Full Day, Full Log: Racial Discussions with Pre-K Kids Continued, Plus Why This Home is Void of Alcohol
6.2.2020
Every parent on a spectrum of color more vibrant than ours has been forced to discuss racism with their children in an effort to protect them and illuminate why they are viewed as a threatening “other”; why would lighter toned folks think it is ok to delay these talks or avoid them all together? Could you understand why doing so is a privilege?
It’s impossible to be conscious in America and be unaware of our blatant racism (and sexism, classicism, homophobia, etc) yet reminders are always good for rattling the brains of the removed.
When I was pregnant with Q, I heard the following story from Alex Landau while driving to work, and I had to pull over because I couldn’t see through the sobbing. This wasn’t a new tale, but it was forefront and slashing. I knew Q was going to be raised through a distortedly privileged lens, and the injustice and heartbreak of our country’s violent/harmful/racist viewpoint set my heart to flame and shatter.
That link is a 3-minute listen/read; but if visuals are more your thing, StoryCorps made an illustrated video. This is an example of something I’ve shown Q and discussed thoroughly.
Our country is raging because this has been going on for lifetimes of souls lost, and now our every-day-more-shameful-than-the-last president threatens us with military force for raising voices of enough-is-enough.
If you find yourself siding with that cold-hearted abomination, my heart wails at the privilege and ignorance of your slumber, and you should know that complacent folks like yourself are used as examples to my son on precisely how he should never be.
Continue for: why this has been a dry (alcohol-free) house for several months now (despite all the stress and drama surrounding these times, and even when we used to be nightly drinkers), and a family living/eating as kindly as possible in a broken world/system.
Q’s morning chalkboard: continued discussions of race and spreading light/love together.
Plant-Based Kiddo Breakfast: Cthulu Fruit Face (watermelon, apples, cashew cream, peanut butter, and a mixture of oats/flax/chia/oatmilk)
Growth and Progress ( He’s been out of school since early March, and we didn’t receive this sheet back in his packet until May, hence the similarties of March-May.)
A day of homeschooling worksheets and drawing.
That watermelon has “a wet serpent coming out of it, because ‘wet’ starts with W too!”, and his counting sheets change by the day.
j - Hah! Love it! Are you a wizard here?
Q - No, it is me as a plain person —even if I look like a wizard—but the magical-gigantic squid has blasted me with ink, so I am raising my sword in frustration.
Cardio Break: “I need something heavy to lift!…This stool will work!”
(We are a curtainless household, and when the temps get hot we pull out old scarves and use them to diffuse the heat: hence those drapey windows.)
Plant-Based Whole-Food Lunch: black rice and red curry with peas, green beans, brussel sprouts, and carrots.
Opa came to drop off blueberries, bananas, and strawberries; and we shared some fruit bread with cashew cream.
Here seen: a good example of the mix between my desire to make things look pretty, vs not wanting to dirty a dish or waste access to the delicious cashew cream clinging to the side of that container. Function/less-waste first, then beauty. :-)
Loaded Potato Soup is a family favorite, one of our most economically friendly meals, and yesterday I worked on refining/writing/photographing the recipe process.
While I cooked, Q continued to draw. Here seen, Ian taking a quick break to offer some draftsman lessons. (Q is incredibly lucky to have a father who shares a passion for creation and had years of education focused on art.)
“It’s a man rising out of the sea with a magnificent cape, and he’s able to control all these yellow sea serpents and they are helping him hold up a sign that says we should all love each other.”
Wicket Love
Plant-Based Whole-Food Family Feasting: Loaded potato soup with broccoli, steam-sauteed kale, quinoa, and steam-sauteed mushrooms.
Quick and simple dessert: banana, a tsp of peanut butter drizzle, a little cashew cream, flax meal, and unsweetened flaked coconut.
Q had Opa’s strawberries. “The sun feels good on my skin —so I don’t want you to put up a curtain— I’ll just wear glasses.”
In between turns <3.
He’s blessed, lucky, and privileged to have the childhood I’d always hoped for him: he’s safe, surrounded by love, feels joy multiple times through his day, and it is never lost on me how rare this is, or how inexcusable it is that every child cannot feel/live the same.
Nightly reading: Q got a Bigfoot section from one of his favorite books, then 15 pages of Dune, and I read Undo It as he drifted off.
From Undo It by Dr Dean Ornish and Anne Ornish
From Undo It by Dr Dean Ornish and Anne Ornish
This used to be a liquor cabinet.
I used to end every day with at least one beer or cocktail. I liked the taste of it and I wasn’t interested in getting drunk, but after a stressful day of work I enjoyed the buzz.
The more I learned about alcohol’s affect on our body, however, the more reticent I was to indulge…not only for my own health, but out of fear that Q would watch me and want to replicate this unhealthy cycle. More than 6 months ago, we went from no week-night drinking, to rare weekend drinking, to eventually giving away all the remaining beers in the household and no longer buying alcohol. (When folks came over —if they brought some-- we still had a little, but most of our dearest friends don’t drink for myriad reasons, so this is especially rare.)
