May has always been a special month in my life. For me, it's always been a time of celebrating––birthdays in my family, graduations, anniversaries––and this year, spring itself felt like a celebration, unbelievably beautiful in the daily changes of emerging life. With the school year drawing to a close and the calendar year nearly half over, May offers opportunities for reflection as well. They are not as fun as the celebrations, but they are, I believe, more necessary.
We come to the end of the month having experienced profound corporate losses. Some of those losses are of temporal things, but the ones we ought to mourn are those of eternal souls––precious individuals made in the image of God who are dead as a result of the pandemic and the violent injustice that has been a part of American society for longer than many of us would like to admit. It is right and good for us to grieve these losses.
"What a time to be alive," my husband commented this afternoon.
"I don't like it," I said. And I don't––everything seems so horribly sad and wrong in this world. Yet I continually return to the truth that all will be well in the world to come. Justice will be served. Unity will be achieved. Death itself will die. Until that happens, we are called to love God and our neighbor, particularly those neighbors who are in need.
In a world that has become increasingly strange and scary for many of us in 2020, we can often feel lost, as though we don't know what to do. We do not want to ignore or minimize suffering, nor do we want to wallow in it. Amidst such times, it is healthy to participate in small everyday tasks that bring us joy. For me, as you know, those tasks include making food for the people I love, reading great books, and taking the time to write. This is how I did that in the month of May.
What I Read
Teaching with Love and Logic, Jim Fay and David Funk (★★★★★)
Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling, Andy Crouch (★★★★★)
Lila, Marilynne Robinson (★★)
If you want to hear the rationale behind my rating, head to my Goodreads for full reviews.
What I Cooked
My mom used to make a chicken broccoli casserole when I was growing up, despite the criticisms of my brothers and me. Although I believe eventually we all came to grudgingly accept it, it hasn't been one of those recipes I've carried with me into my own kitchen. This broccoli and rice casserole, however, is one I can definitely see becoming a go-to. It's simple yet hearty, and it doesn't have any weird ingredients in it (cream of chicken soup, I'm looking at you). I do think it was a touch fussy (anything that involves 3 separate pans automatically loses a few points in my book), but worth the effort of cleaning up after it.
The men in my life (specifically, my husband and brother) inform me that this doesn't count as a salad because it's just corn. Be that as it may, it was so good that I made it twice this month, once to accompany my mom's birthday enchiladas and once to go with shrimp tacos for the two of us. Pro tip: use chipotle chili powder for a smoky touch of spiciness.
I love a good one-pan meal, and this seemed like an exciting new one to try. I was afraid it would be too spicy, but actually, the flavor was quite mild for something with 4 jalapeños in it. If I make it again (which I probably will), I will add cayenne pepper and paprika to give it more of a kick. It didn't reheat super well, so it's best for a meal where you're serving enough people to not have a lot of leftovers.
Sheet pan dinners are among my favorite because they're stupidly easy and almost always delicious. I subbed boneless skinless chicken thighs for the chicken breasts and served it over polenta. Would do again.
This recipe happened to pop up on my Instagram feed a few days before our family Memorial Day picnic, so I decided to give it a try. It went over really well with my family, and I was tremendously impressed with how incredibly fluffy and light the cake was. If I were to make it again, however, I would change a few things. First, I would chop up 1/3 to 1/2 of the strawberries and fold them into the batter so they were incorporated throughout instead of being piled on top. Second, I would add some lemon zest to the sugar sprinkled over the strawberries, a move which would give the cake a bit more zing to counter its sweetness. I also think that subbing the strawberries for fresh cherries and adding some almond extract would be a delicious variation.
What I Created
Unpublished original poem "Distance"
Article "Dear Coronabride"
"This I Will Remember" essay for the A Time Remembered essay contest sponsored by my favorite local bookstore (the contest is open until June 15, so make a submission if you can!)
Blackout poem "Leaving the Porch Light On"
June is going to be a busy month for us. I've returned to work in a limited capacity, taken on a temporary position as a writer and editor for my alma mater, and started summer classes, and I'll have all of those things going on this month as we move into a new apartment (more on that to come). No matter how busy I get, though, I want to continue making space for weeping with those who mourn and reflecting on how I can make my corner of the world a place where people feel loved and valued.