an extremely valuable insight into highlight the issue of mass incarceration, systemic racism and food poverty/inequality in the US, and how food plays such an important role as punishment. the reminders of the cultural, social and (historical) political importance of food and how we use food as a form of social "bonding", contrasted with how food has been historically used as punishment and the similarities with its usage as punishment in the prison system also really puts things into perspective.

highlighting the issue of food waste as a result of inedible food in the first place was also significant, as the two problems are intertwined. Soble reminds us that while we have initiatives on reducing food waste in all other aspects of our lives (e.g. school/restaurants/supermarkets), there's considerably fewer that focus on food waste in prison, let alone food quality. the second half tackled these issues and provided initiatives that would improve these issues which was useful to lay out the work done already, and how people can help/work towards solving them.

I do think it could go a little further into analysing some of the points raised as it's quite stats-heavy which gets a bit repetitive at times, but Soble does mention that it's largely a study (as opposed to an analysis). it's also solely US-focused, and so as someone from the UK I'm not sure how much of it can be applied to a non-US context, but the basic issue of food quality and use of food as punishment translates into other contexts so it's still valuable to some extent. still definitely an informative read, and a great starting point for more conversation and research into the issues raised by the book, even if it might not be the most radical in its points and suggestions, or stops short of it at times.

tidepools is a collection of musing and tales from Adam Tendler’s life as a gay musician. Topics of coming out, imposter syndrome, hook ups, and recital nerves are explored through various forms of prose. This is a fun, fast paced, loosely organized memoir that pushes the envelope on how to tell life stories. I thoroughly enjoyed this read!