Making things

Unquestionably frivolous—but also
a provider of great satisfaction and joy

“‘In a time of destruction, create something.’ To be creative is to push back, again and again, against despair, complacency, and cruelty.” - Maxine Hong Kingston, quoted by Maggie Smith in Creative Fuel by Ana Brones

When I started blogging nearly 17 years ago, it was to build a creative outlet for myself and to document my life as an American immigrant to Australia, experiencing life in a new, faraway country with my husband and then four-year-old daughter. At that point, my other primary creative outlet was cooking and baking—practical and satisfying, if ephemeral. 

Since then, my family and the blog have been through three more international moves, returning to the US seven years ago, into an era of political volatility that has only intensified. My own daily life is also much different: I’m now the mother of a young adult, attending university in another country; and my primary creative focus has shifted from food to fabric. I feel the desire to make things with my hands more than ever, but these days I get more satisfaction out of making things that are more enduring. I still love to make and eat good food, but I do it more on autopilot these days as I apply my brain to learn new skills using stitching. 

I’ve really struggled with blogging over the past few years, feeling as though talking about my life of relative privilege and freedom to focus on creative endeavors is tone-deaf and irresponsible in the face of the hardship and horror that so many people are experiencing every day. And how to navigate the fact that everything about food, about crafting, about domestic life, is simultaneously fundamentally political and an escape from politics. 

I find myself increasingly impatient with internet content that is purely focused on escape, that takes little or no notice of the realities that we in the US—and by extension the rest of the world—are currently navigating. Being able to focus on baking bread and stitching pillows is unquestionably a marker of privilege—and even more so than usual in this moment. And it can feel frivolous given the state of things. But I continue to think it is important. Every decision that I make about how and where I spend my money—and my time—is a political decision. And I feel strongly that putting my time and money and energy into endeavors that support local enterprises and communities over multinational corporations is political—and so is finding joy and self-actualization. There’s a hustle mentality component to activism along with everything else that appears on the internet; but that’s just another exhortation to set myself on fire to keep other people warm. I can’t change the world by myself, and I can’t work with other people if I’m too burned out and exhausted to leave the house. So I’m trying to embrace making things as resistance, and make time for them alongside more conventional resistance activities. I have been paralyzed by feeling I need to demonstrate that what I’m doing to live my values, or how I’m doing it, is ‘enough’ or ‘good enough’—but I’m going to try to continue to resist that idea as well, and re-integrate this blog among the things I make with my hands.

News roundup

Thank you for your patience while I took *checks notes* eleven months to post an update. I’ll try to keep it informative without becoming voluminous.

The Thames at sunset, Midsummer Day

Family About a week after Miss B’s graduation last June, we set off for a four-week trip overseas, with stops in England, France, Germany, and Switzerland. We spent time with friends, absorbed loads of cultural and historical information, and had some stupendous meals. We also made trips to Boston (to visit family), and to New Jersey (for our annual beach trip). And at the end of summer, we made the most momentous trip of all - to deliver Miss B to the start of her next adventure, aka university. It’s still kind of mind-blowing to grasp being the parent of a university student, even now when her first year is finished. 

The Alps from Anzère, Switzerland

Work I think DP and I have adjusted well overall to our new phase of life. DP is busy with work as always, and made several work trips, including back to Canberra for the first time in five years. I’ve been able to continue to keep my work schedule more manageable and focus on a few projects that I find interesting and challenging, but which don’t take over my entire life. 

The beach at Cape May

Home We’ve been in Northern Virginia for almost six years, and will soon break our record for staying in one place. This is by far the longest we’ve lived in one house in one location, and it’s been such a relief to have that continuity. I feel as though I’m still learning my way around and finding things to do and places to go (COVID also put the brakes on this process in a big way), and I’m grateful that we’re set to stay here for the foreseeable future. This spring I had visits from the one niece who hadn’t been before, as well as my best friend from Boston, and those made me feel rooted in a new way. 

Domestic still life with snoozing cat

Avocations Changes to my work and parenting commitments have given me the opportunity to give some time and attention to creative interests that had been getting short shrift for a long time. I’m trying to make time every day for creative pursuits. I’m also reading, with my top priority my daily chapter of War & Peace for the yearlong ‘slow read’ I’m taking part in. I’m really enjoying it and I think I’m getting much more out of it than if I had tried to tackle it on my own.

