There are some technologies we really don’t think about as “technology,” because they were invented so long ago. Canned food is one of those. The technology required to preserve and can food on an industrial scale are surprisingly diverse. Part of the puzzle involves scaling up agriculture itself, but beyond that, canning transforms the economic utility of food. Canning radically redefines the boundaries of food freshness, and smooths out the seasonality of eating. All of these things—plus a dollop of odd jingoism—were on the minds of the 1956 film crew making the documentary below, produced by the American Can Company.

Here’s a sample quote:

“Just as harvest time means more than the ending of one bountiful season, it contains within itself the seeds of another more fruitful spring. So this humblest little servant of your daily life, contains not just a product but symbolizes a more abundant life for all freedom-loving people everywhere in the world. This is the miracle of the can.”

If you’re looking for a soothing video to snooze to, here it is. If you’re interested in the attitudes of 1950s America for your Sociology thesis, this is pure gold. Note: Just past the 19-minute part, the film turns into an extended “how it’s made” segment.

Ever wonder why Santa Claus is so jolly? It might be because his hat is filled with booze. This festive hat, which is currently being sold on Amazon, has a secret flask inside for when your office party hits a lull.

Available in black, green, and red, the hat features a pouch that can hold up to 10 ounces. When you want to spike your eggnog, just grab the end of the hat and twist the secret nozzle. Just like that, you can have holiday cheer flowing right out of your headwear. After the party, the bag can be removed for easy cleaning (since we don’t all have elves to do our laundry).

[h/t Oddity Mall]

Susi Kenna gets crafty with her nail art. The social media director covers her nails in miniature works of art inspired by everyone from Pablo Picasso to Keith Haring.

Kenna, who works in the art world and serves as co-chair of the Junior Associates of the MoMA, uses her extensive knowledge of art to help design each set of nails. After deciding what artwork she wants to recreate next, it takes about 24 hours to create the design. Next, she finds a qualified nail artist to handpaint the creation.

You can check out all of Kenna’s manicures on her blog, Nail Art History.

[h/t My Modern Met]

The holiday season is full of (prettily wrapped) potential land mines. Even if you know better than to re-gift Aunt Ida’s sweater or insult Grandma’s fruitcake, you could still be slipping up. We spoke with etiquette expert Joy Weaver, author of How to Be Socially Savvy in All Situations, to get the scoop on how you can secure your spot on the “Nice” list.

1. RESPOND TO INVITES.

Yup, all of them—and promptly. And if you really want to be proper, don’t ring up your friend and let them know you’re calling to RSVP. As Weaver explains, that’s technically an abbreviation for the French phrase “Répondez s’il vous plait” (meaning “reply if you please”): “So you don’t say you’re going to RSVP. It’s not a word!”

2. SHOW UP ON TIME(ISH).

If it’s a sit-down dinner party you should be there right on time, says Weaver. But if it’s a more casual drop-in situation, showing up promptly is actually kind of rude. “You know what it’s like, the party starts at seven and you’re running around getting everything just right,” she says. Best to allow your pal a second to breathe, she notes: “Give it a minute or two before you ring the doorbell.”

3. FORGET THE FLOWERS (BUT DON’T COME EMPTY-HANDED.)

If there are multiple hosts, you only need to bring something for the person whose home it is, explains Weaver, because they’re the ones that had to clean up their spread. And your trinket should be well-thought-out, she says, “You always want to give them something they’ll like.” Off limits: flowers (“Unless they come in a vase so the host doesn’t have to take time out from the party looking for one”) and any wine or food to be set out. “The menu has been determined and the drinks selected,” she says. “So if you bring food or champagne let them know it’s for them to save.”

4. KNOW WHEN TO SAY THANKS.

It’s proper form to send your pal a written thank you for having you at their get-together. But if you’re the host, you’re off the hook. Even though you should, in theory, be collecting all sorts of hostess gifts, you don’t have to send notes for any of them. “This is the one time you’re not required to write a thank you,” says Weaver, “because it’s like saying thank you for a thank you. It could go on and on.”

5. DON’T SKIP THE OFFICE PARTY.

Ever. Even if it’s just a conference room gathering with stale crackers and cheap wine, “it’s a must-attend event,” says Weaver. Opting out “shows disrespect for your company, supervisors, and colleagues and can be a career-killer.”

