“Pillars”, oil on linen, 84 x 96 inches. All images courtesy of Mario Moore and Library Street Collective, shared with permission Mario Moore’s Oil Paintings Bridge Past and Present to Spotlight Black Resilience and Style June 4, 2025 Kate Mothes In large-scale works in oil, Detroit-based artist Mario Moore taps into the legacy of European painting traditions to create bold portraits exploring the nature of veneration, self-determination, and the continuum of history. Moore’s work is currently on view in Beneath Our Feet at Library Street Collective alongside fellow Detroiter LaKela Brown. His new pieces nod to the Dutch and Flemish tradition of devotional painting, particularly religious garland paintings. Within elegant arrangements of flowers and foliage, he highlights Black figures relaxing or tending to gardens. “The Patron Saint of Urban Farming”, oil on linen, 72 x 48 inches In “Watermelon Man,” a stone altar is surrounded by hibiscus and watermelons, both symbols of resilience. Historically, the latter represented self-sufficiency and freedom for Southern African Americans following Emancipation, but whites flipped the narrative into a stereotypical exemplar of poverty. Moore reclaims the fruit in the spirit of refined 17th-century still-lifes. The artist has long drawn on the culture and legacies of both Detroit and the U.S. more broadly through the lens of the Black diaspora. Earlier works like “Pillars” position Black figures in elegant dress within the vast wildernesses of the American frontier, bridging the past to explore how racial divisions continue to shape the present. An exhibition last summer at Grand Rapids Art Museum titled Revolutionary Times took his series A New Republic as a starting point, revisiting the history of Black Union soldiers during the Civil War. Moore learned that one of his ancestors, who had been enslaved as a child, later enlisted in the Union Army, spurring the artist’s exploration of the seminal mid-19th-century period of conflict and Western colonization. He positions present-day figures in contemporary dress within historical contexts, interrogating political and racial segregations. “Watermelon Man”, oil on linen, 51 1/2 x 42 inches Through tropes of European painting like a self-portrait of the artist in mirrored reflections and poses in three-quarter profile, Moore renders individuals whose direct, confident gazes and elegant dress invoke Detroit style and pride. For Beneath Our Feet, Brown and Moore collaborated on a five-foot-wide bas-relief bronze coin. Each artist completed one side, with Mario’s contribution taking the form of a portrait of Brown. “Her profile echoes the conventional format of traditional American coinage, confronting the historic absence of Black women in national symbolism and positions of authority,” the gallery says. On the opposite side, Brown depicts a bouquet of collard greens symbolic of nourishment and community. For this exhibition, Brown and Moore “reflect on the wealth held in the earth beneath us—and the enduring question of who holds the rights to till, own, and shape that land,” says an exhibition statement. Detroit is home to ambitious urban gardening initiatives that aim for local food sovereignty, mirroring the resourcefulness of Black farmers throughout history. The artists “consider land not just as property but as history, inheritance, and possibility,” the gallery says. Beneath Our Feet continues through July 30 in Detroit. See more on Moore’s website and Instagram. “International Detroit Playa: Sheefy”, oil on linen, 108 x 96 inches “These Are Not Yams But They Are Damn Good”, oil on linen, 51 1/2 x 42 inches “Creation of a Revolutionary”, oil on linen, 76 x 52 inches “Black”, oil on linen, 48 x 48 inches “Garland of Resilience”, oil on linen, 51 1/2 x 42 inches “Birth of Cool”, oil on linen, 72 x 48 inches Installation view of ‘LaKela Brown and Mario Moore: Beneath Our Feet’ at Library Street Collective, Detroit Previous articleNext article #mario #moores #oil #paintings #bridge