A set of bowl cozies recently completed for a nibling birthday gift

Food Some changes here too, mainly that with a smaller household and other outlets for my interest in making things, I’m not spending as much time cooking as I used to. I still want delicious food and plenty of it, but I also want production to be straightforward and efficient. My priorities these days are veg-heavy meals that provide maximum impact for minimum effort. 

Imagine a tray of vegetables roasting in the oven while I learn strip-and-flip scrap quilting

So that’s the (extremely condensed) news update from here. I promise it won’t be another eleven months until the next one!

Graduation day

DP, Miss B, and I often joke that we’re “not a math family.” Words, rather than numbers, are our preferred medium, by a long way, to transmit information. So when DP suggested that I say a few words at Miss B’s graduation dinner, I was surprised to note that what kept coming into my mind were numbers. Those had more impact for me in capturing Miss B’s singular experience so far than any words I could corral onto paper. So here they are, documented for posterity.

26+3 Miss B’s gestational age when she made her unforeseen early entrance onto this plane of existence - at the very end of July, rather than her due date of early November.

590 That’s her birthweight, in grams; for those of you working in imperial, that’s 1 lb., 5 oz.

225 Days spent in hospital - about 7.5 months on the calendar, from the end of July 2004 to mid-march 2005.

When Miss B came home, her health was stable and her physical life and development became more typical in many ways (albeit on her own schedule). But her life experience continued to follow a road less traveled:

3 | 3 | 4 | 4 Miss B has lived in three countries on three continents, as well as in four US states. She also navigated four intercontinental moves between the ages of 3 and 13. 

(When we moved back to the US five years ago, I promised her that the next time she moved, it would be her decision. I’ve been able to keep that promise, and she has taken the decision to move again, to attend university. She will also be moving to her fourth country, but I’m grateful to say that she will be remaining on the same continent.)

10 | 7 In the course of all these moves, Miss B has also lived in 10 houses (or apartments), and attended seven schools - a metric that testifies to her resilience and adaptability.

For the final number that came to me, I tried to calculate the number of air miles that Miss B has logged. I gave up when I passed 100,000, and was not close to finishing.

Reflecting on these numbers brought me back to some words that I feel describe, at least somewhat adequately, the person she has always been and continues to become.

Intrepid

Creative

Curious

Passionate

Kind

Funny

Focused 

Brave

To Miss B: I offer you congratulations and admiration for all that you’ve learned and achieved as you complete this milestone and look to your next phase. I’m so glad that I’m your mother and riding this roller coaster with you. To me, you are first, last, and always - the mighty Miss B.

Four months

 Well, that was an unplanned hiatus. Here’s a quick recap of key events since my last post:

The month of June was dominated by a two-week trip to England which was a combination of work and holiday. We were mostly in London, with excursions out of town on the weekends. The highlight of these was a trip to Oxford, our former hometown and Miss B’s birthplace, where we caught up with various friends and revisited old haunts. These included my favorite place, the Covered Market, here still sporting some yarnbombing to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee, which had happened in May.

Speaking of Miss B, the theme of July was some big life stuff happening for her. One thing involved her being away for most of the month, on a three-week pre-college course that enabled her to delve into her love of history and start getting a taste of university life in an extremely historic location (as well as help her parents start preparing mentally and logistically for the next phase).

She finished up right at the end of the month, just before a milestone birthday. Luckily not yet too old for a themed cake though!

We kicked off August with our final major event of the summer, our annual jaunt to the coast. This is our fourth year at Cape May, and we love it as much as ever - plenty of sun, lazing by the ocean, and New Jersey farmstand produce. 

My cooking highlight this year, to make the most of some great local tomatoes, was a MacGyvered focaccia. I made the same basic bread recipe that I always make, then after letting it rise I gave it the focaccia treatment - i.e., spreading it in a baking pan with lots of olive oil, poking dimples in it with my fingers, sprinkling salt on it, and then baking it. It was yummy, and since then I’ve continued to work it into the regular bread rotation. 

This rotation has gotten more regular as August shifted into September, because along with other transitions, I’ve made some changes to my work commitments which I’m hopeful will allow for better balancing of priorities across multiple areas of life. 

I posted a picture of the pillow on the left on Instagram a few weeks ago, describing it as “turning anxiety management (handstitching) into home decor”. Ideally (among other things) I’d like more of the handwork and less of the anxiety.

I'm not quite at this point, but it's something to aspire to. More to come soon, I hope, and that your anxiety is minimal and your contentment maximal in the meantime.

