Week 10 (2021)
rootlessness & attentive care, food forests & texas energy, incorporating a baby & scrappy creativity
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to read: essays, articles
A Regime of Small Kindnesses — Jen Pollock Michel, Ekstasis — This essay was my inspiration to revisit the book this week, after my first read a few years ago.
“Robinson’s novel tells the story of home as I’ve come to know it: not just the dishes, of course, but the losses. The losses that look like sudden calamitous events; the practiced losses of living a rootless, inattentive life.”
When the Soul Shrinks — Aarik Danielsen, Fathom — “Sometimes your soul shrinks and the temptation arrives: to see nothing but a thousand ways to lose, a thousand ways to die… And you remember there’s still a thousand ways to reach someone and to be reached, a thousand ways to touch the face of God.
Atlanta Has Created the Largest Free Food Forest in the Country — Lindsay Campbell, Modern Farmer — What a practical and dreamy use of resources.
What Went Wrong in Texas? — Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic — Having lived in San Antonio for three years post-college, my in-laws living south of Houston, and several friends throughout the state… the recent events have hit close to home in a place I love. This piece was a bit of a helpful explainer beyond “Texas doesn’t usually get cold weather.”
“There is a freedom in knowing that anything you plug into the wall will turn on; there is a freedom, too, in knowing that your house will stay inhabitable and your pipes will not burst. Texas’s system is built on the idea that the liberty of companies to buy and sell electrons—and the freedom of consumers to pay a $2,500 power bill—is greater and more dear than any freedom wrought by consistent power service.”
Homeschooling With a Newborn — Erin Loechner, Other Goose — The same lady behind Design For Mankind also created a very cool early-education and homeschool resource, Other Goose. This particular post (and the emails I’ve signed up for) is valuable for any parents with young children, not just homeschooling ones!
Permission to Get Scrappy — Stephanie Duncan Smith, Slant Letter — Like Erin Loechner above, Stephanie has also recently welcomed a baby into her life (and work as an editor in the publishing industry).
“I don’t know where we get this illusion that the writing process is grand overtures, midnight muse visitations, when any work you’ve ever read is the accumulation of a fellow finite human’s scraps.”
to read: books
French Kids Eat Everything, Karen Le Billon — audio — A very informative and fun book! I never knew how many assumptions I had about French culture until they were debunked here.
Housekeeping, Marilynne Robinson — audio — The beautiful essay shared above had me needing to re-read this one this week.
to watch
The Big Short — Amazon Prime — It will leave you with a bunch more questions than you started with. Jakob picked up the book by the same title at the library, and I wanna read it.
Nathan For You — HBO Max — Jakob and I finally completed all four seasons. We laughed, we cry-laughed, we loved it.
to listen: music
Letters Kept to Ourselves — The Native Sibling — I’ve been singing along to these gorgeous melodies and it feels good. It’s short and sweet at just over half an hour. Give it a go.
to listen: audio
'Turning of Days,' with Hannah Anderson — Mere Fidelity — My preorder of Hannah’s new book arrived last month. This interview has me itching to start it very, very soon.
to cook
Banana Bread (Gluten-Free because that’s how I gotta roll)
to celebrate
I’ve got a week under my belt to prove I can manage to care for two tinies under a year and a half… all by myself. (But you bet I’m always glad when Jakob walks through the door at the end of the day.)
to remember, reflect
(The first week of March has been eventful, so I added some bonus years below!)
A Year Ago…
We loaded up Ezra and our stuff for a few days in Washington DC. Jakob had a chemistry conference to attend, and Ezra and I explored and hung out in the meantime. The worst part of getting out of Long Island is having to drive through New York City, but it was a fun little trip I’m glad we were able to make before 2020 went full-on 2020. Movies are always better in hotels, so I enjoyed the Taylor Swift documentary on Netflix, and we also loved Bernie.
Three Years Ago…
“Sorry I broke your heart three years ago. Thanks for emailing me back.”
We got engaged outside Columbia, Missouri (on a walk in Rocheport). We ended up getting married in July 2018 (short engagements are the way to go) and lived there through the end of 2019 (at which point we took our 2 week-old along for a cross country move to Long Island on New Years’ Eve). He got the ring I told him I liked when we dated the first time.
Six Years Ago…
The first week of March in 2015, Jakob was a groomsman in his friend’s wedding. (Congrats to Chris and Becca on the anniversary!) We were both living in Texas at the time, so I drove up from San Antonio to be his plus-one. You cannot go wrong getting a good black dress for weddings.
This Week…
Fleece PJs for the 14 month-old, swaddles for the 2 week-old.
Sending snail mail, sharing meals.
A seeming endless stream of dear peoples’ needs and burdens, unknowns and sadnesses — many of which I try to write down on a list hanging up in our home. Bear each others’ burdens and lighten the load of living in all the ways you can, starting with prayer.
“For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.”
Hebrews 10:34