Opportunity Tetris

Hello, Friend!

I hope you are staying cool.  The hot, muggy July weather is pretty profound.  I try to get my outdoor tasks done early or late in the day, and sip on something cool throughout the heat of the day.  La Croix sparkling water with a splash of limeade is pretty refreshing.  The days ahead look a bit more moderate, which will be nice.

A thought occurred to me this week:  What if, instead of us moving forward through time, time was constantly flowing toward us?  This seemingly modest shift in perspective cracked open a number of thoughts.

It brought to mind the notion of standing in a river, with all sorts of potentialities flowing toward me.  Which ones are attractive?  Which ones are dangerous, and to be avoided?  How much work do I need to do to prepare for an opportunity as it approaches?

Some people are born with access to a different part of this river - they stand at a point where there are fewer good opportunities, the flow of things is slower.  Others are born near a rapids, where numerous, rich opportunities are funneled into a narrow channel, making it easier to access them.

In the traditional framing of time, if there is an opportunity of interest, it sits out there - in the future.  It feels more static - the opportunity will sit there, waiting for us to approach it via whatever preparations we need to perform to address it.  Thus, opportunity is something we can get around to pursuing when the time is right.

In this reframing of time as an ever-flowing stream of opportunities that are moving toward us, the future is now - or at least soon.  We have to actively prepare to take advantage of them, before they slide past us.  In this model, life becomes like a game of Tetris, and our job is to scan the horizon, see what opportunities are of interest to us, then work to shape ourselves so as to capture that opportunity when it arrives.

For me at least, the reframe is helpful.  It creates a positive sense of urgency, to take action now so that I’m ready when opportunity arrives.  The future is not far from this very moment, and I must get ready for it.  Einstein might say this is a difference without a distinction - us moving toward a future opportunity, or that opportunity flowing toward us.  In many respects, it’s the same thing.  But I prefer the reframe.  I think it serves me better.  

We’ll see.  It felt like something worth sharing this week.  However you find yourself moving through the space-time continuum, I wish you well.

Sunday Supper

I saw sweet corn at the Granville Farmer’s Market for the first time this season yesterday.  I don’t know where it was grown (probably not in Ohio, but OK).  We are definitely nearing peak growing season for many fruits and vegetables.  I was in Chicago earlier this week, so am regrouping a bit, and recharging.  I’m keeping this week’s Sunday Supper recommendation simple, and leaning on the fresh produce that is available.  Give this vegetarian Indian dish, Aloo Gobi a try - but add in some fresh local produce, like spinach, kale, broccoli.  Last night for dinner, I paired the Aloo Gobi with some grilled boneless chicken thighs, spiced with Monica Arora's wonderful Maani's Chicken Tikka Spice blend.  For dessert, try this classic Peach Crisp, with fresh local peaches and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Sunday Music

This Sunday, I am pleased to introduce you to Ólafur Arnalds, an Icelandic multi-instrumentalist and producer of music.  This concert provides wonderful background music for your day, as well as stunning views of the Icelandic landscape if you care to watch the video.  Enjoy!

Have a great week ahead!  Offer support to others.  Make good use of this day.  And let me know how I can help.

Peace & Love,

Neal

Mr. Mom

Greetings, friend!

I hope this missive finds you well.  This beautiful summer continues to rocket by faster than I can fathom.  We have some good friends who are relocating to a different city.  I have loved watching their kids grow up, and wanted to throw them something of a farewell brunch.  Yesterday I whipped up a batch of buttermilk biscuits, a pan of sausage gravy and some chocolate chip pancakes and we had a great time.  The kids lavished Nova with affection.  It was so wonderful.  We’re going to miss seeing them day-to-day, but look forward to visiting them in their new home.

Somehow the 1983 movie, Mr. Mom, starring Michael Keaton and Teri Garr hit my radar recently.  It prompted me to reflect a bit on how different our household has been in comparison to the one in which I grew up.  From my perspective, they are strikingly similar - but they are different in terms of who does what around here.

As our primary cook, I fill the role that my mother played when I was growing up.  I fell into it organically - Lori commuted to work while I worked from home.  This put me in the position of being "first responder" when it came to getting dinner on the table.  Sometimes it also made me the giver of baths to our young boys, and reader of bedtime stories if the demands of her career called for her to be out of town, or working late into the night.

Food, diet, nutrition, dinner - however you frame it, we’ve got to eat.  And I’ve been the person to to make that happen, more often than not.  It's less unusual for a man to play this role in households today, but being the family cook still tends to be “women’s work” in some peoples’ minds.  Regardless of how I fell into this role, I’m glad that our boys got see me cooking on a regular basis.  Feeding one’s family should not be considered a gendered activity.  We all like to eat good food (however one might define that), so whomever is in the best position to get the job done should do so. 

It’s no secret that I think that love is the secret ingredient in home cooking.  We regularly rely on food to celebrate our accomplishments, to lift our spirits, or nurture us back to health when we are under the weather.  Thoughtfully deciding what food will meet the moment is important, I believe. 

Life is a team sport!  There are a lot of different ways to get the essential activities of a household handled.  I’m glad that our boys got to see the flexibility that both Lori and I bring to these essential tasks.

As for the movie Mr. Mom, my short review is that it doesn’t hold up very well.  Too many sexist tropes, sad to say.  It was interesting to revisit this piece of culture that was released just as I was entering high school…times certainly have changed.

Sunday Supper
In last week’s post, I mentioned that I was thinking of zucchini fritters.  I made these last Tuesday, and they were delicious.  Last Sunday I made this Lebanese stew called Loubieh (pronounced LOO-bee) - something I do every year.  Both of these recipes represent the epitome of summer eating.  I’m so predictable - Facebook literally served me a reminder that I had made a post one year prior of the Loubieh that I made around the same time last year!  You can set your calendar to my cooking patterns.

Sunday Music
This Sunday, I am pleased to introduce you to the Neo-soul group from Amsterdam called Feng Suave.  This 20-minute concert is a fine listen on a Sunday morning.  Enjoy!

Have a great week ahead!  Offer support to others.  Make good use of this day.  And let me know how I can help.

Peace & Love,

Neal

Sorghum v. Molasses

Good day to you!

I hope you had a fine week.  All was solid in my world, but I wouldn’t mind slowing time down just a little bit.  The noise from the hawks across the street is becoming less frequent, which tells me the fledglings are flying further afield and starting to take care of themselves.

Yesterday I enjoyed the first batch of Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato sandwiches featuring bread, tomatoes and lettuce from the farmers market.  Truly one of my favorite summer time foods.  Zucchini fritters are on my mind, so they’ll be on my plate soon.

Yesterday morning I baked some buttermilk biscuit trimmings (the scraps left over after cutting a batch of biscuits), topping them with a little pan of sausage gravy that I made using Copia Farms’ spicy sausage patties.  There were a few little pieces of biscuit left over, which I topped with some molasses as a sweet finish.

I genuinely love the dark, sweet taste of molasses and its close cousin, sweet sorghum.  It is for me one of the defining flavors of Appalachian cuisine.  The differences between the two are somewhat subtle.  Sweet sorghum is made by boiling down the juices squeezed out of sorghum cane, and molasses is made by boiling down the juices squeezed from sugar cane.  These two different varieties of cane are both members of the grass family (as is sweet corn, which also grows in similar looking stalks), which results in slightly different characteristics.

