perfectly with yogurt in tzatziki.
Now you run seem to run with a different crowd. Whenever I've seen you lately, you're relishing your role as divider on the plate with a greasy burger, helping to keep the juices from reaching the crisp french fries. Sometimes you even bathe yourself in the mayo-drenched cole slaw. Is this any way for a self respecting vegetable to act?
While I must admit I appreciate the willingness to share that you seem to bring out in people, don't you ever worry that you're polarizing the country? I've been hard-pressed to find another subject upon which so many people disagree. With you, there's no grey area, it's either love or hate. Does this make you happy? Why are you doing this to yourself and to others?
In the old days, you held a prominent place in the vegetable aisle, huddled with your other green buddies. Now what have you become? You swim around in a barrel of brine all day, just waiting for someone's dirty hand to fish you out. I refuse to believe that this is a happy life for you.
While I know it's too late to save you from a life of pickledom, I can only hope that you'll wise up and help keep all those young cucumbers off the brine.
Thinking of you,
Noah Brier