It was time for a puzzle. Time to listen to dharma talks, wise and compassionate podcasts, and good music, and spend a few hours a day immersed in a Liberty puzzle. Liberty… Let that word sink in. It’s been a hell of a week in US government, and there are plenty of intelligent analysts writing about it, so I won’t dwell on the politics of the trumpscape: though I am reminded of my grueling nightmare after his first inauguration and my sense now is that we’re not even halfway through the violence of that dream. My conclusion remains the same: You might steal my nights, you bastard, but I won’t let you have my days.
So I recommit my days to teaching and learning mindful skills to alleviate suffering where I can and to strengthen my own courage and resilience. I spend some time each day nourishing myself with soul food which sometimes looks like a wooden jigsaw puzzle. This week’s puzzle feels especially appropriate in this mind-bending time-warp we find ourselves, with everyone except straight white males in America now targeted for oppression and worse by a politics of cruelty. It’s a painting from 1936 by Archibald John Motley, Jr., known for his joyous depictions of the early 20th century ‘Jazz Age’ and identified with the Harlem Renaissance which celebrated African American culture across the arts.
Some of my companions during this puzzle this week have been Sensei Koshin Paley Ellison and Sensei Chodo Robert Campbell of the New York Zen Center, Robert Hubbell of Today’s Edition on Substack, Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, D.C., Roshi Joan Halifax of the Upaya Zen Center, and father of western mindfulness Jon Kabat-Zinn. Earlier this evening I listened with dismay to Dr. Jeremy Faust and Dr. Atul Gawande in this 24-minute conversation about the unfathomable approach of the new regime to federal public health initiatives, including halting PEPFAR, the US program that has saved more than 21 million lives by providing HIV medications. The fallout from ending this program alone will kill many people in this country and around the world, never mind the death toll from stopping other global health initiatives with widespread benefits. Is that their goal?
I spent some quality time in the kitchen this week also, including making a retro-casserole called Mamaw’s chicken and rice. It couldn’t have been easier, and I wanted something simple and a lot so I could take most of it to an ailing neighbor. I used organic chicken but everything else was standard cuisine, including instant rice and three cans of Campbell’s cream of soups. So simple, pretty darn good. And I felt good about making and sharing it. More and more as these years grind forward we’ll be needing to take good care of one another in every way we can.
And my final culinary endeavor to wrap up a thoughtful Saturday is a lemon chess pie. I’m still not happy with the laminated pie crust I’ve been practicing with, and think next pie I’ll revert to my regular old short crust pastry. But the lemon custard inside? So simple, sooooo delicious!