Sorghum tends to lighter in color, a bit thinner and slightly sweeter. It tends to be used more as a syrup topping than a baking ingredient.  The more you boil sorghum, the denser and darker the liquid becomes, but it never crystalizes.  Molasses will crystallize if reduced too much.  Sorghum is also higher in calories than Molasses or Maple Syrup, and surprisingly rich in iron, calcium and potassium.

I’m partial to Sorghum because it is what my grandfather used to make on his mountain top in West Virginia.  It is a laborious process that requires a lot of time.  First the stalks of the sorghum cane must be cut, then run through a press (which back in the day was powered by a mule walking around in a circle, a beam connected to it that turned the crank of the press).  The pressed juices would be passed through some cheesecloth to filter out particulate, and the liquid would then be boiled in a wide, long and shallow evaporator pan to reduce it into the concentrated syrup.  This video provides a good overview of the process.

A good BLT sandwich.  A nice buttermilk biscuit.  And molasses, (or sweet sorghum).  Tastes of summer, and tastes of my heritage.  I don’t care how hot it gets these next few weeks.  I’m going to soak it up and keep enjoying the bounty.

Sunday Supper
Rolling with this week’s theme, how about these Molasses Glazed Chicken Thighs, with this Dilled Potato Salad and this Upside-Down Pear Gingerbread Cake for dessert.  Enjoy!

Sunday Music
This performance of Jimi Hendrix’s Little Wing by Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit with special guest Mike McCready is really nice.  And this live set by John Mayer earlier this summer was a surprise to people attending an Ed Sheeran show earlier this summer.    

Have a great week ahead!  Offer support to others.  Make good use of this day.  And let me know how I can help.

Peace & Love,

Neal

The Asymmetry Of Ignorance

Hello, hello, hello!

I hope you are well, recovered from the July 4th celebration with all of your digits intact.  The family of hawks in the front yard at St. Edward the Confessor continues its chorus of squawks and screeches.  It’s music to my ears.  The weeding and mulching that Lori and I have accomplished over the past week makes my eyes happy.

This week I’ve been mulling over the asymmetrical challenge represented by bad information.  Someone with a big enough megaphone, charisma, and sufficient confidence can say a lot of inaccurate things, and the work required to correct the public understanding is considerably larger than than the time and energy required to spread the bad information in the first place.

The earth is flat.  Vaccines do more harm than good.  The election was stolen.  9/11 was an inside job.

On and on, there is no shortage of bad ideas, hoaxes, conspiracy theories, and misinformation.  These flawed concepts move about with zero friction across the globe via the internet.  Some of them may be misunderstandings, shared by concerned people in good faith.  A lot of this stuff is blatant misinformation being spread in bad faith to sow confusion and dissent in society.  All too often, journalists default into “both sides” framing, and in doing so give bad ideas more credibility than they deserve.  

In social media, about a month ago, podcast interviewer/comedian Joe Rogan used his Twitter account to offer Dr. Peter Hotez $100,000 (to the charity of Hotez’s choice) to come on his show to debate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. regarding statements made by Kennedy that Hotez characterized as “misinformation.”  Lots of other people upped the ante, pledging even more money to make this debate happen.  Dr. Hotez declined the invitation (and faced a massive amount of harassment and threats from people, thanks to the immense spotlight placed on him by Rogan).  Hotez pointed out that scientific facts are not up for debate, and that Kennedy lacks the technical background to have a meaningful dialogue.

The internet has created plenty of benefits, but it has also generated lots of negative consequences.  There’s something to be said for the curatorial role major traditional news outlets used to play in the pre-internet era.  Walter Cronkite would not have entertained such nonsense.  With great curation comes great responsibility, though.  I understand the risks of relying on too few decision makers in determining what gets shared as the news of the day.  Important, relevant things can be left out (and sometimes are).

I have enjoyed listening to many of Rogan’s interviews, but much prefer the “two guys having a beer and shooting the breeze” version of Joe over the one who tries to wade into deeper, more technical topics without sufficient technical knowledge.

There is no easy way to mitigate this issue.  I have come to believe that there should be far less energy spent debunking the growing volume of misinformation.  Instead, let's allow those who subscribe to bad ideas to run with them, and feel the sting of their associated consequences.  Let’s get Darwin back in the game.  You don’t trust vaccines?  Don’t take them.  Not every bad idea has such a stark Darwinian mechanism.  But I have to give it to "Mad Mike" Hughes - this guy was really committed to his flat-earth beliefs.

Conspiracy theories have a seductive aspect to them - they create the feeling of letting us in on special knowledge that is not available to everyone.  It feels good to have the insider’s edge - provided that it is accurate.  Mark Twain is famously quoted as saying “A lie will go ‘round the world while the truth is getting its boots on.”  Never has this been more true.  Since we don’t have Mr. Cronkite to act as a screener for the nonsense, it's up to each of us to deal with it on our own.  More often than not, I think the best approach is to not reward stupidity with our time, attention or energy.  Stay observant, friend!  The challenge of this moment is unique, but I believe in us.

Sunday Supper
I've been thinking about this recipe for a while, and when I saw some properly-sized zucchini at the Farmers' Market (thank you, Bird's Haven Farm), I knew it was time to make a favorite Lebanese dish called Kousa (stuffed squash).  This is a good weekend recipe, as it takes a bit more prep time, and cook time on the stove top.  Tender squash, filled with rice and spiced beef, bathed in a garlicky tomato sauce...yes!  Enjoy.

Sunday Music
This nearly hour-long live performance by pianist Brad Mehldau in Vienna back in 2010 makes for a great listen. 

Have a great week ahead!  Offer support to others.  Make good use of this day.  And let me know how I can help.

Peace & Love,

Neal

Life, Liberty, Happiness

Happy Holiday To You!

I hope that this past week has been good to you.  Be careful with the fireworks this week - let’s keep all our fingers attached, OK?  The steady rain this morning has Nova curled up on the couch, wondering when we will get to go for a walk.

I heard a chorus of Red-Tailed Hawks screeching across the street yesterday. The parents and fledglings all seemed to be mightily engaged in this thing called life.  It’s hard for me to distinctly identify it, but I believe that the fledgling that left the nest early (the focus of last week’s newsletter) is doing well and probably flying now.

The Independence Day holiday, coupled with this past week’s rulings handed down from the U.S. Supreme Court, have me thinking about how the American Experiment is faring these days.  Back in 1776, the signers of the Declaration of Independence had some very legitimate beefs with King George III.  In addition to serving as a detailed airing of the American colonies’ grievances against the king, the document declared that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

I have little doubt that U.S. citizens generally enjoy a high degree of unfettered access to these three unalienable rights, but our society is far from perfect in making them equally available to every citizen.  Even if I felt capable of articulating a coherent analysis of the SCOTUS rulings, the fact is that I have cookouts to attend, salads to make, baby back ribs to smoke, and happiness to be pursued, just as our founders wanted.  So I’m not going completely down the judicial analysis rabbit hole this weekend.