6. BUT DON’T BE THE LIFE OF IT, EITHER.

You (hopefully) know dancing on the bar is a bad call. (“It’s just not the time to be over-served,” says Weaver.) But overindulging in the cheese tray isn’t a good look either, she says: “You don’t want to seem like you’re going there because the company owes you food. You’re there to establish better relationships.”

7. MAKE IT EASY FOR HIGHER-UPS TO MEET YOU.

If your office bash is a name-tag-required situation, place it high up on the right side of your body, says the expert: “When you’re about to shake hands, your right shoulder comes forward, so it’s a perfect glance.” And when you go in for the palm-to-palm grab, make sure you’re standing. “Never shake hands sitting down,” says Weaver. “It’s a respect thing.”

8. GET (SLIGHTLY) POLITICAL.

Talking too much about business or your kid’s latest milestone just isn’t done, says Weaver: “Talk about something interesting, current events, just something unique and different.”

9. WHEN HOSTING, DON’T FORGET THAT YOU’VE GOT A JOB TO DO.

And it’s not just refilling the chip bowl. It’s considered proper to stand at the door to greet each guest as they arrive. Repeat the process at closing time, walking each of your attendees to the door for a brief goodbye. Note to guests, says Weaver: “Do not engage the host in a long conversation at the door.”

10. MASTER THE ART OF ADDRESSING HOLIDAY CARDS.

If you’re keeping it formal, technically, you shouldn’t be sending a card to Mrs. Joy Weaver. Explains the expert, “Mrs. means married to the next person. I’m not married to Joy, I am Joy.” The truly proper form, she says, is Mrs. [husband’s name] Weaver or simply Mrs. Weaver. And these days, she says, Miss is only appropriate for women under the age of 18.

11. NEVER, EVER USE THE EXCUSE “MY DOG ATE YOUR GIFT.”

We’ve all been there: your cubicle mate presents you with a gift and you didn’t realize you were that tight. Don’t fib and say you forgot their present at home, says Weaver; simply be gracious. “The only thing they want in that moment is for you to be happy,” she explains. “Do not bring up the fact that you don’t have a gift for them. Just say, ‘This is wonderful. Thank you.’” If you’d like to surprise them with something down the road, you can, but it’s not a must: “You need to think through, is this someone that I want to give a gift to next year, or should I just accept this gift and move on?” Now that’s learning how not to be a jerk to yourself.

All images via Getty 

Being a mall Santa might seem like a relatively easy job: Put a kid on your lap, ask them what they want for Christmas, pose for a quick photo, and send them on their merry way. But any Santa who’s done even one season at the mall will tell you the job takes dedication.

“There’s no harder job in all of Christmas than being the mall Santa,” says Paul Sheehan, who worked as a Santa at a mall in rural New Hampshire and is now in his 36th season as a professional Mr. Claus. “Between Black Friday and Christmas Eve at 3 pm, I had seen over 17,000 kids. Someone in a bigger city, they’re doing twice and three times that.”

But there’s a reason thousands of rotund, bearded men don the suit every year: While demanding, being Santa is also incredibly rewarding. We spoke with a few professional Kris Kringles about what it’s like being the season’s biggest celebrity. 

1. THEY GO TO SANTA COLLEGE.   

If you’ve ever perched on Santa’s knee at your local mall, there’s a good chance he was a graduate of Santa University, run by Noerr Programs Corporation, an events company that trains and distributes Santas to more than 278 major malls and shopping centers across the country. Each Noerr Santa has to pass a background check and undergo several rounds of interviews. And a real beard is required. “That’s part of the magic,” says Ruth Rosenquist, Noerr’s Director of PR. 

Every August, Noerr hosts its Santa University in Arvada, Colorado, where hundreds of “gentlemen of great mirth and girth” gather for four days of training on everything from Santa ethics to how to ho-ho-ho. “It’s amazing to sit with all these guys in their red shirts and suspenders,” Rosenquist says. “You look up and you’re speaking to Santa. It’s the best audience in the world.” Watch a sneak peek below: 

2. RULE #1: ALWAYS STAY IN CHARACTER.

If you’re wearing the red suit, you must behave like Santa at all times. This means having a jolly temperament and never snapping or yelling at a child, no matter how frustrated you may be. 

“The most important thing they need to understand is that they are Santa and they always are to remain in character of Santa,” says Rosenquist. “They’re never to break that character.”

