Meatless March

If you had told my two-years-ago self that COVID would still be a thing prompting angst today, I'd probably have wilted and become catatonic, so thanks for not telling me.  Remember April 2020, when even the trees wore masks? Rest assured I'm shortly going to tell you about a vegetarian recipe--presumably that's why you're here--but I thought it would be interesting to record the peculiarities of my 2022 COVID angst, perhaps for the amusement of my two-years-from-now self.  For me, the 2022 angst comes from two concerns: The optimal window for getting COVID : I haven't had COVID, as far as I know. But it is everywhere right now. I know several people who currently have it or are recovering, and cases are ticking upward in our school district. Careful though I still am (I was literally the only person wearing a mask at a dance party last weekend, for example), I am sure I won't dodge it forever, and I am counting on my vaccination and booster to help me make a s...

It's Earth Day tomorrow! Let it be an occasion to (re-)commit to reducing your environmental footprint with your food choices, and urging others to do the same.  That message is even more powerful coming from the kids who will someday inherit the ecological legacy of our choices today. Be inspired by the student council officers at my backup dancer's elementary school, who starred in this new video that I helped put together for Earth Day: I recently read a New Yorker article about the youth-led environmental Sunrise Movement, and one piece of the article nagged at me. The author described a Sunrise Movement member's hesitance about ordering a meat dish, only to be reassured by other members that "The biggest driver of emissions is the political power of the fossil-fuel industry, not individual behavior," leading the author to conclude, "if you want the beef, get the beef." I don't question that the fossil fuel industry has plenty of political power...