But I will offer this for your consideration as we approach Independence Day:  Given the diversity of our citizenry, the best we can hope for is a society that works hard to maintain a balance in the dynamic tensions that arise from rights that sometimes compete with each other.  Very few of us, given the opportunity to “turn the knobs” on the Dashboard of Liberty (I just invented this, but you get the idea), would land on the exact same settings.

Some of us would award a tiny fetus more right to Life, at the expense of Liberty (and possibly Happiness) for its mother.  Some people feel that same-sex couples should not be afforded the same Liberty to marry as male/female pairings.  A fair summation of my guiding mantra is simply “To Live and Let Live.”  There are no settings on the Dashboard of Liberty that will please everyone.  We will always have some measure of displeasure/disappointment with the rulings of the highest court in the land.  If we accept this basic truth, and are a little more respectful of everyone’s right to hold views that differ from our own, we will tiptoe ever so slowly in the direction of forming a more perfect union.

It is undeniable that America has come a long way.  More Americans enjoy equality, liberty, freedom and happiness to higher degrees than ever before.  Yet if we were to reboot our lives, restarting the game of Life In America as a different character, aren’t there some options you would prefer, and others you would actively avoid?  Until the day comes when we would all gladly restart the game as any possible character, we have more work to do.

Light the grill.  Slice the watermelon.  Ride the rides.  Let’s have fun this week!  Then it’s back to work.

Sunday Supper
Last week Lori I watched season two of The Bear, streaming on Hulu.  It made me hungry for a good, slow-cooked Italian Beef Sandwich.  This recipe can feed a crowd, and may be a good alternative to grilling in the rain.  This Crunchy Cabbage Salad would be a great complement to the sandwiches (Lori and I took this one to a potluck last night and highly endorse it).

Sunday Music
This performance by Mandolin Orange (now re-named Watchhouse) is a lovely bit of bluegrass to enjoy on this gray morning.  This husband-wife duo, Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz are based on Chapel Hill, North Carolina and have been performing together since 2010.  Enjoy!

Have a great week ahead!  Offer support to others.  Make good use of this day.  And let me know how I can help.

Peace & Love,

Neal

Hawk Talk

Hello there!

I hope your week has been good.  All is well in my world, a bit quiet.  Just plunking along…The weather in the days ahead looks like a nice, moderate stretch of summer.  Can you feel the days getting shorter already, now that the summer solstice is behind us?

About ten days ago, I noticed a fledgling red-tailed hawk standing at the foot of a big sycamore tree in the front yard at St. Edward the Confessor Catholic Church.  I had been watching the nest that its mother built for many weeks. The bird looked a bit confused, but not injured.  It seemed to have left the nest a little sooner than it should have.  Some of its juvenile feathers gave it the appearance of having a cowlick, Dennis the Menace-style.  It was the size of a small chicken - not a chick by any means, but also not quite ready to fly.  It screeched frequently, and its calls were answered by mama or papa.

Passers-by soon started noticing this creature, and soon thereafter the hawk talk on Facebook began.  Should we intervene?  Will its mother still care for it?  Does anyone know of a rescue agency we could contact?  All well-intentioned, but the dialogue yielded a really wide range of views (can you imagine that?!).  My past experiences raising poultry and my frequent check-ins to see the bird had me feeling like it was in pretty good shape, and getting more robust each day.  I saw mama sitting with it early Saturday morning, so I was hopeful she was still feeding it. 

Come Monday morning, the bird was gone.  Someone in the “Granville In The Know” Facebook group reported that someone from the Ohio Wildlife Center captured the bird last Sunday night (Fathers Day), was inspecting it, and would soon return it to the area.  Thursday evening, while mowing the grass I noticed a woman and her two children standing in the yard at St. Ed’s, looking up at the tree canopy.  After putting the mower away, I spoke with her, and she confirmed the hawk was returned - and pointed it out, sitting high up in one of the trees!  According to her, the folks at the Ohio Wildlife Center made sure the bird had plenty of hydration and some food, returning it to its yard on Wednesday.  Papa has been feeding it as well.  Friday morning I heard not only our adventurous bird, but its siblings screeching for food from the nest.  Papa screeched back, so all seemed to be back to normal.

Watching this adolescent bird deal with the consequences of its actions has been exciting.  I definitely feel some caretaker instincts about the little thing.  I started calling it “Henry the Hawk,” in honor of the fact that our son Henry will soon be flying the coop for grad school.  Like the bird, Henry seems to be feeling some tentativeness about this upcoming transition.  I know he’s ready.  Before we know it, he’ll be soaring.

Sunday Supper
All this bird talk inspires this week’s Sunday Supper recommendation - Grilled Chicken with Cucumber, Radish and Cherry Tomato Relish, from Martha Stewart.  (You know that little hawk would love to tear into some chicken now, don’t you?).  It would pair well with this Macaroni Salad.  Enjoy!

Sunday Music
If you’ve not heard of the World Cafe radio program, I’m pleased to introduce it to you.  It is a show produced by WXPN, a public radio station in Philadelphia and carried locally by WCBE.  Its purpose is to introduce listeners to up-and-coming musical artists, as well as to check in with legendary performers occasionally.  Here is a recent live performance by Josh Ritter, a performance of Rosemary With A Bible and a Gun, by the Drive-By Truckers, and here is Kacey Musgrave performing High Horse.  World Cafe’s YouTube channel is a fun rabbit hole to run down when you are looking for interesting new artists - enjoy!

Have a great week ahead!  Offer support to others.  Make good use of this day.  And let me know how I can help.

Peace & Love,

Neal

RHYMES

I do Morning Pages, which is a daily practice of writing three long-hand pages, stream-of-consciousness stuff. Sometimes when I feel blocked, I write rhyming phrases just to get something on the page.

Here are a few recent ideas that came out of this process:

—-

Life is weird.

I ain't skeered.

No time for fear, everything is clear.

Gotta move on from here.

The status quo has got to go.

Paralysis by phalluses.

—-

Old calendar items that I can't seem to erase.

Popping up in my face.

Legacies of disgrace.

Time to wipe them out, to erase.

—-

Is this just a phase that I will outgrow?

Is there any way to know?

Is something truly wrong or is this just the rough part of the song?

—-

When I can't write a coherent sentence I just rhyme.

At least it lets me keep time.

—-

The things I can lean on are getting fewer and lesser.

Starting to bother and fester.

There is a good man inside, capable.

Increasingly he's unwakeable.

Wandering from thing to thing, nothing makes me sing.

—-

In the Rat Race I got a flat tire, then my engine caught fire.

Only piece left on the board is a pawn.

Only simple moves left.

I once was so deft.

—-

Painting myself into corners when there are no borders is self-limiting to the thing that could make my heart sing.

—-

Feel the sting of the universe's ambivalence.

It's so tempting to acquiesce.

Give in to indifference.

Rising up is an act of defiance, in spite of the science.

Law of Gravity says "stay down" so I leash up the dog and walk around town.

Free associate.

Syncopate.

But never, ever accept your fate.

—-

So much in this world is fictitious and delicious but too often not nutritious.

—-

El Niño is starting to steam, oh.

Braising us low and slow.

Next thing you know, there'll be no more snow.

We're living to see it.

Nevermore will we ski it.