No words

A while back I learned a technique from a counselor: I was struggling to deal with a crisis situation and she asked me to start processing by listing five emotions that I was feeling in that moment. At the end of the session, we revisited that technique, and she recommended it as a tool to help start the process of navigating difficult emotions. It's a tool I've continued to use. So here’s what I’m feeling today, if I try to think about pretty much anything outside my own little sphere:

- anger

- sadness

- despair

- frustration

- fear

I don’t feel able to write anything about everyday events like food or gardening or holiday weekends because it seems so cluelessly trivial in the context of the bigger picture of what I see happening in the US and elsewhere. I know it’s important to stay in the present, in my own reality, and not get swept up into the surging currents of events on social media, and food is one of the ways that I keep my feet on the ground. But right now the luxury of being able to mull over what to make for dinner, or what’s on the schedule for this week, feels like an impertinence; how can normal life for anyone continue in a world where things like these can happen? 

And yet it must. We must not give in to despair, to the forces of darkness. We must take action as we can: Make a donation. Call an elected representative. Hug our loved ones. Hold a thought for those who are devastated. Keep putting one foot in front of the other, remembering that every day that we draw breath on this earth is a privilege and a responsibility. Keep helping each other along.

Donate or take action in your community (US)

Find your members of Congress (US)

Support food as a universal human right (global)

Support humanitarian assistance worldwide (global)

Work/life balance

I know that I have infinite company in feeling that the roller coaster of the last two years has thrown this balance off completely, that the mental load that work entails has expanded to encroach into every corner of brain space, with attending consequences for mental and physical health. Re-establishing boundaries, especially for myself, is an ongoing challenge and a necessary one. Here are some things that have helped recently with re-balancing the scales:

Getting out of the house and going somewhere different - in this case, London. After being entirely confined to the BosNYWash megalopolis for nearly 3 years, I got on a plane with my family and went to a different country altogether. We took Miss B to some of our favorite London spots and thoroughly enjoyed the change of scene. Oh, and we got to cheer DP on as he won an award in his field, which put a very nice finishing touch to the excursion.

Welcoming visitors - two of my sisters came to visit, also for the first time in nearly 3 years. It was such a refreshing change; we took a break from the regular routine to do touristy things with them, as well as making the most of the time together with lots of walking, chatting, and eating. We spotted this rainbow as we were lingering at the dinner table one evening - I doubt I'd have noticed if it if I'd been doing my usual daily round. 

Making time for hobbies - these breaks from the routine reminded me that I don't have to wait for other people or events to provide an opportunity to take some time to focus on things other than work. In addition to my usual food purchases at the farmers' market this weekend (including some spectacular strawberries, see above), I also picked up some tomato and herb plants to grow on the back deck - an addition to the daily routine that I hope will supplement both diet and quality of life. 

March roundup

March got away from me, so here are a few recent highlights:

I’m continuing to find new uses for my sourdough starter and this one is right up there: a recipe for nearly-instant crumpets, aka TrashCrumps, constructed mainly from starter and found on Instagram. Definitely a keeper.

We had a weekend in New York City mid-month where we visited friends and family, ate lots of good food, and walked a good chunk of Manhattan (21,000 steps in one day!). Our Saturday evening included taking Miss B most of the length of Central Park, including the reservoir.

I’ve been continuing to make snacking cakes, inspired by this book. Miss B’s recent favorite is a raspberry cake topped with a glaze made with icing sugar mixed with equal parts milk and blood orange juice. A good way to make the most of their short season.

Spring has come to northern Virginia and the flowers are blooming. I snapped this gorgeous camellia when it was all just beginning a couple of weeks ago.

And now it's time to jump into April. Hoping it brings good things to all.

Points north

This week was another busy one - a visit from our oldest nibling, more mitigation on the recent water issue, plus the usual round of work and family commitments crammed into four days - and we wrapped it up with a weekend overnight in Pennsylvania. This trip encompassed our youngest nibling’s first birthday party; a celebratory dinner with one of DP’s former students who’s just achieved a significant career milestone; and, since we were in the neighborhood, a peek at a possible candidate for Miss B’s college application list. (Yes, we’ve officially entered this phase of the parenting journey.)

By the time last night rolled around, I was glad that DP had insisted that we splurge and stay at a local inn, rather than a generic hotel room. After an extra-long sleep in a very comfortable bed, we were fed an amazing homemade breakfast made by someone other than me. And with all of our obligations completed, we had a flexible Sunday schedule and continued the indulgence with a stop in Gettysburg on the way home to browse in some shops we don’t get to often - including the only Polish pottery supplier in this part of the country. I took the opportunity to pick up a few new pieces to level up breakfast at home.