For some of the more professional St. Nicks, the white beard and big belly stays with them all year, so they have to be careful about how they’re representing the jolly old elf in public. This means being on one’s best behavior and fielding questions like, “Santa, what are you doing at the grocery store?” 

Robert Hildreth, a professional Santa of 30 years, says he doesn’t drink when he goes out for dinner with his wife Carol Hildreth (a.k.a. Mrs. Claus), because he wants to be the model image of Santa for children. “You gotta watch what you say and do because the kids are looking at you,” he says.

But playing a convincing Santa all year round comes with its perks, like the occasional free meal. “We’ve had a couple incidents where we’ve gone into restaurants and the little ones notice us,” Carol explains. “He’ll go over and talk to them a bit and then when we go to pay the bill it’s already been taken care of.”

3. THEY KNOW WHERE THE MALL’S SECRET BATHROOMS ARE.

“I refuse to go to the public restroom if it’s at all avoidable,” says RG Holland, one of Noerr’s men in red. “The whole deal of being Santa, particularly at the mall, is when you’re dressed as Santa you have to stay in character and it’s kinda hard to be in a Santa suit staying in character in front of a urinal.”

In some malls, Santas have their own designated dressing area complete with a bathroom. And if not, they improvise. “I find the restroom in the mall that is the most obscure and private,” Holland says. “If I have trouble finding those, I find the nearest department store and use one of their restrooms that’s out of the way.”

4. THEY SECRETLY SWAP.

If a Santa needs to take a lunch break or his shift is ending, sometimes another one will step in without anyone noticing. “In the busiest of malls, we often set it up so there are two Santas and we try to match in terms of physical appearance so it’s not that obvious in mid-day when we swap,” says Holland. “We don’t want anyone saying ‘That’s not Santa!’ A lot of times even parents and especially kids, if they didn’t see us together, they wouldn’t know which was which.” 

5. THEY GET A BODYGUARD.

According to Rosenquist, every Noerr Santa gets an escort when he leaves the set. This is supposed to discourage the mobs of fans from attacking him.

6. THERE’S A RIGHT WAY AND A WRONG WAY TO BLEACH A BEARD.

While some naturally-bearded Santas are blessed with snowy white bristles, others aren’t so lucky. In that case, bleaching is the best option, but only when it’s done gradually and with great care. “It’s gotta be done in stages,” says Rosenquist. “If you try to go snowy white all at once, you’ll burn your hair and it gets yellow.” Smart Santas begin the coloring process in October in preparation for the holiday season.

7. THE MONEY’S PRETTY GOOD.

Noerr doesn’t disclose how much it pays its actors, but according to Rosenquist, it’s a salaried position, and the rate can vary by location. Ed Warchol, president of Cherry Hill Photo, another Santa distributor, says his Santas earn “well into the five-figure range for just six weeks of work.” 

8. AND SENIORITY HELPS

The more experience a Santa has under his belt, the bigger his paycheck. “We always look for experience,” says Rosenquist. One 18-year veteran St. Nick said he could make $30,000 in one season. 

For some comparison: according to a cheeky report from insurance information site Insure.com, the real Santa Claus would earn roughly $140,000 a year if he were compensated for all the work he does, including overseeing the toy factory and piloting the sleigh on Christmas Eve. 

9. THEY MIGHT KNOW SIGN LANGUAGE.

Noerr teaches Santas-in-training key ASL gestures so they can communicate with deaf children. They’re also advised to learn basic Spanish. Rosenquist says the demand for Santas of different races and backgrounds is growing. “We are in a lot of markets that are heavily Hispanic, so having bilingual Santas is of supreme importance,” she says. 

10. THERE’S A SECRET SANTA GREETING. 

In public, Santas speak in code to one another as a show of camaraderie. “I’ll go up and ask him if he’s being good this year,” says Holland. “That’s a giveaway.” Or, if a Santa lookalike answers to “Brother In Red,” you know you’re talking to a St. Nick.

11. ROUND BELLY NOT REQUIRED

“You don’t necessarily have to have the belly full of jelly,” Rosenquist says. “We don’t measure our Santas by their waist, we measure them by their hearts.” Noerr’s training program actually includes a session on how to eat properly and avoid the health risks that come with being Santa-sized, like diabetes and heart disease. If Santa needs a bigger belly to be convincing, he can be “enhanced” with padding.