The fire's in the sky now.

Elon wants to fly now.

But there ain't no time for the cow to jump over the moon.

—-

Have I not recovered from the loss?

What is sticking around, in the way?

Things look wide open, why do I stay?

—-

Strong, like bull

Good Day, Neighbor!

I hope this week’s newsletter finds you well.  We finally got some decent rainfall this past week, but things are going to stay dry at least until Friday, as far as I can tell.

Back in February when I learned that Pat Metheny would be playing at The Midland Theater tonight, Lori and I immediately ordered four seats for the show - certain that my friend Peter would be joining us, along with his girlfriend.  We weren’t wrong, and once we realized that June 18th was also Father’s Day, the whole scope of the day blew up.

Pete and Christine came down from Toledo Saturday night, staying at Ghostwriter’s Air BnB lodging in Johnstown (a wonderful option if you have friends visiting from out of town).   This gave us more time, allowing us to play a round of golf this morning (while the ladies enjoy some spa treatments), followed by relaxation and viewing the final round of the U.S. Open golf tournament before heading over to the concert at The Midland.

With our kids now all adults, it’s easier for us to indulge in boondoggles such as this.  It being Father’s Day, I am compelled to acknowledge the amazing work Peter has done as a father.  We lost his wife, Anna, to breast cancer eleven years ago now.  Peter single-handedly raised the kids, getting them all through college (Lauren’s not quite done, but she’s a lock to complete her undergraduate degree) while overseeing the merger and growth of his dental practice (which was founded by his father)…  Having known Peter since the summer after my freshman year at Ohio State, his accomplishments have kind of snuck up on me over the years.  They happened slowly, over time, through dedicated effort.  It’s only now, looking back that we can see the true scope of it.  He has met every challenge - some of which fall outside the scope of parenting.  And he can still hit a golf ball so darned well…

Today’s an extra-great day for me.  A confluence of some of the most special activities and people in my life.  I’m just soaking it up.

Sunday Supper
Here is my full Father’s Day meal plan.  First we have dips and chips, to enjoy while watching the golf tournament:  Buffalo Chicken Dip (sorry, Frank’s Red Hot, my favorite wing sauce is Yellowbird’s Bliss & Vinegar).  Baba Ganoush.  For dinner I’m grilling tri-tip roast marinated in this simple marinade, served with this spicy romesco sauce.  We’re browning off these potato pavé planks for our starch, and tossing a fattoush-style shaved Brussels sprout salad in a Za’atar Tahini lemon dressing.  For dessert, I made these homemade Butterfinger treats.  Enjoy!

Sunday Music
In September 1979, the Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell recorded a live performance at the Hollywood bowl that would be released as a double album titled Shadows And Light, featuring none other than Pat Metheny on lead guitar (and Pat’s long-time sidekicks Lyle Mays and Jaco Pistorius on keyboards and bass, respectively).  This video of that concert is fantastic

Have a great week ahead!  Offer support to others.  Make good use of this day.  And let me know how I can help.

Peace & Love,

Neal

Listen up

Hello, Friend!

The sun continues to shine, and the flowers are still so fragrant.  Spring has been rolling along quite nicely - but we need a bit of rain to keep the farmers happy.  (I’m a big fan of happy farmers…).  It looks like today will probably be the day we are graced with some rain.

Lori and I made it out to Oregon for our friends’ wedding.  The logistics and weather could not have been more favorable.  It was so, so good in every way.  I officiated my first wedding.  It went well, but I couldn’t help but learn from the experience.  It’s kind of like making pancakes - the first one is fine, but they get better with repetition.  I avoided all of the easiest blunders, so there’s that.  The ceremony occurred on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, and the wind really kicked up.  A tent shading some musicians was well-anchored, but my confidence in it was not 100%.  I kept things moving along so we could take it down before the wind did it for us.

That same wind (plus a little more) re-appeared the next afternoon for my round of golf at Pacific Dunes.  What a magical day - I literally had the course all to myself for most of the afternoon.  No one had teed off for about an hour before me, and none were scheduled for a quite a while after my tee time.  Lori, my caddy Joaquin and I didn’t catch up to the players ahead of us until the 16th tee box.  The wind wreaked havoc on my score, but I’d do it again in a heartbeat.  A few pictures from my round of golf can be found here (scroll to the bottom for the golf stuff).

I listened to Preet Barara’s podcast, Stay Tuned With Preet, this past week and it is the inspiration for today’s theme.  The podcast covers a lot of ground, and drives home for me the importance of improving my own listening skills.  We all understand that listening is more than just waiting for our turn to talk.  Done properly, a good listener conveys to the speaker that they are being truly heard - that we are taking in what they are communicating, and really absorbing it.  Absorption and agreement are different things, to be sure.  But isn’t it easier to “agree to disagree” if you feel like your point(s) were truly considered?

Preet interviewed Niobe Way, professor of Applied Psychology at New York University.  Professor Way most recently published The Crisis of Connection:  Its Roots, Consequences, and Solutions.  A big thrust of her work focuses on cultural gender norms, and their affects on human development.  She also created a program called The Listening Project, a program implemented in schools across the country with the goal of reducing harassment, bullying, depression, anxiety and loneliness - all of which have been climbing amongst our children for many years.

Beyond the topics explicitly covered in this podcast conversation, it dawned on me that listening is really a cornerstone skill capable of unlocking many benefits at once. With significantly improved listening skills, we could improve children’s happiness, reduce political polarization, and reduce “lone wolf” violence in America.

We all need to feel seen and heard.  Despite the massive electronic connectivity that has developed over the past 20+ years, it seems that too few of us are receiving this type of acknowledgment and acceptance from those around us.  An important tool to address this is better listening.

Sunday Supper
I was trying to figure out what to make for dinner Thursday night, so checked the freezer to see what proteins we had on hand.  Sitting there was a pound each of sea scallops and shrimp.  In Oregon I had a great bowl of clam chowder at Mo’s, so figured why not make some more?  This recipe really did the trick.  I also made a salad with this Honey Lime Vinaigrette.  Enjoy!

Sunday Music
I don’t recall if I’ve ever shared Patty Griffin with you.  This is a lovely performance by her at the NPR Tiny Desk.  A distinctive voice and evocative lyricist.  Enjoy!

Have a great week ahead!  Offer support to others.  Make good use of this day.  And let me know how I can help.

Peace & Love,

Neal

NEXT ONE UP

Good day to you!

With the school buses no longer running, and fewer cars flowing toward the schools each morning, it is much easier for Nova and I to cross the street for our morning walks.  I can already feel the slower summer vibes settling in.

Temperatures really popped in the Land of Legend this week…possibly resulting in some showers.  I don’t know for sure, because I am writing this edition of the newsletter a couple of days in advance.  Lori and I flew out to Oregon for the wedding of dear friend.  The wedding was yesterday.  Today, we sneak down the coast to the town of Bandon so that I can play a round of golf at one of my favorite places on earth.  It’s expected to be breezy with a high of 59 degrees in Bandon today.  Chilly, but playable.  As the Scottish say, “Nae wind, nae golf.”  There are few things more satisfying than a well-struck golf shot, the ball piercing through the wind toward the target.

