Daily Connector | Making yogurt again | Sarah Werner
Back in late March I was bemoaning on Facebook the constant lack of unflavored yogurt at the grocery store. Yogurt, plain, is a staple of my diet since I have it for breakfast every morning, and I was feeling disoriented enough with everything else. I didn’t want to lose yogurt too. Jenny Campagna gently suggested that I just make my own in the Instant Pot. This has been a long-term goal, to make my own yogurt, for a few years in order to cut down on my plastic waste, but I always drug my feet about it. It’s hard to do new things, but since I didn’t have any other options, I gave it a try. And it was amazing! It’s actually really easy and tastes delicious, much better than store-bought. The lack of plastic waste also felt delicious. I went even further and started making my own granola—rolled oats,
Props, Presence, and Prayer
Like many of you, I have been doing a lot of listening these last few days, wary of adding my own voice in any way that would de-center the voices of Black people or other people of color. I have sat uncomfortably with the anger, sadness, grief, and terror that I have heard and seen, not allowing myself to move on too quickly or be too easily soothed by the occasional feel-good image that rolls past. We need to let ourselves feel deeply. We need to resist saying “peace, peace” when the reality for so many of us and our neighbors is far from peace. Yet while those of us who are White need to listen and learn, we also need to take seriously the mandate “White silence = violence.” Our silence is good when it allows us to hear the voices that need to be heard, but this does
Daily Connector | To build a new life | Kayla Fuller
Coronavirus Double pneumonia On vent for 20 days Femoral artery blew At least 6 units of blood Hemoglobin and blood pressure tanked In hospital for a month and a half Huge wound to pack and heal. Delusions really scary and confusing. No voice Asthma kicked up Glasses lost, adding to disorientation. Shots, needles pic line, feeding tube, blood sugar monitored, high protein diet now for wound healing. Changing packing hurts and stings. Smell of bleach, lots of tears, but has to be done to heal. Who survives that? I guess, me. Why? Prayers. Being there for Dakota and Jori. Chris. Life will always be different now. I see pictures of people who have died. Many younger and healthier looking than me. Why didn’t they make it? May or may not walk again. May or may not work again. Definitely have some serious PTSD. Don’t know what other damage, physically or
Daily Connector | A slice of life | Larry Less
Being a member of CMC for just about 3 years now, I have really enjoyed reading the stories that everyone has been sharing on the ‘Daily Connector.’ I have felt like I have gotten to know many of you so much better and in a more intimate way than is typical. My previous ‘Connector’ entry was in mid-March as the stay-at-home orders and the global pandemic was beginning to hit home. We had been self-quarantining then after my wife Sally got back from a trip visiting her sister in South Carolina. I mentioned puzzles and am happy to report that the 1,000 piece Italian street scene has been completed. After several hit-and-misses on the grocery delivery, I have felt more comfortable going out about every week and a half armed with my mask and gloves to do my own shopping at the larger Kroger store when it is more sparsely
Daily Connector | Because of love | Elizabeth Speidel
This picture is of a piece of art that has always moved me. It is a statue commissioned by Henry Adams for his wife Clover’s grave. Augustus St. Gaudens created it. I recently learned that Adams advised Saint-Gaudens to contemplate iconic images from Buddhist devotional art. One such subject, Guan Yin, the Bodhisattva of compassion, is frequently depicted as a seated figure draped in cloth. Compassion, as the Dali Lama explains is “not passive — it’s not empathy alone — but rather an empathetic altruism that actively strives to free others from suffering. Genuine compassion must have both wisdom and lovingkindness.” I am writing this on Sunday after listening to this week’s sermon on grief, after seeing the New York Times front page listing the names of those who have died from covid-19, and preparing for a conference call led by #naming the loss, which earlier this week had an