Some Santas also wear makeup to maintain a rosy glow. “Number 30 rouge for the cheeks and maybe a little touch on the nose to give him a little bit of weathered look,” one actor told This American Life. 

12. CONDIMENTS ARE TO BE AVOIDED.

“If he’s presenting that day, it’s pretty much just water and sandwiches with no ketchup or mustard in them,” says Carol Hildreth. “Otherwise the beard gets dirty.” And nobody wants Santa all up in their face if he’s got bad breath, so good Santas keep breath mints on them at all times. Robert adds an extra special touch: His beard oil is peppermint-scented.

13. THEY HAVE TO STUDY.

“One of the things you have to have at your fingertips at all times is all the culture that goes with Santa,” says Sheehan. This goes way beyond being able to recite the names of Santa’s reindeer. Sheehan tries to keep up with every new movie or TV show in which Santa makes an appearance and memorize the plot so he’s not caught off guard by an inquisitive child. “You could be blown away by a new movie out this season that you haven’t seen yet, but the kid has like six times,” Sheehan explains. “They’re asking details about what happened in the movie and you don’t know what’s going on.”

Santa also has to know all the latest toys—after all, he makes them. “I go through the toy catalogues every year,” says Sheehan. “In a nutshell, it’s staying current. Like any dentist or doctor has to read professional journals, it’s the same with us but we have to stay up on everything that has to do with Christmas.”

14. “I’LL ASK MRS. CLAUS” IS CODE FOR “I DON’T WANT TO ANSWER THAT.”

Kids say the darndest things on Santa’s knee, and no amount of studying can prepare a Kris Kringle impersonator for all the odd questions or bizarre requests. You know you’ve stumped Santa when he brings up the wife.

“I blame a lot on Mrs. Claus,” says Holland. “If anything comes up that’s questionable, I say ‘I’ll have to check with Mrs. Claus about that.’ It really defuses a lot of skepticism.”

But Mrs. Claus does more than just take the blame for Santa’s shortcomings. She often helps shy kids feel more comfortable. “Sometimes the little ones are afraid of the big guy in the red suit and the beard but they’ll come to someone who looks like grandma,” says Carol Hildreth. “So they’ll sit on my lap and then talk to Santa.” 

15. THEY’RE NOT ALLOWED TO PROMISE. 

One of the worst things a mall Santa can do is promise a child they’ll get what they want for Christmas. “If you promise stuff the parents can’t provide then it’s rough on them and it makes Santa look bad too,” says Holland.

Noerr coaches its Santas to deliver a message of hope, but to make no guarantees. “The most you can say is that you’ll try,” says Sheehan. “Even if I know you’ve bought it for them, I’m not gonna tell them that because god forbid the garage catches fire and the toys are gone.”

16. THEY HATE CRYING BABY PHOTOS.

But for some reason, parents love them. “Unfortunately some think that’s the thing to have,” Holland says. “I do everything I can to avoid them. Parents say it’s ok if they cry, but the crying picture is not any fun for the kid and it’s not any fun for Santa either.”

The best way to avoid a screaming, sobbing child is for parents to stay close, rather than shoving the kid in Santa’s lap and walking away. “Give the kids time to acclimate to Santa,” says Robert. “The child is scared and crying and screaming because they don’t know who you’re handing them off to. Please don’t throw your kids to us.”

“Some of these people slug their kids around like they’re 10 lb bags of potatoes,” says Sheehan. “I had a woman in the mall who almost tossed the child to me. She let go of the kid before I had a grip on the kid, then walked away and was wondering why the child was crying. Parents are the worst part of the whole thing of being Santa.” 

17. THEY WISH YOU’D DO THE HEAVY LIFTING.

The constant up-and-down that comes with hoisting kids on and off your knees for 12 hours a day can cause all kinds of aches and pains. After their shifts, the older Santas are probably going home to ice their knees or put a heating pad on their backs. 

“Like any business you go into there’s always something that wears out, some part of the anatomy that takes a beating,” says Sheehan. “For Santa it’s the knees and hips. By the end of the season, you’re really going to be hurting.” 

If you want to make your local mall Santa happy, save him a little bit of effort by lifting your child onto his lap.

18. NOT EVERY SANTA CAN NAIL THE SIGNATURE LAUGH.

“Interestingly enough, there are some Santas who just can’t ho-ho-ho,” Rosenquist says. “We try to get them to do it but for some of them it’s just not their nature.”