This past week I listened to this podcast from Seth Godin, and it got my mental gears spinning.  In it, he describes the hiring practice of a bakery.  They keep a list of people interested in working at the bakery.  Whenever they have a job opening, they simply call the person at the top of the list and hire them.  No interview, they just hire them.  “You have the job.  Can you start tomorrow?”

It reminds me of college football coaches in post-game press conferences.  Because football is a brutal sport, players are often injured.  So often, in fact, that there is a common phrase in the game:  “Next Man Up.”  For players, this means to always be prepared to go into a game, because an injury could force the starter to exit at any time.

An interesting thing about the bakery, and other business who have similar open hiring practices:  They generally have lower turnover than their peers who use more traditional hiring practices.  They perform better on other metrics as well.  I wonder how broadly this notion might apply while observing similar effects.  What if we are not very good at predicting how well someone will perform in a given role?  What if our culture was more open to allowing people to try new things, regardless of experience?

In the realm of dating, what if people signed up for a service and it just randomly paired people for dates?  The only requirement being that you had to actually spend some time with the person you were paired with before you could be assigned another date.  Arranged marriages experience a much lower divorce rate.  I’m sure there are many factors contributing to this, but one of them must be the context in which the union is formed - semi-randomly putting two people together, and their job is to figure it out.  Both are vulnerable, perhaps unsure.  It is in both of their interest’s to work cooperatively.  Ands somehow it works out more successfully than the outcomes associated with “playing the field.”

What if it were culturally acceptable, even expected, to have your name on a few job lists with different companies, all the time?  Every once in a while you would receive a phone call notifying you that you were the next person up on the hiring list at a different company.  The perfect opportunity to evaluate your current position, comparing against the new opportunity.  If you are quite satisfied with the status quo, just pass on it.  If not - maybe you leap at the chance to work elsewhere.  Both scenarios are good, I think.  In the former you would essentially be “renewing your vows” with your current employer.  And in the later, one company would lose a less-than-fully-engaged team member, with another receiving a new teammate who is eager for a fresh start doing something new.  Win-Win.

Maybe we’re getting in our own way more than we need to.  Maybe we should let random chance play a bigger role in our lives.  It might force us to grow, become more adaptable in general.  Who knows?  I’m sure this isn’t a silver-bullet solution to everything, but probably worthy of broader adoption.

Sunday Supper
I made these Chicken Kebabs this past week, and they were delicious.  This Fattoush salad recipe would be a great accompaniment, and these Cherry Hand Pies would be a rocking dessert. 

Sunday Music
I discovered Margaret Glaspy earlier this year, and shared some of her work in this newsletter (back in February).  Well, she has a new album coming out in August, and she released the first single.  It's great.  I really love her sound - it reminds me of a performer who helped define culture during my college years, Miss Juliana Hatfield.  Enjoy both of these powerful, rocking' women today! 

Have a great week ahead!  Offer support to others.  Make good use of this day.  And let me know how I can help.

Peace & Love,

Neal

Crystalizing context

Hello, Friend!

We are on an amazing run of sunny, moderate weather - and the days ahead look great too, albeit with temperatures climbing into the 80s.  This past week felt like living on the Monterey Peninsula, with much lower real estate costs.  The piles of silver maple seeds have given way to massive accumulations of the small, floating seeds from the Sycamore trees in the front yard at St. Edward the Confessor Catholic Church.

The ginger beer that Henry made last week turned out very well - a little sweet, but very gingery.  A great first effort.  The lilac-infused coconut oil…not so much.  We live and learn in the Food Lab.

On Wednesday we hosted friends for dinner.  I made David Chang’s Bo Ssam roasted pork, with a huge pot of steamed rice and ton of veggies.  This, plus a Burnt Basque Cheesecake made by Lori added up to an extra-special meal in the middle of the week.  I’ve shared these recipes in the past…here is a good video demo showing how to cook the Bo Ssam.  I won’t share these as my Sunday Supper recommendations…that would be too easy.

I’m about one week away from officiating my first wedding.  A friend asked me to do it, and I agreed.  About 2% of my brain’s processing power has been spooling in the background for weeks, constantly mulling over how to be the best officiant I can be. The assignment is clear - keep things moving along, putting in a few choice words at the right moments.  My friends have written their own vows, and have a wonderful program already in place.  I’ll do my best to enhance their experience of the special day.

Earlier this week I received a call from a different friend.  His son is getting married this weekend, and he was in the process of preparing a short speech.  So we discussed that assignment a bit.  Hopefully I helped him frame up what he’s going to say.

This role - participating at the center of life’s Big Moments, is something one only gets to do after accumulating a fair amount of life experience.  It’s not something to take lightly, but shouldn’t be over-thought, either.  It is a very Zen task.  Trying not to try.  In a few words, say something that adds to the moment.  Or, if the words fall short of that goal, at least be brief.  Sincerity goes a long way, earning some leeway from the audience.

I’m not intimidated by this task.  I am familiar with the inherent discomfort associated with it, and have felt it plenty.  For many years I have served as moderator to my entrepreneurial forum group.  This involves helping to guide deep conversations around meaningful, sensitive topics spanning a wide range of subjects.  I know what it means to be in the middle of high-stakes, vulnerable conversations.

It’s a privilege, and not something to take lightly.  It’s exciting, and forces me to distill whatever I know that might be worth sharing into the smallest possible form.  Try as I might to craft a gem, I’m reminded of the times that people have told me that something I said to them left some positive, memorable impression - and I wasn’t even trying.

We live life.  We share our experiences.  Sometimes the things we share are relevant, reaching others at just the right time, and making an enduring impact.  Who knows what, when, where or how to maximize this effect?  Maybe someone like Tony Robbins, who tries to create such impact for a living.  For someone like me, it’s just the law of averages catching up.  Live long enough, thoughtfully enough, and share what you can, and we all make a difference, eventually.

Sunday Supper
Yesterday I made a big, chopped salad featuring shaved Brussels Sprouts.  I just love their texture.  I also roasted some beets that I purchased at the Granville Farmers’ Market.  And you know what?  Prepping a big salad such as this is every bit as much work as preparing a more traditional Meat + Two type menu.  My salad was an improvisation, but this recipe from Punchfork is similar in spirit, and makes for a wonderful Sunday Supper option.

Sunday Music
This Sunday I am happy to share this full-length concert featuring American jazz icons Christian McBride (on bass) and Kenny Barron (on piano) performing at the historic Trinity Church in New York City.  Enjoy!

Have a great week ahead!  Offer support to others.  Make good use of this day.  And let me know how I can help.

Peace & Love,

Neal

FOOD LAB

Greetings!

I hope you are well.  The momentum of Spring continues to build.  The lilac and rhododendron are fully in bloom.  It will all soon crescendo before life settles down into the slower pace of Summertime.

It was a lovely week in my world - an engaged mix of work, play and family, with more on the horizon.  The days ahead look sunny and glorious, perfectly timed for the end of the school year.

Lately our older son has been doing things in the garden and kitchen on his own, with no prodding from anyone.  It has been fun to watch.  Every time I see him with his hands in the dirt or watering some plants, my heart warms because I know his grandmother would be over the moon to see what I am witnessing.

