Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors

I very much enjoyed this book, which is not overly long and not overly complicated, yet is able to deliver on some well loved themes for me. The four sisters Blue grow up in a tiny New York City apartment--the six of them sharing two bedrooms. So there is all the potential sibling rivalry at hand but it is subverted by an alcoholic abusive father and a mother who protects him over her children. So they are prone to wanting and needing to escape and they are more bonded to each other than might have otherwise happened. The story revolves around the accidental overdose death of the third sister from fentanyl and the grief that engulfs them in the aftermath. There is addiction in all sorts of manifestations, there is difficultly with intimacy, and there is generational grief, which is kind of a trifecta for a mental health professional, with general appeal for all.

Bianca Springer--Thanks I Made Them!

I skipped lectures at QuiltCon for a number of reasons—I wanted time with the quilts in the exhibit was the main one—between classes and the exhibit, I have no additional time. Then the auditorium set up is not my favorite for lectures—too big, too distracting and not enough bang for my buck. Finally, the on site experience is a sensory overload, whereas at home I can watch in an ideal environment. The only downside is that there is a limited time within which to watch the lectures, and this one was the last one I had a chance to watch. Bianca has a passion for garment making that is impressive. She is an inveterate upcycler who haunts thrift shops for vintage patterns as well as fabric, quilt tops, and quilts. She talked a bit about how she approaches making a quilt made by someone else into a garment. She tries to honor the spirit of the design the maker had in mind—which she is amazing at—and then points out that if she is buying it, no one who knew the maker is making space in their life for that quilt, so she is giving it a new life it wouldn’t otherwise have. She went on to walk the viewer through how to pick a pattern, how to make the garment, and the various ways you could make and embellish pieced clothing. It was very inspiring and I would seek out a talk by her in the future.

Tenth of December by George Saunders

This was on the New York Times list of 100 Best Books of the Twenty-First Century (so far, 25 years in), and there are two other of his books, one that I petered out on reading years ago and will get back to and one other. This is a collection of short stories, which are not my favorite, but I will say these are well written and enjoyable just not my particular cup of tea. The 10 stories in Tenth of December (the name of the last story and not anything else to do with these) are all about people. No matter the setting – a futuristic prison lab, a middle-class home where human lawn ornaments are a great status symbol –the stories are consistently about humanity and the meaning we find in small moments, in objects or gestures. He paints painful portraits of domesticity, of families, of death. The can be described as sadly happy, each story full of little truths that make us both amused and very uneasy. The author has a keen eye for detail and a way of portraying human foibles in hte kindest of lights.

Roasted Pork with Peach Sauce

This is a hands off meal, but requires long cooking--we were going our for the afternoon and popped it in hte oven before we left and it ws ready when we got home--we used some peaches we froze last summer for the sauce which worked beautifully. 6 to 8 pound bone-in pork butt 1/3 cup kosher salt 1/3 cup light brown sugar 1 teaspoon ground black pepper Peach Sauce: 10-oz frozen peaches (or use 2 fresh peaches) 2 cups dry white wine 1/2 cup sugar 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon rice vinegar 2 sprigs thyme 1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard The night before your meal, use a sharp knife to cut slits into the fat cap; 1″ apart forming a cross-hatch pattern, but take care not to cut into the meat. Combine 1/3-cup kosher salt and 1/3-cup brown sugar in small bowl, then rub over the entire roast (including the slits). Wrap roast tightly using two layers of plastic wrap, place of a rimmed baking sheet, and refrigerate until ready to cook the roast (but no more than 24 hours). The next day, unwrap and brush off any excess salt mixture using paper towels. Season roast with 1 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper. Spray your V-rack coated with non-stick cooking spray. Add 1 quart of water to your roasting pan. Place the roast on V-rack with the fat cap facing up and set aside while the oven pre-heats. Set an oven rack to the lowest position and pre-heat your oven to 325-degrees. Bake for 5 to 6 hours, depending on the size of the roast. Basting every two hours, adding more water after each basting to prevent the fond from burning. But don’t add so much water as to dilute the liquid. The roast will be finished when an instant-read thermometer inserted near the bone (but not touching) reaches 190-degrees. Place the roast on a carving board and loosely tented with aluminum foil for one hour. While the meat rests make the sauce. Pour the jus from roasting pan into a fat separator. After allowing the fat to separate for 5 minutes, pour 1/4-cup into a small saucepan. You can discard the remaining jus. Cut the peaches into 1″ chunks. Add your peach chunks, 2-cups white wine, 1/2-cup sugar, 1/4-cup rice vinegar, and 2 sprigs of thyme to the small saucepan with the 1/4-cup jus. Bring sauce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. When the sauce has reduce to 2 cups remove from heat. Find and discard the thyme sprigs, then add the final tablespoon of rice vinegar and tablespoon of whole-grain mustard. Mix together and cover to keep warm. Cut around the bone (shaped like an up-side-down “T”) with a paring knife, then use a clean kitchen towel to pull it from the roast. Slice the roast using a serrated knife, and serve, passing the peach sauce separately.

The Anthropologists by Ayşegül Sava

This is a quiet novel. It is a meditation on modern life and modern love, with some juxtaposition between the older generation and the younger one, between those who immigrate and those who stay put, and finally between those on the brink of living fully adult lives, and those who are on the brink of it, maybe for some time to come. Asya and Manu have been living together in a foreign, unnamed city in a foreign, unnamed country for several years. Estrangement – from the city, from society, from the self – lies at the center of this story. Asya and Manu are not like their parents, who live in faraway countries and send dispatches, good and bad. They have a small social circle, but more often than not, it’s just Asya, Manu and their close friend Ravi who spend the days of their lives together – drinking, talking, dreaming, and revealing themselves in these still moments that they spend together.

