Arlene Ducao makes technologies that examine the relationship between the natural landscape, our built environments, and ourselves. She is a chief at DuKode/DuKorp and inventor of MindRider, the mind-mapping helmet. Her work has been profiled WIRED, New York Times, Discovery Channel, MSNBC, Fast Company, Science Channel, and many more. She teaches at NYU, the Lower Eastside Girls Club, and MIT, and holds degrees from MIT, SVA, and UMD.

1. As a new year's resolution, I acquired and ate some black chicken. Black chickens, also known as silkies, have black skin and bones, and are prized by practitioners traditional Chinese medicine for their health benefits. In fact, I first learned about this special chicken from a series of TCM treatments by Kim Schwartz-Finklestein.
2. I bought two black chickens in Manhattan's Chinatown. With the first chicken, I cooked the head, feet, and some of the leg into a soup, and pan-fried the rest.

I processed, cooked, and ate this black chicken. Photo and beheading assistance by Crista Grauer.

3. The second chicken was turned into a black chicken pie. This was DELICIOUS! And, as far as we know, there is no black chicken pie recipe out there, so one must be written. Add it to the to-do list.

Ruminant

A ruminant is an animal with a rumen.
A rumen is a gastrointestinal chamber where plant-based food is fermented into cud, which is then regurgitated, chewed more, and swallowed for full digestion.

In the last thirteen years, I developed a fairly regular pattern of awakening a few hours after midnight, chattering silently for a few hours, and then returning to sleep with some struggle.

I grew a mental rumen.

I regurgitate half-digested thoughts, fermented cud and chew it for hours.
Rumination.

It's exhausting. How do cows and sheep do it? Is this what made them so easy to domesticate?

I don't like this. I don't want to be domesticable!

On the other hand, no one is slaughtering me, milking me, shaving me, or breeding me for basic life needs. I do feel herded sometimes.

I have trouble digesting food, too. My body and mind get constipated. Things get stuck up in there.

Maybe this is why I enjoy fermented food so much. Bacteria takes some of the work out of digestion.

I haven't found a mental equivalent to fermentation.
I still bite off more than I can chew.
But I'm working on doing less.
I'm doing on working less
So I can ruminate less.
In the meantime, I read Rumi.

Arlene Ducao

2. I bought two black chickens in Manhattan's Chinatown. With the first chicken, I cooked the head, feet, and some of the leg into a soup, and pan-fried the rest.

I processed, cooked, and ate this black chicken. Photo and beheading assistance by Crista Grauer.

3. The second chicken was turned into a black chicken pie. This was DELICIOUS! And, as far as we know, there is no black chicken pie recipe out there, so one must be written. Add it to the to-do list.

Ruminant