Honorable Mention and Fried Tofu Sandwich

I made the most mouth-watering sandwich not too long ago, featuring--I kid you not--TOFU. No matter how enthusiastic I am about cutting down on meat consumption for the sake of the environment, I am not usually one to throw around terms like "mouth-watering" in connection with tofu. But even though I deprived it of some naughty deliciousness by pan-frying it instead of deep-frying it, I found this sandwich nonetheless exceptional: "Superiority Burger’s Crispy Fried Tofu Sandwich" (NYT Cooking; subscription required).

Serving it, I held my breath: would my small backup dancer declare it too spicy? She did not, because it really wasn't spicy. I loved the sandwich more than the others, but all were pleased to some degree. I highly recommend brioche buns for this sandwich, and all sandwiches, for that matter.

The new school year is looming, when my backup dancer will be entering third grade. I have been largely despairing these last few weeks with the approach of the moment when we parents must decide how to proceed. There are inevitably no good options. Because of the despair, and compounding it, I have grown weary of trying to talk my backup dancer into the various activities I had dreamed up for Camp Corona At Aylward Manor. Now she ranges aimlessly around the house most of the day, while I take advantage of the solitude to mope and accomplish absolutely nothing.

But this Thursday!!!! The most amazing thing happened!!!! A Facebook post pointed me to a list of winners of a short story contest I had entered, and wonder of wonders, MY NAME was on that list, as an honorable mention!

I wrote that story last year, in the Before Times. The contest opened on March 1, 2020 and I submitted my entry on March 11. I remember preparing the story for submission during that week, when it was increasingly obvious that we were all in deep, deep trouble. We must carry on, I remember thinking. I was also making an effort to cross things off my to-do list while my backup dancer was still in school, because it seemed quite likely that a school closure announcement was coming, though I'd never have believed that the closure would be extended through the end of the school year.

I started writing spectacularly awful fiction some 15 years ago when I discovered National Novel Writing Month. The Washington Post chronicled how seriously I took that endeavor (I was Jennie Quick in those days, and no, that wasn't a pen name, and you should know that Washington DC ended up edging out Finland that year in the word count). I enjoyed writing, but nothing beat the thrill of going to parties and telling people I was working on a novel.

After writing three terrible NaNoWriMo novels and failing to finish a fourth, my writing languished for a few years, until the day after Christmas in 2017. I woke up with an impulse to write a short story, so I did. I then joined a very helpful local group of fiction writers, who read and offer feedback to each other's work. Thanks to them, and to committing myself to pursuing this, I've improved, it seems! 

Pretty much everything is hard during our current dark times, even for those of us who are fortunate enough not to have lost our jobs or gotten ill or lost people we care about. It can be hard to find the motivation to do anything: plan meals and cook; maintain environmental activism; give my backup dancer alternatives to the iPad; be serious about writing.

(The New Yorker)

That honorable mention just made me so proud and happy, and we all need pride and happiness right now, more than ever. I wish these feelings for everyone. Do what makes you happy and share it with others, from a safe distance.