Rachel Clark's Quilt Coats

I am taking a class with this artist in June and I wanted to watch her QuiltCon lecture to get a sense of both her work and what I am in for when I spend two days with her. She brought over twenty coats that were modeled by four different volunteers, and it was feast for the eyes. She grew up with garment makers in her family, but Rachel’s life as a quilter didn’t fully blossom until she got married to her husband, Gary, and moved from New Orleans, Louisiana to Watsonville, California in the early 1970s. After this long-distance move, she found herself without community for the first time.

Clark discovered that even though she wasn’t very good at approaching people and striking up conversations, she was very good at designing clothing that could serve as an excellent conversation piece. People will approach you to talk about what you wear—she did say in her talk that you should not wear it if you need to run through an airport—people who want to ask you about your jacket will just slow you down and you could miss your plane. Clark loved both dressmaking and quilting, and didn't feel the need to choose between the two. She explored the possibility of combining them to make unique clothes with quilting techniques. People were interested in her clothes, and in turn, interested in her. She used clothing to “invite people in.” Well, I share some of these traits with her—not the creative one or the garment maker one—the shy with people I don’t know one—and I hope this pieced garment phase I am about to enter will be a good one for me.

The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt

It is hard for me as a mental health professional to be truly dispassionate about a popular literature book that summarizes information about mental health literature, but this has some really good points that I can get behind. The bottom line is that growing up is still complicated and increased access to technology and the increased obsession with social media doesn't do kids any favors, but--like smoking--tech companies have no incentive to shield kids and every motivation to hook them early, so it is up to us to suspend access for as long as possible. Recommendation summarized: Delay phone access: Put off smartphones until high school and social media until age 16 Make schools phone-free: Ban smartphones in schools Increase independence: Give kids more opportunities for free play, responsibility, and real-world experiences Replace screen time: Replace screen time with real-world experiences with friends and independent activities How to implement Model good habits: Parents can model the screen time habits they want their children to have Encourage independence: Encourage kids to take on tasks they've never done before, like going to the store by themselves Support kids: Be supportive and loving when kids take on new challenges Change laws: Change state laws to make it clear that giving kids independence isn't evidence of neglect Change norms: Change group-level norms by encouraging teachers to assign homework that encourages kids to try new things

Roasted Cabbage with Miso Sauce

This is a great year round vegetable side dish. 6 tbsp butter divided 2 tbsp miso paste 1 Napa Cabbage cut into eighths 0.5 cup Panko breadcrumbs 0.5 tsp garlic powder 2 tbsp chopped parsley optional Instructions 1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Cut the cabbage into quarters. 2. Mix 2 tbsp of the softened butter with the miso paste and brush on the cabbage quarters all over, including the base. Place the cabbage wedges on a baking sheet and roast in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes until charred on the outside and still slightly crispy. 3. While the cabbage is roasting make the breadcrumbs. Melt the remaining tablespoon of butter in a pan, then add the breadcrumbs and the garlic powder, toast while stirring continuously to avoid burning until golden, then remove from the pan immediately. 4. Sprinkle the cabbage with the breadcrumbs before serving. You can also add chopped parsley if using.

We Will Be Jaguars by Nemonte Nenquimo

Nemonte Nenquimo is a Waorani woman from Ecuador’s Amazon region who co-founded the Indigenous-led Ceibo Alliance that scored a major legal victory in 2019, protecting half a million acres of rainforest from oil drilling. She and her family lived within nature, with food from the river, the rainforest and their gardens. A monkey was her childhood pet. According to family lore, she knew she would become a spirit jaguar when she died. But things were changing fast: A huge metal tube had descended from the sky not too many years before she was born. The missionaries who emerged from it didn’t speak her language, but they persuaded her community’s leaders to put a mark on a paper in return for clothing and other gifts. Within a couple of decades later, her river was black with pollution, much of her forest was cut down, her community’s men had been coerced into laboring for oil companies in exchange for pieces of paper their way of life had no use for. Missionaries said Nenquimo and her community must worship their god. She and other children were herded into schools that forced them to put aside their traditions--and as seems to almost always be the case with these set ups, there are sexual predators involved. This memoir conveys the sheer confusion and terror of colonialism for the Waorani and other Indigenous peoples. Missionaries, oil executives and government officials used underhanded methods to wrest control of the region from families like Nenquimo’s. Ironically, the missionary education gave Nenquimo and others the tools they needed to fight back. Her story is one of fierce determination to claim a heritage that was nearly stolen from her.

Sing Sing (2024)

This is--weirdly--a feel good prison movie. It does not romantacize prison. Prison in this movie is a cold, cruel place full of violent men whose daily life revolves around trying not to antagonize the alpha dogs within the prison population or the guards looming over them. Rather it is a story about a group men serving time in prison whose participation in a theater arts program gives them something to look forward to and improves them as human beings. Colman Domingo, who deservedly received an Oscar Nomination for his role, plays Divine G, one of many real people who went through the program. He was an actor and aspiring playwright in high school before his life went off the rails. He’s a devotee of theater, loves to act and read plays, and approaches it all with the quiet fervor of somebody who found religion behind bars. Some of the most memorable images in this movie focus on Domingo’s face in closeup as Divine G performs, thinks, or silently observes others. The movie is upbeat. The scenes are allowed to play out in a way that feels real, especially in the drama club meetings. Participants are shown rehearsing scenes, talking about their meaning and construction, giving each other notes on how to perform the material, and talking about how the art informs their lives and how their lives inform their performances. The end effect is lasting and hopeful, despite all the hate being poured on people of color in the current administration, may we survive it.