Angus JohnstonVerified account

@studentactivism

Historian of, and advocate for, American student activism. CUNY prof.

New York City
Joined February 2009
Born December 30

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  1. Pinned Tweet

    Never go on Fox.

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  2. Retweeted

    The revelation that, this whole time outside NYC (like, for the past 70 years), the Americana archetype of the neighborhood ice cream truck was just a guy selling pre-packaged pops and ice cream sandwiches and not swirly soft serve is blowing my goddamn mind.

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  3. Many many people are telling me that Mr. Softee actually originated in Philly, which makes all this drama even better, frankly.

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  4. It's slowly sinking in that the Good Humor Man was just a guy with a freezer full of pre-packaged stuff. All this time, that's all he was. I'm gonna need a minute.

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  5. Retweeted
    2 hours ago
    Replying to

    But my mom made me really confused about which trucks are okay to patronize after she read about the mafia wars between Mister Softee and New York Ice Cream but then couldn’t remember which side broke more kneecaps...

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  7. Retweeted
    2 hours ago
    Replying to

    Because it's really a Philly thing that NYers have adopted. The original Mister Softee is located in Pennsauken NJ, right across the Delaware river. Deep down, NYers know that Philly is better.

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  8. Retweeted
    2 hours ago
    Replying to

    Gonna start telling everyone "you haven't had ice cream until you've had NY style soft serve!"

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  10. Like the fire brigades in Gangs of New York, but with sprinkles.

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  11. I remember the little wafer biscuit from when I was a kid. Fucking magic.

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  12. How is it that New Yorkers have had this thing to be insufferably smug about all these years, and it's somehow never become part of our cultural identity?

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  13. Retweeted
    2 hours ago
    Replying to

    When I was a kid there was one that only had like ice cream sandwiches and soda and was out as late as 9pm. I always saw lots of adults buying stuff from it. I was later told that they were busted for selling meth.

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  14. Part of why this is blowing my mind is that I'm realizing that every time I heard someone talking about running down a suburban street to get ice cream from a truck, I was imagining something totally different from what they were describing. Like for my whole life.

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  15. Seeing a few reports like this. I'd love to see a heat map of the different kinds of trucks, inside and outside NYC.

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  16. The trucks also sell the packaged stuff, and there are carts in parks and so on that only sell the packaged, but ice cream truck = soft serve.

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  17. You can get sundaes, milkshakes, cones, cups. Sprinkles, crushed nuts, cherry and chocolate dip.

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  18. So for context, in NYC, pretty much every ice cream truck—I want to say LITERALLY every truck, they're so ubiquitous—has one of these machines in it.

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  19. Retweeted
    Replying to

    All the ice cream trucks in Toronto sell soft serve. I know this isn't the US, but ice cream is universal.

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  20. Retweeted
    2 hours ago
    Replying to

    I’ve never seen one in Los Angeles. I know someone whose father used to have one in Long Island.

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  21. Retweeted
    2 hours ago
    Replying to

    Mr. Softee trucks on Long Island, NY, where I grew up. The Island is not NYC, as anyone who grew up there will tell you. Mr. Softee where I live now, just outside of Philadelphia, PA

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