Despite its appearance as just another arcady sandbox game, Deliver At All Costs is shockingly story-minded. So much so, that its constant focus on narrative might deter those just looking for some dumb fun. And after seeing the narrative through to the end, I wouldn’t blame them, given how hard the game tries to be a grand tapestry of storytelling excellence. The adventure is structured into three acts, each with a unique town to explore and complete missions in. One act even features a time skip accompanied by a moment of no return. So even if you just want to ignore story and focus on acing deliveries and causing mayhem in the streets, you still have to go through some cutscenes and narrative progression to unlock the next towns and side missions.   "The majority of the side content in Deliver At All Costs isn’t very enticing." Not that the side missions are worth doing anyway. The majority of side content in Deliver At All Costs isn’t very enticing. The rewards aren’t worth it and the fetch quest design doesn’t warrant the effort. I’d only recommend going out of your way for the side content if you’re already keen on exploring the various maps. The treasure chests and small boxes hidden throughout the game give cash that is used on materials for vehicle upgrades; however, a majority of upgrades can be purchased from the main story mission rewards anyway. I expected to have fun with the vehicle upgrades, but ended up sorely disappointed in their limited application. This is because upgrades cannot be used outside of curated story missions; bummer. Not that the crane attachment or extreme hauling capacity upgrade aren’t fun to play with; they are rather fun, but exclusively used for their particular missions. Again, if you’re expected a zany vehicular sandbox with a lot of options and unlockables, Deliver At All Costs isn’t that. The reason I keep associating the game with sandbox playability is due to its map design. It has an old-school 2D Grand Theft Auto style of isometric driving. In between story missions, you’re given the leisure to roam around town freely. All of your driving and running around is done through a top-down isometric camera angle that gives the environments a nice diorama look to them, and what’s more, you can move the camera between two different angles in case it’s difficult to see something. "Speaking of scenery, there’s a surprising amount of activity going on while you’re driving around delivering stuff." All the unique shops and landmarks of this diorama give off a classic vibe well. Oh, and the soundtrack fits the setting wonderfully. Lounge jazz and instrumental surfer rock accompany your deliveries, and it rarely gets repetitive. Tying it into GTA even more is the radio, with infrequent broadcasts that add flavor lore to the setting. Each town has multiple districts, each with their own theme, which helps vary up the scenery just that much more. Speaking of scenery, there’s a surprising amount of activity going on while you’re driving around delivering stuff. NPCs go about their business, birds glide across the sky, and plenty of vehicle traffic accompany the streets. In fact, there’s often a tad too much activity. Streets are so packed with cars and people that collisions are unavoidable. "NPCs roam the streets and become aggressive when threatened." I like how populated the game is, but it’s tuned a bit too high, getting in the way of enjoyability a lot of the time. Perhaps, it would have been better balanced to up the street traffic the further you get into the game, especially since the towns progress from rural to metropolitan through the course of the narrative. At the very least, there’s an attractive mini-map with well designed labels and indicators. Navigation is aided with helpful arrows showing the way to a mission destination too. But you aren’t merely delivering parcels to a destination in a given time limit; there’s a variety of ways the game mixes up its missions. Part of the game’s initial draw is its physics-based driving, which manifests in hilarious ways. One of the first missions tasks you with delivering a truck full of rotted watermelons. The first step is to bring them to a sanitizer, then you paint them so they look presentable, all while avoiding traffic and trying not to knock them over as they roll around in the back of the truck. It’s one of the enjoyable missions in the game, and one that demonstrates the physics gameplay best. I like how the missions get progressively more wacky and clever as you progress too. You even become a UFO hunter during one late-game job. It’s just too bad the very high traffic and wonky controls hamper the overall experience. "I like how the missions get progressively more wacky and clever as you progress." The driving controls are rather simple. Just aim in the direction you want to drive and hold the accelerate button. It’s the high sensitivity of the acceleration and the hard braking and turning that contribute to a somewhat frustrating experience. The high traffic just further compounds the controls to make for a somewhat clunky driving experience. Vehicles don’t differ in how they drive either, though you really only have the one truck for a large majority of the game anyway, so it doesn’t really make a difference. And the cars aren’t great to look at either. Heck, nothing looks particularly nice in the game, especially