19. KIDS’ TOY PREFERENCES ARE CHANGING.

The old standbys never change: Lots of boys want a fire truck and girls want an American Girl doll. But according to Sheehan, requests for gender-specific toys have fallen over the last two or three years. “So I will hear boys asking for an Easy Bake Oven and the girls will like LEGOs and the kinds of toys you can build something with,” he says. “There is a shift and transition there that’s happened in last couple years.”

20. THE PROFESSIONALS HAVE LIABILITY INSURANCE.

All it takes is one squirming child who falls off a knee and Santa could be liable for thousands of dollars in damages. As a precaution, the professionals carry their own insurance.

“We carry $2 million of liability insurance,” says Robert Hildreth. Luckily he’s a member of a Santa training and advocacy group called International Brotherhood of Real Bearded Santas, which helps him get a group rate on insurance. “We’ve never had to use it, but it’s nice to have it there,” he says.

21. IT’S ALL ABOUT BEING A GOOD LISTENER.

The most important part of a mall Santa’s job, according to Sheehan, is to lend an ear to kids who might be feeling lost. “Being with Santa might be the best thing that’s gonna happen to that kid all day,” he says. “I try to make it warm and affirming and raise them up. Everyone needs affirmation.”

Some kids ask for the impossible, like the return of a deceased family member or a reunion between divorced parents. “There are some things Santa can’t do, but we’ll pray with them,” Holland says. “Another thing I like to do is tell them that as long as they remember the person who’s gone, they’re still with them. You have to really philosophize with some of them and tell them stuff in a way that makes sense and that they will come away feeling like it’s gonna be ok. The parents get the pictures, the kids get the experience.”

All images via iStock. 

 

 

 

 

In the 1980s, executive desk toys were a super-hip phenomenon. If you had a desk, you had to have Newton’s cradle, or perhaps Pin Art. But digging deeper into the desk toy world, you’ll find oddball items like the Seiko Executive Egg. It’s a plastic egg mashed up with a voice recorder. But because it’s from the early 1980s, it records the voice using a tape recorder head on a magnetic disc, much like those used in floppy diskettes.

Tune in to this video for a thorough investigation of the egg and its guts—including a repair job.

For more on this executive desk toy, check out this blog post, which also features the original instruction sheet.

Born on this day in 1830, Emily Dickinson lived nearly her entire life in Amherst, Massachusetts. She wrote hundreds of poems and letters exploring themes of death, faith, emotions, and truth. As she got older, she became reclusive and eccentric, and parts of her life are still mysteries. To celebrate her birthday, here are 11 things you might not know about Dickinson’s life and work.

1. SHE WASN’T A FAN OF TRADITIONAL PUNCTUATION.

Dickinson’s approach to poetry was unconventional. As her original manuscripts reveal, she interspersed her writing with many dashes of varying lengths and orientations (horizontal and vertical). Early editors cleaned up her unconventional markings, publishing her poems without her original notations. Scholars still debate how Dickinson’s unusual punctuation affected the rhythm and deeper meaning of her poems. If you’re interested in seeing images of her original manuscripts, dashes and all, head to the Emily Dickinson Archive.

2. SHE WAS A REBEL.

Besides punctuation, Dickinson rebelled in matters of religion and social propriety. Although she attended church regularly until her 30s, she called herself a pagan and wrote about the merits of science over religion. Dickinson neither married nor had children, and she largely eschewed in-person social interactions, preferring to communicate with most of her friends via letters.

3. SHE NEVER PUBLISHED ANYTHING UNDER HER OWN NAME.

Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Dickinson’s friend and mentor, praised her writing ability and innovation but discouraged her from publishing her poems, probably because he thought that the general public wouldn’t be able to recognize (or understand) her genius. Between 1850 and 1878, 10 of Dickinson’s poems and one letter were published in newspapers and journals, but she didn’t give permission for any of these works to be published, and they weren’t attributed to her by name. Although Dickinson may have tried to get some of her work published—in 1883, for example, she sent four poems to Thomas Niles, who edited Louisa May Alcott’s novel Little Women—she instead let her closest friends read her poems, and compiled them in dozens of homemade booklets. The first volume of Dickinson’s poetry was published in 1890, four years after her death.