So - not much cooking this weekend, but plenty of good eating and good company, a change of scene and a bit of rest. I'm grateful to be able to say so.

15 minutes

My corner of northern Virginia has 15 more minutes of daylight today than we did last Sunday - a useful reminder of the impact that a seemingly small chunk of time can have. Particularly useful at a time of year when it’s hard to muster up the energy or motivation to do much of anything at all, and yet the list of things that needs to get done never seems to get any shorter. To say nothing of the list of things I’d like to make some time for as well, and the constant tug of war between those two categories. 

Allocating small chunks of time - 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 25 minutes, depending on the task at hand and the budget of daily time available - has been for many years the best strategy I have found to get pretty much anything done that needs doing, or that I want to be doing. It’s not an exaggeration to say that it’s the key to everything I’ve accomplished, certainly since I became a parent. 

I remembered another two benefits of this method this weekend: 

1. If you’re contemplating tackling a project that’s daunting in scope or duration, allocating a small, regular chunk of time to focus on it will enable you to deal with it in less-terrifying and more-manageable chunks, with gaps in between to mull your next steps. 

2. Even a 15-minute block of time is enough to get you well on the way to having some cake.

50 weeks

This weekend marks 50 weeks of quarantine life - just two weeks shy of a full year since we went into lockdown - and the final weekend of this longest shortest month. I had a look back through my photos to see what this month looks like for the archive:

Snow We had snowfall or wintry mix with accumulation on 11 out of 27 days this month - beautiful to look at, but messy and slippery enough to mess with my regular exercise and grocery routines. We had an abrupt change from snow on Monday to 60-degree weather on Tuesday and, as much as I love my hibernation, I think I’m officially ready for spring.

Handwork More time indoors has meant more time spent on crafty pursuits, and this month I finished another two projects: a crocheted scarf and a zippered pouch. I’m also pursuing my interest in visible mending, and did an intentional repair on a favorite souvenir tea towel. 

Cooking Possibly my proudest cooking moment of the month was creating a complete meal out of what looked like a pretty bare refrigerator. Stumped about what to make for dinner, and not wanting to make an impromptu supermarket run in another wintry mix episode, I stumbled across a recipe for Belgian Endive and Ham Gratin. I didn’t have any Belgian endive, but I did have a heap of leftover braised chard, so I rolled that (along with some leftover rice pilaf) into slices of ham, as proposed by the recipe, and made those the base of the recipe instead. As a bonus, I finally feel like I’ve mastered making a Mornay sauce.

Baking As usual, there was a lot of this - chocolate cupcakes, whoopie pies for Valentine’s Day, Smitten Kitchen’s French Breakfast Puffs for Sunday breakfast - and I also cracked open 100 Cookies and made a big batch of chocolate chip cookies to give away and send in care packages.

Speaking of care packages.... I’ve been participating in the Lasagna Love initiative, a volunteer movement to provide a hot meal to people in our communities who may be in need of a helping hand for one reason or another. Over the holiday weekend, I combined a Lasagna Love delivery with a new-baby meal delivery for one of DP’s students - my favorite kind of community effort!

Other distractions Most of my sisters and I have become obsessed with Spelling Bee, one of the New York Times’ daily puzzles - so much so that we had to set up a separate chat thread to avoid driving the one sister who isn’t playing around the bend. We swap hints, complain about ineligible words (what do you mean “chillin’” doesn’t count?), and cheer each other on to Genius level and sometimes, the coveted Queen Bee.

And last but not least, I can’t overlook the other, happier milestone that we’ve reached this weekend - two years since we brought our furry housemate home from the shelter. Originally dubbed Trinity when she first came home, she has since acquired a variety of nicknames, the most commonly used of which these days is Chubthulu. Here she is in her favorite spot, doing what she does best: improving quality of life for all just by hanging around.

Day 330

Sorry I went quiet there for a bit; most of January felt like walking through a dark tunnel of anxiety. January 6 was a realization of so many things I’d been worrying and catastrophizing about for the past 4+ years. I watched in rage and horror as an insurrectionist mob stormed the US Capitol building. They climbed walls, broke windows, looted offices, defaced public property, and threatened the safety of every single person in the building. They wandered around the building for hours, brandishing Confederate flags, taking selfies, and displaying their total, malicious disrespect for the home of American government and the greatest symbol of our constitutional democracy. 

