Week 10 (2022)
graveyards & walking lessons, the strange love in grief, Ukrainian surrogates & limits to embrace, bees, hospitality & useless beauty
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reading: books
Sula, Toni Morrison — audio — I’m only a couple novels deep into her writings, but I see why she’s a legend. There are lines you just want to savor, because she writes like a poet.
The Honey Bus, Meredith May — audio — A memoir told from the perspective of the author as a child. Equal parts heartbreaking and tender, with fascinating facts about bees that will leave you in awe.
reading: essays, articles, newsletters
The Graveyard Neighborhood — Michelle Van Loon, Ekstasis — “The dozens of tasks and details crammed into my everyday existence didn’t leave much space in my soul to begin to remember my death, much less learn to live in light of its reality. The cemetery forced me to pay attention.”
Anywhere Can Be Somewhere (And Other Walking Lessons) — Daniel Herriges, Strong Towns — “Ties like this are different from the ones we intentionally cultivate with people we consider close friends. Spontaneous, unplanned interaction is what binds us together with people not at all like us, around the common cause of living in the same place.”
The Strange Love Of A Strange God — Esther Maria Magnis, Plough (audio version available) — “We humans are needy. Helpless. Little. And particularly vulnerable when we love. Because loving never just stops after the person you love is dead. Even if it seems, at a first glance, that your love has lost its object. Even if you sob every morning and seem inconsolable. Love does not die.”
Ukraine’s Surrogacy Industry Has Put Women in Impossible Positions — Alison Motluk, The Atlantic — As Claire Swinarski describes, “The way womb trafficking affects the marginalized and takes advantage of women shines in quite an obvious way here.” This piece in Plough further considers the ethics involved in the practice.
Embracing Our Limits: Dedication In A World Of Endless Choice — Nicole Penn, The Public Discourse — “Many of us have more choices than we may want to acknowledge. We can make a stand against the chaos and vapidity of our world by delineating a small corner of it that will demand our care and attention…
That gardens blossom at all is a function of unhistoric acts, and their fruits are often enjoyed by only a small sliver of our loud and bustling world. But to paraphrase George Eliot’s paean to limitations, it is so largely thanks to unhistoric acts that things are not so ill with you, me, and the countless gardens that compose our social landscape.”
All This Useless Beauty — Jessica Hooten Wilson, Church Life Journal — “We are meant to delight in the beautiful and to cultivate beauty, as much as we are asked to know the true and to follow the good. These are not inseparable commands or hierarchical directives—the Good, the True, and the Beautiful all claim our equal piety…
Beauty turns us away from the sin of prioritizing use and reminds us to enjoy. When we consider what is our chief end as human beings is it not, after all, “to glorify God and enjoy him forever?” From where does this enjoyment come but from the beauty of God?”
Bring Back The Native Bees — General Mills, Modern Farmer — After finishing The Honey Bus I was fascinated by everything there is to learn about our humble & hardworking bees.
The Attentive Art Of Hospitality — Lindsey Weishar, Verily — “I used to think hosting required an extroverted personality (being excited, a people person, and wonderfully comfortable socializing). I’ve come to realize that good hosting is actually about “us.” How will we spend this time together in a way that is meaningful to all of us?”
watching/listening
C'mon C'mon — Watching this right after finishing an emotional memoir (from the perspective of a child, as we also get to some extent here) was heavy in the best way. It’s beautiful.
The Other Mr. President — This American Life — From 2017, this gives some background to the rise of Vladmir Putin… and a dive into the mysterious bombings that marked the beginning of his time in office.
using: product, tip, resource
Sourdough Recipes — This has a multitude of great recipes to try. I printed it out after determining to try a new starter this week, using (and baking with) einkorn. If you have a gluten sensitivity, the combination of this ancient, unmodified wheat combined with the benefits of the fermentation process turns out to be quite digestible… and good for you.
Supporting Ukraine — BBC, ABC, and Vox have lists of organizations to donate to. HIAS was recommended by Leah as a her go-to place to support refugees.
remembering
A Year Ago:
Back in New York state, our regular outdoor and treat spots in Port Jefferson, and enjoying our tiny boys.
This Week:
The 4th anniversary of our engagement!
Warm enough weather for a Saturday outside.
The local taco truck, sweet shop, and thrift stores. (Jakob scored the best mug on his solo trip.)
Baby growth from my flower seeds.
Prayers for healing answered — praise God.
Always some album of Zach Winters’ on rotation (as it’s been for about 8 years of my life).
Ham and split pea soup, crockpot bbq pulled pork, chicken tortilla soup, our Baumeister Saturday Breakfast, and an experiment with einkorn sourdough were highlights of this week’s kitchen tinkering.
Our second house showing in the area, getting our reps in.
Receiving hospitality with an after-church meal, and meeting more people than we could count in the comfort of a kind family’s home.