the characters. Facial animations are frankly bad and the bland art style doesn’t make up for the graphical shortcomings. What’s worse is there’s still some pretty substantial load times in-between regions, which hurts the flow of the open-world. But the element that gets hurt from graphics the most is the mixed story. It’s hard to take the drama seriously when its presented so poorly. There’s an attempt at cinematic camera angles during cutscenes, but textures are featureless and close-ups of people’s faces are serious PS1 quality stuff. Thankfully, a handful of characters are quite likable despite what their low poly models suggest. Winston’s delivery mates have surprising depth and a good amount of backstory. And Winston himself is a fully fledged personality and someone you can imagine working with. "Winston’s delivery mates have surprising depth and a good amount of backstory." Characters like Norman are instantly likeable while Winston’s arch-nemesis and hardline boss, Donovon, is perfectly punchable. I’m also impressed with a majority of the dialogue writing. Characters speak with a down-to-earth tone and level of informality that makes them realistic, even if they look like untextured Unity assets. Going back to where I started the review, the game goes surprisingly hard on the story axis, but it doesn’t fully land for me. The wacky yet earnest tone is great, but the execution of the plot doesn’t wrap up in a satisfying way. Winston’s mysterious past and the true motives of the delivery company’s executives had so much potential for an intriguing narrative thread. But alas, the finale just kinda falls flat without the payoff that the game was teasing. "The game goes surprisingly hard on the story front, but it didn’t fully land for me." As a whole, Delivery At All Costs delivers a zany and fun, though frustrating, isometric delivery experience with a story that tries a bit too hard. I can easily see this game being a cult classic, but for a majority of gamers, it won’t deliver a truly stunning experience. If you’re looking for a game with a wacky and inventive premise that experiments a bit, and don’t mind gameplay and graphics from three generations ago, give Deliver At All Costs a try and it might just deliver. This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5. #deliver #all #costs #review #lukewarm

This summer is predicted to be another scorcher, with record breaking temperatures across the U.S. beginning in June. While traditional summer crops do require heat, which is why we wait for summer to grow them, extreme heat waves or heat domes are a different thing altogether. Plants have a series of behaviors they'll display when under heat pressure. They can wilt, which is what it sounds like, due to water stress. Leaves will droop, and the solution isn't necessarily more water, but letting the plant ride out the wave with some shade, if you can provide it. Plants may bolt, which is when they stop growing leaves or fruit and instead, thinking they are at the end of their life, send up a flower, which will quickly go to seed. Once this flower is present, which the plant focuses all its energy on, the fruit and leaves will become bitter. Unfortunately, there's nothing you can do to "solve" bolting, except pull the plant and start over. And heat isn't the only threat: Fruit and leaves can also experience sun scald, which is basically a sunburn. You can see these spots on your tomatoes and pumpkins, which appear white, rather than red like they would on human skin. In most cases, plants will survive sunburn, but it puts the plant under additional stress and makes it more susceptible to other garden threats like disease. The best solution is to choose plants that will tolerate heat spikes, and then provide some support to your plants by watering evenly, giving shade when you can in the afternoon sun, and not planting, transplanting, or fertilizing during these spikes, all of which are stressful for plants. Greens that will survive a heat spikeWhile there are bolt-resistant lettuces you can grow, a true heat dome is simply too much stress, and most lettuce will go to seed. For heat-resistant greens, consider kale, which is hardy in both extreme cold and heat. Collards, known for the greens they produce, are also going to survive a heat wave without wilting, which is why they're popular across the south. The crop you might not have heard of yet is malabar spinach. While traditional spinach is a spring and shoulder season crop and won't do well even in an average summer, malabaris a vining plant from India that tastes remarkably similar and has become popular for its resilience. Okra and corn are at home in the heatConsidering