The other day I came home to find a massive, half-gallon jar full of a slurry of water and grated fresh ginger.  I don't think I've seen so much fresh ginger all at once.  He's trying his hand at making homemade fermented ginger beer.  Something like this, I believe.  A couple of days later, I see he is infusing coconut oil with lilac petals, freshly collected from a bush by our garage.  Some sort of skin care item, I believe.  The flowers are so fragrant right now, just amazing.  

I don't care how well any of these projects turn out.  I just love to see him engaging in them.  He tries to clean up after himself, but a bit half-heartedly, knowing that I am the backstop that will tie up all loose ends in the kitchen.  I don't care.  I'm just playing it cool, watching from the sidelines, happy to be supportive.  Soon he'll be in Durham, and probably won't have the time for such boondoggles.  So let's indulge in them now.

Sunday Supper
I made these fun Salmon Muffins this past week.  The recipe has the details, but basically you just use a muffin pan, lining each recess with nori, top the nori with sticky rice, then top the rice with diced, marinated salmon and bake.  Serve with this Thai Mango Salad for a great one-two punch.

Sunday Music
My online explorations for new and fresh music to share with you has belatedly landed me on a YouTube channel that clearly has built a large audience - they have had over 360 million views of their work in the channel's 7-year existence!  Scary Pockets is a two-man rhythm section made up of Ryan Lerman (guitar) and Jack Conte (multi-instrumentalist).  They perform cover songs with a wide range of famous and otherwise talented musicians.  Here is a link to the channel, and here is a link to their most viewed performance, featuring Maiya Sykes and Ben Folds.  Lastly, here is a great cover of Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive, featuring Mario Jose.  I can't promise to not feature more of these cover songs as I dive down this fun new rabbit hole.  Interesting side story - Jack Conte is the co-founder and CEO of Patreon.

Have a great week ahead!  Offer support to others.  Make good use of this day.  And let me know how I can help.

Peace & Love,

Neal

Happy FAMILY

Hello, Friend!

Happy Mother's Day to all of the mamas.  May you have a relaxing day, filled with the pampering you so richly deserve.  I have a 10:40am tee time, but I'm sure the boys have something nice planned for Lori - just kidding!  We are taking good care of her today.

This week went especially fast.  On Monday I reclaimed our younger son from college in Cleveland.  He's such a dedicated student.  His last exam was Monday morning, and I reclaimed him early afternoon.  He was a limp noodle by the time we got home.  To celebrate his return, we made one of his favorite meals Saturday night - cheesy potato soup with crusty bread.  Carbopalooza.

We were able to re-absorb the contents of his dorm room without too much difficulty.  It took me a couple of days to re-adjust my brain when it comes to meal planning.  Adding a fourth person's preferences back into the mix does create more complexity.  I'm back on my "A" game now, though.

The abundant rain and sunshine have prompted both the lawn and the silver maples to explode.  So many little whirlybird seeds to clear off of the driveway, roof and gutters.  And I'm mowing the grass about every five days, weather permitting.  

We're going to savor this summer with everyone home.  It might be the last one for a long time, possible ever.  Both boys return to campus this Fall (our oldest is going off to grad school), so who knows?  We're not rooting for empty nester status to come any faster than it's going to come.  It's impossible not to recognize that this is where we are in life, though.  Our little birdies are going to fly away at some point.  If this isn't the last summer as a nuclear family, that change is probably not too much farther away.  Time marches on.

THANKS to everyone who visited my new site, www.nealbell.com last week - and to those who signed up for notices when I publish new blog posts.  If you haven't checked it out, yet, please do.  I post all of the Maamos Kitchen newsletters there, as well as longer-form essays on a broader range of topics.  I'm working on my second longer-form essay, which should be published by the end of the month.  Feel free to share this site with anyone you think might be interested.

Sunday Supper
Sticking with the Happy Family theme, let's cook the Chinese stir-fry classic of the same name for Sunday Supper this week.  This Mango Sticky Rice would be a great finish to the meal.

Sunday Music
For your listening pleasure, this week I share with you a recent live performance by the Seattle Indie Folk band, Fleet Foxes in Boston Harbor.

Have a great week ahead!  Offer support to others.  Make good use of this day.  And let me know how I can help.

Peace & Love,

Neal

SIGNAL QUALITY

Some time in 2020 (summer, possibly later), I was on a phone call with one of my best friends - someone I grew up with from about the ninth grade on.  Someone I spent a lot of time with, from ages 15 - 30.  For some period of time, this is someone for whom I could finish his sentences, and he mine.

On this phone call, my friend explained to me how he quickly recovered from COVID thanks to taking Ivermectin.  This surprised me.  Everything I had been reading/hearing about Ivermectin as a treatment for COVID suggested that it was not effective at all.

Ever since that conversation, I’ve been pondering how it could be that someone with whom I had been so close for so long could come to such a different conclusion about an important matter.

In today’s information environment, we have many challenges.  The speed and ease with which information travels is one.  High-quality and low-quality information moves equally well around the globe in the blink of an eye.  The advertising-based revenue model of most media outlets creates a basic alignment problem, where they are incentivized to cover news and write stories that are more likely to spur engagement (which rhymes with enragement), leaving many wonky or less engaging, detail-rich stories unseen or unnoticed.  And as individuals we all have cognitive biases - Tim Urban’s deep dive into how tribal, sports fan-type thinking has driven a lot of politics in the last decade or so is highly informative on this front.

Setting all of this aside, the question I want to examine is this:  How does a person seeking objective truth in today’s world assign a quality score to information?  Going back to that conversation with my friend, he clearly was assigning different scores than I was to the various information available to us at the time.

I’m not suggesting that we should always land on the same answers to important questions.  But understanding why we believe what we believe is important, as it is the only way we might improve on how we collect and process information in the future.

Since we can’t personally witness every consequential event that happens in the world each and every day - we must have trusted proxies.  So, how does one sort out higher quality information sources from amongst all of the options?

In attempting to wrap my brain around this challenge, I reached out to someone I follow on Twitter - Jay Rosen, professor of journalism at New York University.  Jay’s critiques of news outlets’ coverage of politics in recent years has been revelatory.  I wondered if he knew of any tools to help consumers of media to assign “quality scores” to news outlets or reporters.  He kindly made me aware of a service called NewsGuard.

NewsGuard is a service that assigns “trust scores” to more than 8,500 news and information websites.  Subscribers to this service download an internet browser plug-in that makes the scores available as they browse the web in real-time.  This service was created by a team of journalists, who continuously assess the credibility and transparency of news and information websites based on the following nine criteria:

1. Does not repeatedly publish false content.

• Factual errors are generally minor.

• Major mistakes are quickly and transparently corrected.

• The site doesn’t quote other news sources that frequently make false claims.

2. Gathers fair and accurate information responsibly.

• They reference multiple sources.

• Sources present direct firsthand information on subjects or events.

• They do not egregiously distort or misrepresent information.

3. Regularly corrects and clarifies errors.

• Effective practices for identifying errors.

• Transparent acknowledgement of errors when they occur.

• Does not leave significant false content uncorrected.

4. Handles the difference between news and opinion responsibly.

• Clearly distinguish News reporting from Opinion writing.

• When reporting news, does not “cherry pick” facts to advance opinions.