They did all of this with apparent ease and little visible opposition from the law enforcement and security agencies that are normally on display at any event in Washington, DC. For anyone who witnessed the highly visible law enforcement presence on display and bristling with gear and weaponry in Washington DC and across the US during last summer’s Black Lives Matter protests, the security forces in place appeared unprepared and even vulnerable - a stark contrast and one that raises unavoidable questions about the people in each group and how they and the possible threats they pose are viewed by our law enforcement and homeland security agencies. 

So I’ve been feeling anxious - how could this serious threat have been so poorly evaluated and planned for? And angry - how can this toxic white privilege be so visible to some of us, while others claim not to understand what we are talking about? And despair - how can this country move forward in any meaningful way when our society is so divided that we are effectively living in two different realities? And dislocation - how can we even think about moving forward with anything at all until we have addressed what really happened on January 6, and what it means for our country? 

Welcome 2021

 

Coming to the end of a much-needed holiday break spent in more or less the same routine we've been in since mid-March (today is Day 293, 42 weeks). Normally we would have been in Boston this week for a holiday visit, but having decided that was unsafe and irresponsible, we have remained here in northern Virginia to eat Christmas goodies, admire our neighbors' holiday lights, and indulge in our favorite safe recreational pursuits. Yesterday I repeated the guided reflection I wrote about last year, and also took some time to gather some metrics on my 2020 resolutions in preparation for scoping out a new set for 2021:

1 handmade project/month: I didn't quite hit this milestone, but I did count 10 projects completed, which is unprecedented given my track record as a project (non-)completer before this year. And since one of those projects comprises 50+ homemade masks for family, friends, and donation, I feel pretty good about how this went. I even gave some handmade gifts as Christmas presents - here's one, an embroidered infinity scarf that I made for my sister-in-law:

2 outside events/month: well, this one was an epic fail, unsurprisingly, which is mostly on the pandemic and partly on me. I know there were dozens of virtual options that sprang up for connection, entertainment, education, professional development, and more, but to be perfectly honest, daily life was usually so hectic and draining that the thought of voluntarily spending more time online after work and school hours had ended was completely unappealing.

3 minutes/day of meditation: this was not a great success either, as I got into a bad habit of bedtime doomscrolling that I'm still trying to break. This review exercise was a helpful reminder to restart this one, so it will definitely be on the 2021 list again.

4 books/month: I didn't hit this milestone as planned, but I did manage somewhat respectable totals as follows:

Fiction: 20 (25-30% of these were re-reads)

Non-fiction: 2 (reading was definitely an escape this year)

YA fiction: 10 (60% of these were re-reads of old favorites)

Cookbooks: 5 (this number represents a documented use of a cookbook for a new recipe or technique)

Related to this last category: I did not have a food- or recipe-related resolution for 2020, but having reviewed my notes and photos I did document 21 new recipes or techniques that expanded my repertoire in 2020. (More on that in a subsequent post.)

5 30-minute exercise sessions/week: I actually managed this pretty consistently, especially once quarantine cabin fever got me into the habit of regular walks. Over the last month, I've been challenging myself to increase my step count by at least 100 steps over the previous day's target, working towards a goal of consistently hitting 10,000 steps/day. I started this in late November with a step total of 4,300 for my baseline; yesterday my target (achieved) was 7,000 steps.

6 pages/week of creative writing: here again, I didn't quite hit this total. But I did establish a routine of getting up 30-45 minutes early most weekdays in order to write, and have produced about 80,000 words of writing practice this year, including blog posts, exercises, and story drafts. 

7 hours/month on personal and financial admin: I did manage to integrate this as a regular part of my weekly routine, and feel I have a much better handle on our financial situation and home admin than I did a year ago. We have been extremely fortunate to be able to maintain employment and financial stability in 2020, and thus to have the opportunity to deal with some debt, make some necessary home repairs, and try to pump some money into the local economy.

A note related to this last point: one of my friends suggested online recently that those of us who are US-based, financially stable, and in line to receive a stimulus check consider making a concerted effort to put all of that money back into the local economy by purchasing goods and services from small businesses. I'm completely on board with this idea, adding only that another good option would be to donate a chunk to charities working to mitigate the economic and health hardships that so many people are facing this winter. (If you're looking for ideas, a local food bank is always a good place to start.)

