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| ISSUE NO. 563 |
| IT MAY SEEM THAT JOY HAS BEEN IN SHORT SUPPLY... for the last year or so. The combination of intense fear and isolation during the COVID pandemic intensified existing anxiety and depression, or provoked new experiences of those very real ailments where none had existed before. Events that typically acted as containers to hold joy or mark time had to be rethought, and much of our daily human interactions shrank or disappeared altogether. Even for those who stayed safe from COVID by following quarantine regulations and mask-wearing, there was no escape from the suffering brought on by isolation. Many of us found joy in smaller places, and will carry that with us as we go back out into the world, a prospect that owes thanks to the many people who have chosen to protect themselves and others through vaccination and mask-wearing. But as we know by now, our experience of the world does not turn on a dime, and what has lingered with me through the many changes and adaptations of this pandemic is the combination of joy and grief that permeates life. I've been reminded of the 2015 Pixar film, Inside Out, the most poignant message of which, for me, was that Sadness and Joy needed one another in order to be fully human. As I thought over the weekend about the New York State recognition of Juneteenth as an official holiday, and the U.S. government's subsequent adaptation of it as a federal holiday, I felt torn between joy and grief, celebration and sobriety. I finished watching the High on the Hog series, about how African American food culture is American food culture, and reflected on the many aspects of Juneteenth that elicit one feeling or the other. The word 'commemoration' kept coming into my head, until I finally looked up the definition, which has, of course, two meanings: To commemorate is to recall and show respect for and / or to celebrate by doing or building something. It comes from the Latin prefix com meaning 'altogether' and memorare, to relate to one another, which in turn comes form the word memor meaning 'mindful'. Even with those two possibilities in hand, the idea of commemoration felt welcoming because it could hold either feeling, or both. The word commemorate can mean expressing joy or grief; and it can mean expressing joy and grief. It is also a word that seems to require coming together, even when we are alone. And so I think commemoration can apply to another issue that is top of mind for those of us raising or working with school-aged children today, as debate rages across the country over Critical Race Theory and our education system. I have listened to folks express their desire for joy and celebration in the history of Black life in America, and it's painful to see that pitted against the realities of how enslavement continues to impact our daily lives through the inequities of systemic racism, as if it is an either/or situation. I believe we need an experience that recognizes both, and that only through commemoration of our true history can we be in community with one another, as human beings, today. It seems to me that commemoration is just the thing to take us through this transition back into in-person community life, forever changed and yet, still here. Editor's note: In last week's newsletter, Sharanya Deepak wrote about how recipes and kitchen rituals can lessen the isolation of COVID and help to process grief for lost loved ones. When she shared the statistic that "More than 3.5 million people have died since March 2020, their lungs collapsing outside hospital doors, perishing as they waited for hospital beds," some readers were confused about whether this was the number of COVID-related deaths in India alone, or worldwide. We want to clarify that it was the latter - in fact, as of today, 3.86 million people have died from COVID worldwide, according to the World Health Organization, while more than 388 thousand have been lost to the disease in India. We apologize for any confusion. Yours in food, justice, and food justice, |
tidbits...resources on anti-racism, environmentalism and food culture AKA stuff we're reading / listening to / watching / noticing / thinking about / captivated by this Tuesday . . . |
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