I thought this would be difficult and I’d feel more stressed without that crutch, but I found it made me more even-keeled and content. Without alcohol I have navigated some of the hardest months in our lives: COVID-19 craziness, intense flare-ups (including the threat of legal action) with family regarding that post about my mother and the abuse I endured, and the heartbreak of severed-ties with both family and friends who could only respond with vitriol to the truths I’ve amplified.
In the past, I would have wanted to curl myself up around a cocktail and have a good weep, but getting that junk out of my system brightened my whole outlook. Why? Because over 90% of your serotonin is produced in your gut and you’re degrading the microbiome pumping out that serotonin when you drink alcohol (or eat refined sugars). Take liquor out of the equation, and you have microbes pumping happiness through your system all the livelong day.
The farther you get away from refined carbohydrates the clearer your brain and space will be. Stress is reduced, inflammation is reduced, your outlook is brighter, your budget is lightened, and you’ve reduced your risk of cancer.
Don’t believe me? Here are some handy resources:
“The Truth About Alcohol” short/illuminating documentary Q and I watched on Netflix.
“Alcohol, microbiome, and their effect on psychiatric disorders”
“What is the evidence that alcohol drinking can cause cancer?” (<—National Cancer Institute)
“Alcohol and Cancer” (<—CDC)
“Drinking Alcohol Really Does Raise Your Cancer Risk, Doctors Warn”
“Alcohol and Cancer: A Statement of the American Society of Clinical Oncology”
“Women who have three alcoholic drinks per week have a 15% higher risk of breast cancer”
There are plenty more out there if you want to go down your own rabbit-hole.
Daily alcohol consumption causes mental health harm, increases cancer risk, and it’s a terrible example for the soul learning through my example.
I’ve never regretted the decision, because I have never felt better in body or lighter of spirit. Aside from the body benefits (no longer feeling stiff/sore, decreased risk of multiple diseases), the mental benefits (sharper focus, cannot remember the last time I felt anxious or depressed), financial benefits (Boy Howdy does cutting out drinking save some well-needed funds), there’s the added benefit of showing Q how to push through discomfort and stress with my own mental wherewithal.
Wrapped the day with a heart howling with pain/shame/horror at our country and our absurd excuse for a “leader”, and the purpose-driven flame to rise early and illuminate again.
What’s the most impactful thing you can do as an individual to help your kin, community, millions of species, and planet? Transition as plant-based as possible.🌎♥️
Why? Plant-Based foods are environmentally imperative 🌎. They also promote ideal health💪 (which takes stress off our overburdened health care system), are inexpensive🙌, delicious🤤, & compassionate. 💕
Why imperative, though? 🤔We’re approaching (& have crossed) climate tipping points that will doom our kin & millions of other species. 😱📣Reducing/eliminating animal products is the *most impactful thing an individual can do* to prevent worse. 🌎🔥
Why? Animal Agriculture creates more emissions than the entire transportation sector combined, it’s tied to water waste/loss/pollution (<-- freshwater is our most precious resource💧), land loss/deforestation (<-- exacerbates climate change by reducing our ability to sequester carbon🔥🌎), ocean acidification (<-- FYI 50-85% of earth’s oxygen originates from oceanic plankton🌊) & vast species loss/extinction/suffering💔📣🌎
Plus, consuming animal products is tied to increased risk of cardiovascular disease❤️🩹, diabetes👎, cancer👎, and chronic disease👎; whereas Plant-Based feasting is linked to preventing/reversing some of our most common diseases (<— like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer); plus it promotes ideal health & robust strength (ie Olympians, Weightlifters, Endurance Athletes are thriving via PBWFs too). 🎉🙌♥️
What organizations are promoting plant-based diets for best health and environmental stability? National Institutes of Health, Mayo Clinic, Yale, the United Nations, Harvard School of Health, American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology, American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Association, The American Academy of Pediatrics, National Kidney Foundation, even the Parkinson’s Foundation.
We’re all overwhelmed in one way or another, but for the sake of our kin (and the millions of species we share this planet with) we need to start pivoting forward. As someone who once rarely ate green things & used to eat animal products at every meal, I can assure you that is possible, affordable, enjoyable, & purposeful to pivot Plant-Based. In fact, our whole family is now healthier/stronger than ever. 🙌♥️
Anecdotally, our son had failure-to-thrive, was also plagued with perpetual ear-infections/sinus-infections, and had an omnipresent runny nose. What was he eating? Grass-fed milk, organic/antibiotic-free/grass-fed/local meats, eggs from organic-fed/well-loved chickens from a neighbor, every meal came with vegetables, and we limited junkfood. He was healed via a plant-based diet: he’s launched out of that diagnosis and the last time he had a sinus-infection (or was sick at all) was in 2019 when he had some cheese at a school Christmas party. Before shifting to PBWF’s he was sick every month, and how he’s a robust, vital, thriving kiddo. 🙌🎉♥️
If you think any of the above sounds over-reached/absurd/impossible, please go read the links above. I understand the inclination to hackle-raise (<—because I was once totally there) but the science is clear: any step we make forward is imperative (<—and again “STEPS” is the focus. Don’t leap, just start making steps!). It’s as simple as starting with one meal a week and growing from there.💕
We have the ability (deliciously, healthfully, kindly, inexpensively) to *preserve/protect* the planet we share with millions of species & our kin. How are we going to use that power today?✌️🤟🖖
