Footnotes to a Conversation, June 7, 2021
Safety
This past week was eventful, both personally and nationally. I got my second Covid vaccine and booked 3 housesits in British Columbia this summer. Now, I’ve been complaining for a year and a half about not being able to travel, but all of a sudden I’m nervous. My apartment feels very safe and comfortable. I have my routines. Why would I want to leave?
There’s nothing the matter with being a homebody on an individual level, but far too often we seek that same sense of safety on a community, national, or international level. We try to surround ourselves with people who think and talk and act like us. And people who don’t fit within our bubble scare us. So we imprison Indigenous peoples on reserves, send their kids to residential schools (the same thing happened in BC to Doukhobour children), and we intern Japanese people, stealing their homes and livelihoods.
We’re often acting out of fear. We don’t want our comfortable ways of life disturbed by people with different habits, languages, and ways of dress. My goal for this week is to be more open-minded and to replace fear-based personal judgments with curiosity. Wish me luck!
England’s Anglo-Asian Pubs
On a related topic, the author of this article talks about desi pubs, traditional English pubs owned by Indian immigrants and serving Punjabi food. As the owner of one desi pub says, “It’s really important that you can go to a pub, play your own music, [eat] your own food, feel like you’re part of the community and just make new friends. That’s what pubs are about, right?”
“I thought my brown immigrant body/should always work harder/than everyone else in the room/because that’s what made me valuable” (Home Body, Rupi Kaur)
The Peace of Wild Things
“When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.” (Wendell Berry)
High Art vs. Handicrafts
Joanne Koerten was famous in Renaissance Netherlands for her paper cuttings, creating intricate scenes of subtle beauty. One of her works sold for more than Rembrandt’s monumental Night Watch. But her name was written out of art history. “When you look beyond the prestige medium of oil painting, the picture changes. Like readjusting a lens, suddenly, a huge outpouring of work by female artists comes into focus. To name just a few: Anna Roemers Visscher, who etched glass with a diamond pen; Anna Maria van Schurman, who sculpted in wax; Juffrouw Rozee, who invented a method of painting that so astonished her contemporaries that some considered it sorcery.”
Dance of Shadows
Komorebi means “a dance of shadows emerging when sunlight filters through trees. Steve Atkins created a 3-minute video celebrating the ethereal beauty of komorebi. “In doing so, he offers a gentle reminder to, in his words, ‘reconsider how we see the passing light of each day; to slow down and observe the natural theatre that plays out unseen beside the busyness of our modern lives’.”
Sweet Potatoes
I’m fascinated to learn of a Tokyo restaurant that sells nothing but baked sweet potatoes. Yakiimo are an autumn treat thoughout Japan, but Fuji’s owner Uehara-san sells them year-round, sourcing different varieties from around the country. “The eye-catching Purple Sweet Road, Uehara tells us, is popular with those seeking healthier options, as it is loaded with polyphenols – micronutrients believed to aid digestion, among other benefits. For a softer, almost pumpkin-like flavor, the Halloween Suite is a new option full of carotene – great for those looking to give their skin a boost while indulging in a delightful snack.”
Equal Exchange
Equal Exchange promotes fairness to farmers and a closer connection between consumers and farmers. They are offering a series of webinars this month. Coming up on June 9 is a talk on Migration, Climate Change, and Fair Trade: How Are Farmers Faring in 2021?
“What is one to say about June, the time of perfect young summer, the fulfillment of the promise of the earlier months, and with as yet no sign to remind one that its fresh young beauty will ever fade” – Gertrude Jekyll
I have moved to a new platform to explore and share my thoughts. I would encourage those of you who aren’t signed up to do so as I am planning to cancel the Wanderlust and Words Facebook page. Thank you!
Footnotes to a Conversation is a weekly Monday feature covering an assortment of topics that I’ve come across in the preceding week – books, art, travel, food, and whatever else strikes my fancy.
If you share my love of nature, I suggest you also read EcoFriendly Sask that I publish in collaboration with my brother, Andrew. Check out EcoFriendly Sask’s Nature Companion, a free nature app for Canada’s four western provinces (downloadable directly from the website).