Recently, I was in DC to pick up my daughter from her freshman year at George Washington University. It’s difficult enough to escape politics on an ordinary day, but given that GW’s campus is a mere three blocks from the White House, it was obviously impossible to do so when I set out for a morning run near the Ellipse. Some might say it was juvenile to snap a pic of my own hand flipping the White House the bird, but it felt pretty damn good. In Jersey parlance, fuck that guy, and I will take every opportunity I can to raise a digit to him.
I had enough mental fuel to power me down Pennsylvania Avenue because I’ve been cheating on my media diet lately. Not dramatically, but I’m scrolling more often than is probably healthy and I allow myself a political podcast now and again. I’m also spending an inordinate amount of time dragging my horrible Congressional rep Mike Lawler by leaving snarky comments on his social media posts. (He deserves it, and it’s endlessly amusing to see how he is ratioed to death on every post.) But while running that morning, I reflected on how I’ve been able to put the time I used to spend consuming political news toward doing things that that fulfill me and make me happy.
Some of those things are cooking, entertaining, and otherwise experimenting with food, and I’ve had an idea for a related project that I was finally able to kick into gear this year, thanks in large part to my newfound free time (“free time” = improved mental state haha). It’s a Substack community called The Big Meal, and I’m actually launching it today with my first post! My goal with The Big Meal is to share my love of cooking and gathering friends and fam together to eat; I also want to help anyone who is intimidated or overwhelmed by the idea of making food for a crowd to feel more confident in the kitchen and to find joy in cooking for others. I plan to share recipes, cooking tips, entertaining ideas, and other stuff on a weekly basis, and for now I’m not charging a subscription fee, so if you’re looking for ways to replace the time you would normally spend doomscrolling or if you need a distraction from our political hellscape, please sign up. It will be fun.
In the meantime, since the fuckery on the part of the right shows no sign of abating, I plan to post here more frequently. I’ve struggled with what form this will take, as I don’t feel very good about directing people to donate money to political candidates these days. But just being able to put pen to paper, metaphorically speaking, about what is happening—and specifically, what is happening to women—in this era is a gift and I’m grateful to be able to do it. I’d love to hear from anyone about what they’d like to see in this space, so please drop me a line with any thoughts.
Until next time, be fierce and continue to throw those mental punches at the douchebags who deserve them.