4. SHE HAD VISION PROBLEMS IN HER 30S.

In 1863, Dickinson began having trouble with her eyes. Bright light hurt her, and her eyes ached when she tried to read and write. The next year, she visited Dr. Henry Willard Williams, a respected ophthalmologist in Boston. Although we don’t know what Williams’s diagnosis was, historians have speculated that she had iritis, an inflammation of the eye. During her treatment, the poet had to eschew reading, write with just a pencil, and stay in dim light. By 1865, her eye symptoms went away.

5. SHE LIVED NEAR FAMILY FOR HER ENTIRE LIFE.

Although Dickinson spent most of her adult life isolated from the world, she maintained close relationships with her brother and sister. Her brother, Austin, with his wife and three children, lived next door to her in a property called The Evergreens. Dickinson was close friends with Austin’s wife, Susan, regularly exchanging letters with her sister-in-law. And Dickinson’s own sister, Lavinia, also a spinster, lived with her at the Dickinsons’ family home.

6. THE IDENTITY OF THE MAN SHE LOVED IS A MYSTERY.

Dickinson never married, but her love life wasn’t completely uneventful. In the three “Master Letters,” written between 1858 and 1862, Dickinson addresses “Master,” a mystery man with whom she was passionately in love. Scholars have suggested that Master may have been Dickinson’s mentor, a newspaper editor, a reverend, an Amherst student, God, or even a fictional muse. Nearly two decades later, Dickinson started a relationship with Judge Otis Lord, a widowed friend of her father’s. Lord proposed to the poet in 1883, didn’t get an answer, and died in 1884.

7. SHE MAY HAVE SUFFERED FROM SEVERE ANXIETY.

Historians aren’t sure why Dickinson largely withdrew from the world as a young adult. Theories for her reclusive nature include that she had extreme anxiety, epilepsy, or simply wanted to focus on her poetry. Dickinson’s mother had an episode of severe depression in 1855, and Dickinson wrote in an 1862 letter that she herself experienced “a terror” about which she couldn’t tell anyone. Mysterious indeed.

8. IT’S A MYTH THAT SHE ONLY WORE WHITE.

Due to her reclusive nature, legends and myth about Dickinson’s personality and eccentricities spread. Before her death, Dickinson often wore a white dress and told her family that she wanted a white coffin and wished to be dressed in a white robe. But the widespread rumor that she only wore white was false. In a letter, she made a reference to owning a brown dress, and photos of her show her wearing dark clothing. For several decades, the Amherst Historical Society and Emily Dickinson Museum have displayed the poet’s well-known white dress (as well as a replica).

9. HER BROTHER’S MISTRESS EDITED AND PUBLISHED HER POETRY.

In 1883, Dickinson’s brother started an affair with a writer named Mabel Loomis Todd. Todd and Emily Dickinson exchanged letters but never met in person. After Dickinson’s death, her sister asked Todd to help arrange Dickinson’s poems to be published. So Todd teamed up with Higginson to edit and publish Dickinson’s work, creating an awkward family dynamic between Dickinson’s brother, sister, and sister-in-law. After publishing the first volume in 1890, Todd and Higginson published a second collection of Dickinson’s poetry the next year. Todd even wrote articles and gave lectures about the poems, and she went on to edit Dickinson’s letters and a third volume of her poems.

10. SHE HAD A BIG GREEN THUMB.

Throughout her life, Dickinson was a major gardener. On her family’s property, she grew hundreds of flowers, planted vegetables, and cared for apple, cherry, and pear trees. She also oversaw the family’s greenhouse, which contained jasmine, gardenias, carnations, and ferns, and she often referred to plants in her poetry. Today, the Emily Dickinson Museum, located on the Dickinsons’ former property, is leading a restoration of Dickinson’s garden and greenhouse. Archaeologists have restored and replanted apple and pear trees on the property, and they’re hoping to find seeds from the 1800s to use for future planting.

11. HER NIECE ADDED “CALLED BACK” TO HER TOMBSTONE.

On May 15, 1886, Dickinson died at her home in Amherst of kidney disease or, as recent scholars have suggested, severe high blood pressure. Her first tombstone in Amherst’s West Cemetery only displayed her initials, E.E.D. (for Emily Elizabeth Dickinson). But her niece, Martha Dickinson Bianchi, later gave her deceased aunt a new headstone, engraved with the poet’s name, birth and death dates, and the words “Called Back,” a reference to an 1880 novel of the same name by Hugh Conway that Dickinson enjoyed reading. In the last letter that Dickinson wrote (to her cousins) before she died, she only wrote “Called Back.”