Seasonal Sundays (Week 23)

Welcome to Seasonal Sundays ...

Most years, the May long weekend symbolizes a celebratory start to summer. Few stop to acknowledge that n the United States, the last Monday in May is "Memorial Day" with purpose: remembrance of those who died in service to this country.

But so far in 2022, the U.S. has experienced more than TWO HUNDRED mass shootings, including the murders of TEN shoppers at a neighborhood grocery in Buffalo, New York and NINETEEN children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

Yes, I'm shouting. So is everyone I know. You too? Everyone you know, too?

The U.S. endures so many mass shootings (defined as four or more injuries or deaths) that most don't even make the national news. Who among us heard about the FIFTEEN mass shootings between Buffalo and Uvalde? Who among us can keep track when there are an average of NINE mass shootings in this country Every.Single.Week? [Source]

Since the news began coming in on Tuesday, I move between abject grief and burning fury and I feel/hear the same from everyone: overwhelming sadness, piercing anger.

Many of you, as well? ALL of us, as well?

And that's those of us (presumably?) who haven't directly lost children, siblings, mothers, aunts, grandparents, grandchildren, cousins, neighbors, students, playmates like those in Buffalo and Uvalde. My heart breaks for these parents, kids, children, grandparents, nieces and nephews, neighbors, school friends, parishioners.

Pity the poor campaigner who knocked on our door early Wednesday and sneered with disgust at what he called the "other side" when learning that I stand firm against his candidate who's 50% sanctimonious bully and 50% power-grubbing ambition.

You're damn right I'm on the other side. You're damn right he got an earful. You're damn right I sent him packing.

Before the news broke on Tuesday, I happened across some notes from when first diagnosed with breast cancer. The page titled "How I Deal" listed "lists" and "organizing" and "simplifying".

It worked then and with any luck it'll work now. I'm unplugging this weekend to make lists and organize and simplify and hope that you, too, are finding your own way to cope through this our enormous collective tragedy.

So no recipes today: there's just no nattering on about recipes and blah blah when the images of TEN grocery shoppers and NINETEEN children and TWO teachers remain parked inside my head.

I intend to be back next Sunday ... although the prospect of NINE more shootings between now and then can't help but give pause.

Let me close with Amanda Gorman, the young poet whose word dancing is unparalleled.

Hymn for the Hurting

by Amanda Gorman (Facebook and TheAmandaGorman.com)

Everything hurts,
Our hearts shadowed and strange,
Minds made muddied and mute.
We carry tragedy, terrifying and true.
And yet none of it is new;
We knew it as home,
As horror,
As heritage.
Even our children
Cannot be children,
Cannot be.

Everything hurts.
It's a hard time to be alive,
And even harder to stay that way.
We're burdened to live out these days,
blessed to outlive them.

This alarm is how we know
We must be altered ––
That we must differ or die,
That we must triumph or try.
Thus while hate cannot be terminated,
It can be transformed
Into a love that lets us live.

May we not just grieve, but give;
May we not just ache, but act;
May our signed right to bear arms
Never blind our sight from shared harm;
May we choose our children over chaos.
May another innocent never be lost. *

Maybe everything hurts,
Our hearts shadowed & strange.
But only when everything hurts
May everything change.

* my emphasis

About the Photo By Popular Request, a Little Insight into the Top Image: Flags at half staff (note, not at half "mast" as that's for ships), sent through the Prisma app. The app's selected colors strike me as true, representing the 80% of Americans who support reasoned gun control threatened by the maw of an amorphous cloud hovering above, an entrenched minority who refuse responsibility, deflect open debate and foment lies and conspiracies.

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Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Quick Suppers are Kitchen Parade favorites and feature recipes easy on the budget, the clock, the waistline and the dishwasher. Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail via recipes@kitchen-parade.com. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. When you make my recipes, I'd love to know your results! Just leave a comment below or better still, on the specific recipe's page.

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