• Content providers who advance a particular point of view disclose that point of view.

5. Avoids deceptive headlines.

• No false info in headlines.

• No significant sensationalization, otherwise not reflective of the underlying story.

6. Discloses ownership and financing.

• User-friendly disclosure of ownership and/or financing of the website/new outlet.

• Notable political affiliations made clear.

• Readers know who is funding the content and any relevant interests the owner or funder might have in the content.

7. Clearly labels advertising.

• The site makes clear which content is paid for and which is not.

8. Reveals who is in charge, including potential conflicts of interest.

• Those in charge of the content are identified on the site.

• There is a way for readers to contact the site about editorial issues.

9. Provides names of reporters/content creators, along with either contact or biographical information.

• Information about who is producing content for the site is made accessible to readers in a clear fashion.

The sites evaluated by NewsGuard are assigned a score ranging from 0 - 100, resulting in the following credibility tiers:

100 High Credibility

75-99 Generally Credible

60-74 Credible With Exceptions

40-59 Proceed With Caution

0-39 Proceed With Maximum Caution

As someone looking for something close to objectivity, these criteria seem reasonable to me.

Just as we must trust reporters to act as our proxies when reporting on the events of the day, so too must we trust the people at NewsGuard to fairly use these criteria when evaluating news sources, if we are to use their ratings when consuming news online.

NewsGuard is led by two veteran journalists and entrepreneurs:  Steven Brill founded The American Lawyer, Court TV, and the Yale Journalism Initiative.  Gordon Crovitz was publisher of The Wall Street Journal and a columnist for the paper.

Curious to see how my default news sites fared against these criteria, I subscribed to NewsGuard so that I could view the ratings.  My primary news sources:  The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Times, NPR, PBS, and the BBC - all score very high (most receive 100s).  Sources like FOX News and OAN fall well short of these scores.  (FYI - I am not sharing specific sites’ scores because the NewsGuard user agreement prohibits this.)

It’s important to acknowledge that this scoring system is not perfect, nor is NewsGuards implementation of it.  In fact, nothing is perfect - reporters sometimes make mistakes, warranting retractions.  I’m mindful to not let the notion of perfect be the enemy of good.

After the 2020 Presidential election, numerous news sources gave credence to unfounded theories of election fraud.  Even if they didn’t outright report that such fraud had in fact occurred, the amount of airtime that they gave to proponents of these baseless claims created (at a minimum) a sense for many Americans that “If there’s smoke there must be fire.”  Some people were so alarmed and outraged that they stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.  This behavior was not unreasonable for those who trusted that a major fraud had actually occurred.  Similarly, if doctors say that Ivermectin is a valid, effective way to treat COVID-19, some people will certainly rely on that guidance when making their own personal health care decisions.

We live in an age where virtually everyone has a high-quality camera and microphone, and are able to produce competent looking videos of all types.  We are flooded with “content,” and if I look hard enough I can find someone saying just about anything.  Even though such content has the look and feel of something that is trustworthy, it is apparent to me that a great deal of it is factually or contextually false.  Whether due to a lack of reporting rigor, a lack of understanding, or simply a function of bad-faith actors pumping out falsehoods, when it comes to information our mindset should be one of Buyer Beware.

It’s a damn wonder that humanity keeps moving forward.  Despite everything - biased reporting, misaligned incentives, individual cognitive biases, somehow we tend to get a little better every day.  On a macro level, humanity is getting collectively smarter, it seems to me.

Paying $5/month to subscribe to NewsGuard will not ensure that you receive perfect information.  But it might remind you to be aware of your news sourcing, and mindful that all sources of information have flaws.  Even without subscribing, we can all benefit from considering NewsGuard’s nine apolitical criteria for evaluating information sources.

The world has always been chaotic.  Perhaps slightly less so today, in some key ways.  But when it comes to sourcing and processing information, it feels like the Wild West to me.  It’s not rocket science - it’s much harder than that.  Rocket science relies exclusively on proven principles of physics.  We have to navigate our lives using information that contains so many flaws, both in it’s provenance and also in how we process it using our fallible critical thinking skills.

As adults, we have to own our experiences and our decisions.  The people who have been arrested and charged with crimes related to the January 6th storming of the U.S. Capitol are facing real consequences, and the fact that they were relying on bad information has not been much help to their defense.

We can’t fix all the many flaws in the information environment, but we can improve how we evaluate the information to which we expose ourselves.

It’s Sprrringtime!

Greetings!

I hope you are well.  Yesterday's weather was glorious.  Today and tomorrow will be rainy, with a nice stretch of warm and sunny weather coming in behind the rain.

I've been too busy recently to call a friend of mine.  I have a story to share that involves him and his family.  Since I didn't have to time to get his permission to share personal details, I have stripped out such details.  A good story still remains.

My friend once shared this story about his mother.  It is set in the May/June timeframe, and I think of it every year around this time.  My friend had a running buddy - every Saturday morning they would go for long runs.  On the Saturday of this story, these two guys had agreed to stop at a third friend’s house, this third friend wanted to join them on this run.  

As happens on most Saturday mornings, the run culminated at my friend’s house out in the country.  It was (and still is) their custom to fix a big breakfast on such Saturdays.  One of the people cooking breakfast on the morning of this story was my friend's mother.  She was a wonderful older woman who had emigrated to America when she was young, and still retained a little bit of her accent when she spoke.  So my friend and his buddy and the third friend that they picked up along their route all walk into this farmhouse kitchen, glistening with sweat.  

The third friend was relatively new to town, and this was her first visit to the house.  Because it was a warm Spring morning, this young woman was wearing an athletic top, with a bare midriff.  Perfectly appropriate for this day and age, but perhaps a bit immodest for the era of my friend's mother.  My friend could see that his mother was surprised, and a little bit confused when they walked in the door.  He was curious to see how she would respond to this unexpected visitor.  

His mother simply said this, with her soft accent:  “It’s SPRRRINGtime!!”  I think of her and this story every Spring.  She might have said many things, but she chose to be welcoming.  She chose to celebrate that beautiful, sunny moment.  I was not there to actually witness this event, but I can imagine exactly how it played out and it makes me smile.

UPDATE:  I've been hinting at this for a while.  I launched a new website this past week - it will be a place where I share some of my kitchen adventures, photos, and post longer-form essays on a wide range of topics.  The web address should be easy to remember - it's just www.nealbell.com.  I will also be mirroring my weekly Maamos Kitchen newsletter posts on the Blog at this site, so it can function as a turnkey way to keep up with my mental meanderings.  There is a little email list signup bar in the footer of each page - please opt into that email list, if you would be so kind.  My first longer form essay drops in the new blog this morning - it's called Signal Quality, and it examines he we choose to trust different information sources in our lives.  I hope you check it out.

Sunday Supper
I've been running around this weekend, so will keep it simple for Sunday Supper.  These Chili Crisp Salmon Bowls, w/ Avocado Mango Salsa from Half-Baked Harvest hit a lot of fun notes - bold spice, creamy avocado, and the sweetness of fresh mango.  You can easily substitute shrimp or chicken in for the salmon if you'd prefer a different protein.