When I re-read this post, I am struck again by how very, very fortunate I am to be healthy, housed, food and income stable, and able to focus on how best to use my time and money. I'm working to keep that in mind in finalizing my resolutions and plans for 2021. 

 

35 weeks

Today marks 8 months of quarantine. School was initially canceled for Miss B on Friday, March 13th, and for me that marked the beginning of this interlude. Here we are at our second Friday the 13th of 2020, and pandemic-wise at least, things are worse today than the conditions that sent us all into lockdown back in the spring. And with no end in sight. Even with a coming change in presidential administration, I do not see a way that things are going to get measurably better in containing the spread for a long time to come.

Things haven’t changed much for us: we are all managing school or work from home. DP and I have been going to the gym during off-hours, although I suspect that may change again soon, and I go to the grocery store and the farmers’ market. Other than going out for walks or drives, and the occasional small outdoor social gathering, we have been hunkered down at home. Luckily Miss B and I are homebodies, and DP has adjusted reasonably well, so we're coping.

Day 235

Today's the day, friends. Time's up. Whatever else you do today, if you haven't already, please, please vote. Email me (roving lemon at yahoo.com) if you need information on where to go and I'll try to help you out. 

Today's the day. Let's go.

Day 140

DP and Miss B re-enact their first meeting

Sixteen years ago today I was in the intensive care unit of the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, preparing to go into surgery for a caesarean. I was 26 and a half weeks pregnant, and definitely not prepared for any aspect of what was happening or what was coming.

That day, the focus of my life changed forever. Through 225 days in hospital, followed by four international moves, nine houses, three continents, and more air miles than I have the energy to count, she’s been at the center of every day. Being her mother is the most important job I’ll ever have.

We haven’t been able to have any big celebrations this year, but she doesn’t really mind that. She’s had the opportunity to do some of the things she likes best - hang out with a good friend; work on her writing (alternate universe/historical fiction/horror is the current genre I believe) and her drawing and her graphic design; snuggle her fat cat; and eat her fill of french fries for dinner, followed by birthday cake decorated with her theme of choice - this year reflecting the love of history that she shares with her father. 

Even in the midst of...everything...the adventure continues. Wishing the very happiest of birthdays to my smart, funny, kind, inclusive, creative, and inquisitive daughter - the mighty Miss B.

Day 138

Yesterday I went into DC for the first time since March 10, to join thousands of my fellow citizens lining up to pay respect to Representative John Lewis, one of the leaders of the US Civil Rights movement in the 1960s and a longtime member of the US Congress. I went to express my gratitude, respect, admiration, and remorse. As an American, I’m profoundly grateful that Representative Lewis, before I was even born, was putting everything he had on the line to make this country a better place. And also as an American, I’m deeply ashamed that it was necessary then, and that the struggle for justice has not yet been won.

My personal history is one I refer to often here: I’m a descendant of immigrants, most of whom came to the United States about 100 years ago. Their backgrounds, experiences, and decisions have shaped my life, from where I grew up to the kinds of food I cook and talk about. They came from what would have been considered “shithole countries” at the turn of the twentieth century; they were often viewed with suspicion and disgust, if not actively discriminated against. 

And yet - even with all those challenges and obstacles in their paths, my forebears were already better placed, the moment they stepped off those boats from Europe onto a Boston pier, than some Americans whose ancestors had been here at that point for three centuries. It took me a long time to understand that - to recognize how the typical US immigrant story relates to the larger story of how this country was born and grew. And how those systems, which were put into place in the seventeenth century and were none of my doing or of anyone related to me, continue to benefit me and mine to this day - all too often at the expense of other Americans who are no less entitled to the blessings of liberty.

A long time ago I wrote about the struggle to know when to deviate from writing about food. It’s part of the reason I haven’t been on here much for a while: talking about food seems so inconsequential compared to a nationwide struggle about justice, and what that looks like, and what any one person’s role is in that struggle. But maybe they are more related than I realize: they are both fundamental to our survival, after all - wherever and whoever we are. 

This is my little platform, so I’m going to keep talking about what I think is important and is occupying my mind. I’m going to try to follow, a little more publicly, Representative Lewis’ encouragement to “make good trouble.” My first-generation American mother taught me long ago that the primary purpose of this life is to try to leave the world a better place than you found it, and I can think of no better example of someone who tried to do just that, and who devoted his entire adult life in service to his nation. His life and legacy are an inspiration and a challenge to anyone who cares about the society and the future we are building, by our beliefs and actions, every day.