crops that have been popular in geographies that experience more heat than we're used to is a good strategy for finding vegetables that'll survive extreme temperatures. Okra is from Ethiopia, so heat resistance is part of the plant's DNA. Okra sometimes gets a bad rap for becoming slimy in recipes, but I urge you to consider growing it. There are two varieties of okra: I recommend only planting the spineless variety. The "spines" are spikes that can make touching and harvesting okra painful. Credit: Amanda Blum Corn may be a resource hog in your garden, requiring a lot of additional nitrogen to be productive, but it is also highly tolerant. Corn can survive in over 110 degree temperatures and still produce crops reliably, so long as those temperature spikes aren't extended. A true summer crop, corn needs 70 degree weather to grow, which is why you wait until June to plant corn seed. Vining plants like luffa, tepary beans, and yardlong beans To be fair, most people don't eat luffa; they know it instead as loofah, a sponge-like material used in "natural" scrubbing. But truly, luffa is a form of vining squash, which will grow prolifically, adores the sun, and thrives in prolonged heat. When the fruit is allowed to dry on the vine, the flesh can be stripped off, leaving behind the luffa, which looks precisely like loofah you purchase, and can be used immediately. There are plenty of pole beansthat originated in hot climates and will do well in a heat wave. Tepary beans, for instance: These beans are native to the Southwest U.S. and Mexico, and will spend the summer climbing and producing pods. Harvest them in the fall before the rain starts, and store them as dry beans. Yardlong beans are closer to a green bean. Still a vining bean, they can produce beans that are well over a foot long, as their name suggests. These summer stars prefer less water, and they will thrive anywhere they have support, like a trellis. Soybeans need the heatWhile not a vining bean, but a bush bean, soybeans are an easy crop to grow if you've got enough heat. These sun-tolerant plants will produce a limited amount of pods per plant, so they need to be grown in groups, but they require almost no support except watering. Harvest the pods and eat the beans steamed fresh, as you would in your favorite Japanese restaurant, or dry them to make soy milk or tofu. Squash and melons love the heatThere are two kinds of squash: summer and winter. Summer squash includes crops like zucchini, yellow squash, and pumpkins. Winter squash includes crops like acorn squash, butternut, spaghetti, and others. Both kinds of squash are traditionally grown in summer, and both are surprisingly resilient in heat. While you might experience sunburn on some fruit, squash is famous for providing shade due to the large leaves, and they will not only take care of most fruit, shielding it, but will also protect nearby plants by shading them, as well. So long as you keep your melons apart from your cucumbers and squash so they don't cross pollinate, your vining melons are likely to survive a heat wave with the same caveats as squash: Look for fruit that is exposed and cover it from sunburn, but the plant will mostly take care of that on its own. Sweet potatoes are built for high tempsOriginally from Polynesia, sweet potatoes are an excellent crop for beginning gardeners. They're easy to cultivate seedlingsfrom any sweet potato you bring home from the store. Once planted, they produce prolific above-ground vines that are showy with flowers, while below ground the potatoes grow over 120 days. These plants not only tolerate but thrive in heat. #best #heatresistant #vegetables #grow #your

We may earn a commission from links on this page.The reality of home gardening is that you rarely have as much space as you’d like. For many people, all they have is one raised 4x8 foot bed. While that doesn’t feel like a lot of space, you can fit a whole lot of plants into 32 square feet. With a smaller space, you just have to find new and inventive ways to get more variety in your beds. Around where I live, we call this "cramscaping. "Take advantage of plant timing and growth patternsEvery vegetable and fruit out there has recommended spacing, and in an ideal world, you’d accommodate them perfectly. However, you can plant closer if needed, while understanding your plants might not be as productive as they’d be if they had more space to grow to their full potential.  