Sunday Music
After a humbling (but beautiful) day on the golf course in Toledo yesterday, I randomly recalled the many fun times we enjoyed in the car with our children, back in their childhood days.  There was a stretch of time where we drove them to my parents' home in Pickerington for babysitting on a regular basis.  Those car rides were made immensely fun by this series of children's albums that cover the ABCs, 123s and fundamental concepts of Science with really fun, catchy songwriting.  Listening to these tunes brought a smile to my face last night.  And here's a link to a NPR Tiny Desk concert that this two-man band performed about eleven years ago.  What a distinctive duo.  I love their creativity.

Have a great week ahead!  Offer support to others.  Make good use of this day.  And let me know how I can help.

Peace & Love,

BLUE PLATELET SPECIAL

Greetings!

I hope you had a great week, and are enjoying the weekend.  Thus far, the Spring showers have been manageable.  We have some more rain through Tuesday, followed by moderate temps and clear skies.  Everything is so lush and green.

I donated platelets for the first time this past Thursday.  A couple of weeks ago, the Red Cross called asking me to consider it, and I said yes.  I’ve been a regular blood donor for many years, hiking up the hill to donate on Denison’s campus most of the time.  The platelet donation experience was more involved.

Firstly, I had to drive to Gahanna to donate.  Perhaps there are closer locations, but I went to Gahanna.  The procedure takes two hours, but in total I spent three hours at the donation site in Gahanna, which included the time require to check in, have my vitals taken, wait briefly for a donation bed to be ready, and wait a few minutes after the donation to ensure I was feeling capable of driving home.  Including the time it took to drive to/from the donation center, this was a four hour commitment, all-in. 

To the naked eye, the most obvious difference between donating platelets and a regular blood donation is the fact that they insert needles into both arms.  Blood is drawn out one, and flows into an apheresis machine, which spins the blood, separating it into various components (plasma, platelets, white blood cells and red blood cells).  The machine siphons off the platelets, then returns everything else to the donor via the second needle in their other arm.

The time commitment is probably the biggest difference when comparing platelet donation versus a basic blood donation.  One does have to sit still for two hours.  Fortunately they have TVs with Netflix, plus wireless headphones.  I queued up a movie and was able to enjoy myself while the blood separator machine worked its magic.  There is a small amount of anticoagulant fluid that donors receive when the machines return the non-platelet blood units.  This fluid sometimes causes a tingling sensation - I experienced this, but it was very mild.  I’ve since learned that taking a Tums in advance helps minimize this effect (the calcium in Tums what does this trick).

Platelets are often used to assist cancer patients.  Given that I lost both of my parents to cancer, it makes me feel good to think that my donation may be helping someone who is battling the disease.  Donating blood is such a simple gesture.  Nothing sexy about it - just straightforward, sit down and let the nurses do their thing.  Getting into a regular cadence of donation really adds up over the years.  Please consider donating if you are healthy and able.  It's an easy thing to not do.  Nobody will notice your absence from the blood drive.  But in my experience, choosing to do it is truly gratifying.

Sunday Supper
This week’s Sunday Supper suggestions all come from Serious Eats, a site that I truly love and respect.  Their recipes often require a little more time and effort, but always deliver great outcomes.  Here are four great Spring ideas, all of which could work together if you want to make a big multi-course Sunday meal.  Let’s start with a cocktail - this Mezcal Negroni w/ Grapefruit looks delicious.  For first course, this Spring Vegetable and Arugula Salad w/ Labne looks wonderful.  For pasta course this Creamy Orecchiette w/ Spring Onions, Fennel and Bacon would be amazing.  Lastly, this Peruvian-style Grilled Chicken w/ Green Sauce is a wonderful protein option. Mix or match them as you see fit.  You can’t go wrong.

Sunday Music
The Spring rains remind me of the wonderful tune from Antonio Carlos Jobim, Aguas de Marco (Waters of March).  “Of the waters of March / It’s the promise of life / In your heart, in your heart”. This duet by Andrea and Angel is a wonderful rendition.  Jobim’s Desafinado was the composer’s beautiful response to his critics, who did not initially appreciated his harmonic ideas.  The lyric “Those who sing out of tune also have a heart” really resonates with me.  This performance of the song by Paola Hermosin has English subtitles which which is helpful in appreciating Jobim’s beautiful lyrics.  If you not seen this before, this performance of Jobim’s One Note Samba by Dean Martin and Caterina Valente is so fun.  Lastly, I share this performance by Pat Metheny of Jobim’s Insensatez (How Insensitive), a rendition which honors Jobim while letting Metheny’s unique sound shine through.  Enjoy!

Have a great week ahead!  Offer support to others.  Make good use of this day.  And let me know how I can help.

Big Cities

Spring really sprang this past week, didn’t it?  I spent six of the past eight days out of town, fortunately the weather was great in New York City and Washington DC as well.

We had the good fortune of reuniting with our former foreign exchange student in New York last weekend.  It was so, SO good to see her.  We dined at amazing restaurants, toured the Union Square Green Market, the Chelsea Flea market, walked the High Line, and had many laughs taking in the standup comedy at The Village Underground.  We flew over early Saturday, returning by dinner time Sunday.  The extra special surprise of the visit was just how good the pizza was at John’s of Bleeker Street, a pizzeria recommended by Tim Degenero of 7/10 Bakery (when your favorite baker suggests a pizza shop, you should really take note).  Thin, sturdy crust fired in a charcoal oven, topped with the most balanced tomato sauce I can ever recall.  A must-visit if you find yourself in Greenwich Village.

On Monday I drove to our nation’s capital, arriving just in time for dinner at Jose Andre’s Zatinya, followed by a night of Washington Capitals hockey (they hung three goals on the New York Islanders in the first period, controlling the game from beginning to end).  After our meetings on Tuesday, we were able to get out and walk around the National Mall and Tidal Basin, taking in the many wonderful monuments.  And on Wednesday we dined at Thatcher & Rye in Frederick, Maryland (it was great).  Before hitting the road for home on Thursday, our host took us to Glenstone, a museum in Potomac, Maryland that was really super nice.  It has a series of buildings laid out across a large property, with art installed in each building, and also outside, to take in as you walk from building to building.  I highly recommend a visit - tickets are free, but must be reserved in advance to ensure you can tour the grounds  on your preferred schedule (they manage the number of people who enter, to ensure a quality experience for all visitors).

It was a great, somewhat intense week of travel.  I got home just in time to have a nasty head cold bloom in my sinuses.  A fine trade, given how great the week otherwise was.  Hopefully I’ll shake this cold by Monday and hit the ground running.  There’s always so much to do.

Sunday Supper

This Slow Cooker BBQ Pork & Beans is a great thing to get cooking early today so that you can get some yard work done between the rain drops this Sunday:

Sunday Music
Before I share some music with you, I must share this video of comedian Chris Turner.  We saw him perform in New York City last weekend.  His closing bit was to freestyle rap about topics randomly suggested by the audience, and it was truly amazing.  

Also, I watched this documentary of Jason Isbell Friday night.  If you have HBOMax, I highly recommend it.

Finally, I share this concert performance by RAYE, a singer from England rising in popularity.  Enjoy!

Have a great week ahead!  Offer support to others.  Make good use of this day.  And let me know how I can help.