(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Marriage Inequality and Marijuana Edibles. [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-07-11 Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. Theirs is a love story for the ages. In 1906 San Francisco was devastated by that famous, horrendous earthquake. The following year an adventurous young woman, a few days shy of turning thirty, left her shattered hometown in search of a new life. Who can say if she would have done so, had that 7.9 magnitude quake not trashed the place. Maybe she'd have left anyway; I can't help but think that the earthquake, and it's aftermath, had something to do with it. Anyway, she clearly felt that a change was in order. So she headed for Paris. The City of Love was where Alice B. Toklas met fellow American expatriate Gertrude Stein. It was love at first sight; Gertrude and Alice were famously devoted to one another for 39 years. Lovers, best friends, partners, collaborators, in every way that truly matters they were spouses for almost four decades. Only one thing was missing. It was the one thing they were not allowed to have. And it's absence would have serious repercussions later on. It was that ceremony, those spoken words, that piece of paper, and the legal recognition it confers. Regardless of how deep their love and commitment to each other, in the eyes of the law Gertrude and Alice were just friends. Really, really close friends. But just friends all the same. When Gertrude died in July of 1946 following surgery for what turned out to be inoperable stomach cancer, she left the bulk of her estate to her beloved Alice. Which included a valuable art collection they'd spent decades assembling. That collection, which included works by a friend- Pablo Picasso- had appreciated in value considerably. Gertrude's relatives decided that they deserved it more than Alice did. Because Gertrude and Alice's relationship had no legal status, and because garbage people are going to do garbage things, those relatives got into the apartment while Alice was away on vacation. They picked it clean, stowed all those artworks away in a bank vault, and got away with it. That art collection was the most valuable thing that had been left to the bereaved Alice. Losing it left her all but impoverished. As if life in post-war-and-f*cking-Nazi-occupied-France wasn't already difficult enough. For many years Alice and Gertrude had enjoyed a large and brilliant circle of friends; fortunately for Alice, those who remained after the war ended still cared about her. Several were able and willing to step up in support of their grieving friend. Which brings us to Marijuana Edibles. This 1960 edition features artwork by Pablo Picasso on the cover. I like to imagine that cover art is a subtle, elegant middle finger to the people who robbed Alice of her inheritance. Gertrude wasn't the only writer in the family; Alice was also an author. By the early 1950s Alice was having serious financial difficulties, and she made the decision to author a cookbook/memoir featuring her own favorite recipes. Problem was, those recipes made for a rather slim volume. So her friends contributed recipes of their own to plump it up, so to speak. One of those friends was the British-Canadian author, artist, and inventor Brion Gysin, whose contribution- a recipe for "Haschish Fudge"- was a great hit with readers, and was censored from the first American edition because publishers were concerned about legal consequences. The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook was first published in 1954, and became one of the bestselling cookbooks of all time. Brion Gysin's recipe was the inspiration for the pot brownies that figure prominently in the 1968 romantic comedy film "I Love You Alice B. Toklas!". In which a buttoned-down, conventional young lawyer (Peter Sellers) takes pity on a sweet-natured, homeless hippie girl (Leigh Taylor-Young) by allowing her to stay at his apartment temporarily. She uses his kitchen to bake a batch of weed brownies which end up being eaten by the lawyer, his parents, and his secretary/fiancee. Hilarious hijinks ensue, and the young lawyer ends up dumping his career, fiancee, and the whole straitlaced life he'd been living to become a counterculture dropout, getting high and enjoying free love with his brownie-baking hippie sweetheart. The film did well enough that the following year the writers, who'd previously worked in television, were able to make directing it a condition of selling the script for "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice". Groovy movie still from "I Love You Alice B. Toklas!" For many of us of a certain age (and by that I mean, Boomers like me) pot brownies were our first experience with marijuana edibles. Indeed, for myself, it was my first experience with marijuana, period. It wasn't until later that I learned about the cinematic inspiration for the sweet treat that showed up regularly at the parties I went to. And later still that I learned about it's connection with Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, the enormously talented and achingly romantic couple whose love story will endure as long as there are lovers in this world. These days, cannabis infused edibles are a staple at legal dispensaries across the country, and made by home cooks. Gummies, chocolate bars, cookies, hard candies, and yes, brownies are legally enjoyed by millions. Including me. I thank you, Alice B. Toklas. Their shared gravestone at Pere Lachaise Cemetery, Paris, France. Alice B. Toklas passed away in 1967 at the age of 89. She is buried next to her Gertrude, and her name is engraved on the reverse side of Gertrude's gravestone. Alice's last years were difficult, her health was poor and she died in poverty. But in the end they were reunited, never to part again. France legalized same sex marriage on May 18, 2013. Thank you for reading. This is an open thread, all topics are welcome. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/7/11/2179849/-Marriage-Inequality-and-Marijuana-Edibles Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/