Sunday Morning Coffee: January 22, 2017

In a crowd of 175,000, we gathered in the Boston Common to have our voices heard, raised in opposition to the narrow vision and destructive agenda of the new administration.

Whatever your political views, do something nice for someone who doesn’t look like you this week.

And cheers to Carrie Fisher, again, a woman of enormous strength and a source of inspiration.

Here’s what I’m eating and reading this week:

Problems by Jade Sharma

This book happens to have been what I read this week, but it also feels very relevant given Friday’s inauguration and the fight we have ahead of us. I chose to read this book for two reasons: 1) it is authored by a woman of color (Indian descent), and one of my goals to challenge the negation of POC and female voices is to consume art created by these populations; and 2) the story dives into dark, and admittedly foreign-to-me world of drug addiction. I have clients whose lives are very much affected by drug addiction, but my knowledge of details and the intricacies of addiction is limited. It wasn’t a book I loved reading every moment; it was challenging to watch her unravel, but it was also raw, well-written, and quite moving. Here were a few of my favorite passages:

“Behind every crazy woman is a man sitting very quietly, saying, “What? I’m not doing anything?”

“You remember what it felt like to have a whole life, and you remember what it felt like to encounter people who didn’t. You don’t know how, but you will have a life again… a skeptical part of you doesn’t really believe any of this. Nothing tells you the dread and sadness and emptiness will ever end. Still you have to wake up and get out of bed. You have to believe it won’t go on like this forever. You are stronger than before, and the next time life bestows any charms on you, you will smile brightly and remember and be grateful… You will feel waves of sadness and you will let them run through you because that is what they are: passing waves.”

 

Here’s what I’m eating and cooking this week (in case you need inspiration):
Monday: Pan-seared steak with chimichurri, roasted potatoes, and roasted broccoli
Tuesday: Ordered pizza with my mom and sister, watching Sherlock
Wednesday: Spaghetti with red bell peppers and sausage, roasted broccoli
Thursday: Dinner out with some of my fellow dietitian friends: A patty melt at Park Restaurant
Friday: Leftovers
Saturday: Salmon with roasted broccoli and potatoes

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