June 12, 2021

Title: EMAIL OPENING

Constructor: Erik Agard

Editor: Erik Agard

Theme Answers:

ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN (17A: Fanfiction site known as AO3 for short)

SENT FLYING (28A: Propelled into the air)

SPAM MUSUBI (51A: Hawaiian snack)

TRASH COLLECTION (61A: Service that might be twice a week)

Theme synopsis: The OPENING of each theme answer is a word relating to EMAIL: ARCHIVE, SENT, SPAM, and TRASH.

Things I learned:

• ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN (17A: Fanfiction site known as AO3 for short) ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN (AO3) is a "fan-created, fan-run, nonprofit, noncommercial archive for transformative fanworks, like fanfiction, fanart, fan videos, and podfic." The Organization for Transformative Works created the site in 2008. AO3 has hosted over seven million works of fan fiction, and has over three million users. Works on the site represent over 14,000 fandoms including the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Sherlock, Hamilton, Doctor Who, Star Wars, and Harry Potter. The site's name is inspired by the essay by Virginia Woof, "A Room of One's Own." I imagine one could spend a lot of time browsing on AO3. Fun to learn about this site.
• RENEE (21A: Atlanta Dream co-owner Montgomery) Atlanta Dream is a WNBA team founded in 2008 whose home arena is the Gateway Center Arena in College Park, Georgia. RENEE Montgomery is a retired basketball player. During her 11-year WNBA career, she played for the Minnesota Lynx, Connecticut Sun, Seattle Sun, and Atlanta Dream. In February of this year, Montgomery became a co-owner of the Atlanta Dream, along with Larry Gottesdiener and Suzanne Abair. The team's previous owner was former U.S. Senator Kelly Loeffler. In response to Loeffler's criticism of the WNBA's support of Black Lives Matter, the Atlanta Dream players wore black t-shirts endorsing Loeffler's opponent, Raphael Warnock. The player's union demanded Loeffler sell her stake in the team, which led to the change of ownership.
• AVE (26A: Troost, in Kansas City, e.g. (Abbr.)) One of the major streets in Kansas City, Missouri, Troost AVE. is named after Dr. Benoist Troost. Dr. Troost moved to the United States from Holland in 1815, eventually moving to Independence, Missouri in 1844. Dr. Troost was the first physician in Kansas City, and was involved in publishing its first newspaper, the Kansas City Enterprise. Historically, Troost AVE has been a dividing line of racial segregation in Kansas City, legally enforced for many years by Jim Crow laws.
• CLOAK (54A: Superhero partner of Dagger) CLOAK and Dagger are a superhero duo in Marvel Comics. The characters first appeared in the comic book, Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #64 in 1982, with their own series of comics debuting in 1983. CLOAK (Ty Johnson) and Dagger (Tandy Bowen) met in New York City after they had both run away from home. Their superpowers are a result of injections of a synthetic heroin that a criminal chemist was testing on runaway teens. CLOAK and Dagger use their powers to wage a war on drugs. In the live-action TV series, CLOAK & Dagger, Aubrey Johnson plays the role of CLOAK, and Olivia Holt plays the role of Dagger. I was not familiar with this superhero duo, but the answer was inferable since I'm familiar with the phrase "CLOAK and dagger." 
• WAN (67A: "Aquaman" director James) James WAN is a director, screenwriter, producer, and comic book writer. In addition to Aquaman, WAN directed Furious 7, and Saw. He is co-creator of the Saw film franchise (a series of nine horror films).
• A DO (9D: "If you want ___ right, home days woman..." (Aretha Franklin lyric)) These lyrics are from the 1967 Aretha Franklin song, "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man." The complete lyrics of the chorus are: "If you want A DO right, home days woman, you got to be A DO right, home nights man."

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• EAGLE (27A: Mexican flag bird) The flag of Mexico has vertical stripes of green, white, and red, with the national coat of arms on the center white stripe. The EAGLE in the coat of arms, is eating a serpent, and sitting on a cactus. This symbolism is based on the Aztec legend that an EAGLE sitting on a cactus while devouring a serpent signaled where they were to build their city, Tenochtitian (now Mexico City).
• SPAM MUSUBI (51A: Hawaiian snack) SPAM Musubi is a popular Hawaiian dish. A slice of grilled SPAM is placed on top of a block of rice (or between two blocks of rice) and then wrapped with nori (edible seaweed). SPAM has been a popular food in Hawaii since after World War II when it was a main course for troops stationed there.
• OH WELL (12D: Phrase with a shrug) and NO NEED (13D: "Don't worry about doing that") This is a fun pair of answers to land next to each other. This corner of the grid is having a mini-conversation: "OH, WELL. {shrug} NO NEED."
• ISSA (22D: Hollywood mogul Rae) ISSA Rae created and starred in the YouTube series, The Mis-Adventures of Awkward Black Girl. Her other credits include The Hate U Give, Little, The Photograph, and The Lovebirds. ISSA Rae is an active advocate for civil and women's rights, and  the themes of equality and social justice are prominent in her works.
• COW (62D: Animal with a four compartment stomach) The digestive system of a COW, including its four-compartment stomach, is highly specialized to allow it to use poorly digestible plants as food. A cow swallows its food without chewing it. The food is stored in one compartment of the stomach until the COW has time to regurgitate it (one mouthful at a time) and chew it (now called the cud) to continue the digestive process. 
• IDK (64D: "No idea," for short) "What does IDK mean?" "I don't know." This has all the makings of a "Who's On First?" sketch.

Geography review:

• TULSA (58A: Oklahoma city) Tulsa is an Oklahoma city (small c), not to be confused with the capital and largest city in Oklahoma, Oklahoma City (large C). Tulsa is the second largest city in Oklahoma. 

Fun to see these familiar EMAIL terms incorporated into a theme. There were quite a few entries I didn't know today (and appreciated learning!), but that wasn't a problem, as I was able to figure everything out from crossing answers. This puzzle was an enjoyable way to begin my Saturday.