kohnrabi growing underneath beans, which are trellised up. Credit: Amanda Blum To get the most out of limited space, take advantage of space above and below the soil. For instance, radishes and carrots are mostly below ground, while tomatoes are above ground. Thus, they are great to grow next to one another. Grow beets alongside peas and large squash with climbing beans. Also consider that plants mature at different rates. Lettuce will grow quickly, and be ready for harvest in mere weeks, while eggplants take all summer. If you plant them at the same time when they’re both small, you’ll harvest your lettuce in time to free up space for your eggplants to spread out. Trellising is essential  help plants grow upward using trellises, creating horizontal space Credit: Amanda Blum When you don’t have as much horizontal space, you have to take advantage of the vertical space. You’ll need to keep plants from sprawling on the ground, and the primary way to do that is by training them up. Choose indeterminate tomatoesinstead of determinateso they continue to grow upwards despite pruning. Then prune everything but a few stems and train them onto a tall trellis. Use an obelisk or netting to provide structure for climbing beans, peas, or cucumbers. IYellow squash and zucchini can also be trained to grow upwards along a trellis, as can pumpkins and melons. Remember, though, that items on trellises have to be within reach: If you plant a trellis of green beans in the dead center of your bed, you’re not going to be able to reach those beans without stepping on other plants. So trellised plants should be located close enough to the edge of the bed to be accessed. Corners and edges make the most sense. For low trellises such as for squash, you can place them closer to the middle, but test your reach before finalizing planting. Start with the largest plants Start with an empty 4x8 bedCredit: Amanda Blum Begin by sketching out a grid for your bed, foot by foot, and a list of everything you’d like to plant. Lay in the largest plants first: in this case, tomatoes. Since they’ll be the tallest, place them in the corners or close to the edge of the bed, so they’re not shading anything. Now consider anything that needs a wide trellis, like peas and cucumbers or beans. Those should live at the edge of the bed, but leave space on either side of the trellis so you can reach what’s on the other side. These trellises are good at the short ends of the bed, so they don’t prevent you from reaching in. Now, start working your way down the list of plants in descending size. I placed eggplants and peppers, which will all need a trellis, on either side. For the center, which is hard to reach, I chose plants that don’t need support and won’t get too tall, but are larger: kale, chard, and onions. What’s left to plan for are short crops that will grow quickly like lettuce, radishes, beets, and carrots. Lettuce is a great buffer between nightshades like eggplant and cruciferous plants like chard and kale, so you can add heads of various lettuces. I don’t worry about root vegetables yet. I then add some beneficial flowers like nasturtium, alyssum and marigolds throughout, particularly hanging over the edges of the bed. These flowers will trap aphids, keep pests at bay, and add color. Next, I lay in herbs like basil, dill, parsley, and cilantro. In addition to being great in the kitchen, these all help control pests. These herbs can be sprinkled throughout the bed, but basil and dill do best next to nightshades. Now, in all the spaces left, I backfill with root vegetables: rows of carrots, circles of radishes, and blocks of beets. Plant established seedlings first, then seeds Sketch of the finished garden. Credit: Amanda Blum When it comes time to plant, work from the inside out. Start with the plants in the dead center of the bed, and work towards the outside by putting your seedlings into the ground. Once your starts are planted, go back and work sector by sector, seeding things like beets and radishes. Working in this way allows you to see what you’ve already done, so you don’t accidentally overseed an area you’ve already worked on. Water everything well and then simply pay attention. Prune plants as soon as they need to be pruned. As plants need to be harvested, replace them or allow larger plants to infill the area.  Keep your bed moist, but not wet, watering at the root —and use a fish fertilizer every other week, adding it to your water. Over the season, some plants might do better than others, and you may need to replace them. Because of the tight spacing, eggplants might not get enough sun where they are, or lettuce might get too much. You’ll learn over the season where each plant might succeed, and you should chart it for next year. Each season is another opportunity to learn about your yard, sun profile, and soil, and each season your vegetable garden—no matter how small—will get better. #how #plant #perfect #kitchen #garden