Sunday Song Day: "Strange Fruit", "We Americans", "Rainbowland"
This space was put on temporary hold because our modem finally fizzled out and my phone joined the fray. The first issue was fixed, the second remains to be, both are mere blips in an ocean of vastly bigger issues, and the “break” gave me time to sit back and meditate on our country’s whirl of pain and shame.
The above image, is the result of explaining to Q how George Floyd died and why people are now in the streets sounding their fury. If you find yourself wondering why folks are fuming and have no compassion in your heart for their plight, I dearly hope you wake up and acknowledge the perpetual cord of racism that runs through this country and your place and privilege within that realm.
We have taught Q from the start that every soul is equal, our country’s past and present are wrought with racism, there are misguided souls who will erroneously consider him “better” due to the creamed-corn color of his skin, and his voice should be used for illuminating/supporting/defending. It’s never too early to explain to the souls in your care that there are those who would happily silence and harm others for the mere illusion of difference, and there are many ways in which that sort of myopic thinking causes vast harm.
As an explain-everything family, we also discuss the absurd injustice that in our country it is somehow copacetic to tear-gas/shoot-rubber-bullets-at/harm folks trying to protect their land and water, and perform similar destructive push-back on folks rallying against racism and coldblooded murder, yet we allow ARMED white folks to protest necessary COVID-19 restrictions (that benefit us all) and let them go untouched. (Q - “But that’s not fair! It doesn’t even make any sense!” NOPE. )
There is chaos and cruelty in every direction, and all you can control is what you do with your own voice and your own body. In this house we amplify kindness in every possible vector.
Just as it is never too early to discuss racism, sexism, classicism, and homophobia, there should be no delay in teaching that our choices affect this whole planet, every soul on it, every species on it, and the health of our fragile flaw-filled bodies.
Continue for: Sunday Song Day (Billie Holiday, “We Americans”, “Rainbowland”) and a hiatus catch-up with a family amplifying kindness/healing, living by Lifestyle Medicine guidelines, and thriving via plant-based whole foods.
One of the things realized over the enforced “break”, is that this straight month of waking early to push out manifestos of health and environmentalism has denied me the simple joy of waking up to these two faces; so from here on out Saturdays will be post-free so I can have one morning of absorbing the view I love the most in this fleeting life.
One of Q’s morning chalkboards from the break: reflecting a part we had gotten to in our nightly reading of Dune where Paul experiences (and pushes through) his first encounter with pain.
Q had expressed he wasn’t sure he’d have the strength to be like Paul, and we discussed the importance of pushing through pain and discomfort because it is essential for growth.
The days have been a whirl in current events and in weather: one minute there is light, the next there is storm.
Over the last few days, Q’s passion for drawing has been taken up a few notches. This compilation is from Friday where he drew for close to 6 full hours throughout the day. Not only did he do all of the above, but also drew for hours outside while I had my hands full with gardening (hence no pics of it).
He even took breaks to draw in between turns of Scrabble.
Saturday drawing and Mama Bear work. (Extra rocks compliments of Stone’s Throw Farm)
Q drew and I worked on completing a stone border in the front yard.
After
My gardening view: a kiddo constantly running up to show new creations.
The left side are planets, the right side has the sun, the earth is the green globe, and there is some tentacle creature curling around it.
“This is a whole family of brothers named Brian and they are so good at jumping that they can jump as tall as skyscrapers. They are going to battle this God of Chaos who is attacking their city, and Bigfoot (see his big stink cloud over here in the green?) is going to help them out.”
Sometimes he leaves the notebook indoors, and I get a 10-45 minute long yarn about what he’s drawn. It involves him acting out each and very single breath of it. :-)
What am I usually working on? Containing our balance of native weeds, removing invasives, transplanting forget-me-nots from middle-of-the-yard pop-ups to safe nooks within the weeds, and clearing out space for the vegetables hidden within that bramble.
Broccoli and Cauliflower can thrive beneath Black Walnuts (<— produces juglone which can kill of many other plants) and I worked on giving some flowering buddies some more light…
…just so a woodchuck could get better sight of them and mow them down in the dark of night.
When were driven inside by rain, we focused on filling our fridge with fuel that is is kind to our bodies and kind to the earth.
Here seen: a new recipe test-kitchen for a plant-based/whole-food berry bread (like banana bread, but better).
The advantageous part about baking without eggs? Sparing your endothelial system and microbiome harm from TMAO, cheaper because you’re not buying an unneeded animal product, eating that batter without a single worry of salmonella. :-)
Strawberry, blueberry bread with cashew cream and peanut butter.
Prepping a quick batch of vegetable curry.
Plant-Based Feasting: Vegetable Red Curry (carrots, peas green beans), black rice, pumpkin seeds, and cashews/peanuts.
Dessert: nectarines and watermelon dressed with yard-mint and lemon.
Plant-Based/Zero-Waste Popcorn and our latest favorite show: The Big Flower Fight.
We may be almost 80 years away from the writing of “Strange Fruit”, but we are not nearly far enough moved on our path when George Floyd can be kneeled-to-the-neck to death, and fellow citizens can’t walk down the street or even sit in their own home without fear of death.
If you haven’t heard it yet, you may want to go meditate on the Avett Brothers song “We Americans”. It sums up best what I cannot:
But the story is complicated and hard to read
Pages of the book obscured or torn out completely
I am a son of uncle Sam and I struggle to understand the good and evil
But I'm doing the best I can in a place built on stolen land with stolen people
Blood in the soil with the cotton and tobacco
Blood in the soil with the cotton and tobacco
Blood in the soil with the cotton and tobacco
A misnamed people and a kidnapped race
Laws may change but we can't erase the scars of the nation
Of children devalued and disavowed
Displaced by greed and the arrogance of manifest destiny
Short-sighted to say it was a long time ago
Not even two life times have passed since the days of Lincoln
The sins of Andrew Jackson, the shame of Jim crow
And time moves slow when the tragedies are beyond description
If you need something to lift your heart and refocus your energies thereafter, I recommend “Rainbowland” with Dolly Parton & Miley Cyrus. This is one of Q’s longest loved songs (it came out when he was 2) and it’s an unabashed anthem in this house. I’m not sure I’ve ever listened through it without some manner of crying (<—frequently/perpetually moved to tears by music), and it wraps up a lot of our thoughts/hopes in one beautifully upbeat song:
And I smile
'Cause I know if we try, we could really make a difference in this world
I won't give up, won’t sleep a wink
It's the only thought I think, you know where I stand
I believe we can start living in a Rainbowland
Living in a Rainbowland
Where you and I go hand in hand
Oh, I'd be lying if I said this was fine
All the hurt and the hate going on here
We are rainbows, me and you
Every color, every hue
Let's shine on through
