Election 2016: Before We Were Trump/Bernie/Hillary Supporters We Were Someone's Child

 

"Before you were a guerrilla, you were my son."

Before you or I were a Hillary, Bernie, Trump or Cruz supporter we were someone's child.  Then we had a bunch of life experiences that brought us to this point where the RIGHT thing for ourselves and our country was to choose the candidate we are supporting.

No one I know wants to harm this country.  Everyone thinks their candidate will be the best president for them personally and for our country.  We are all the same.  We are right and we want to win.

Jose Miguel Sokoloff is an ad guy who did a series of pro bono campaigns for the Colombian government to encourage guerrilla soldiers to stop fighting, stop terrorizing their beloved country. When someone on Sokoloff's team discovered that the time of highest demobilization is Christmas, they realized they had a way into the guerilla hearts.  They rapped 75' tall jungle trees with Christmas lights with a message to go home for Christmas. (Check out Solokoff's Ted Talk "How Christmas Lights Helped Guerrillas Put Down their Guns")

In one of his final ad campaigns -- which, all told, effectively helped demobilize 1000's of guerrilla forces -- Sokoloff plastered the country with posters featuring childhood photos of the soldiers emblazoned with these words from their mothers "Before you were a guerilla, you were my son [daughter]." Beneath that, a simple call to lay down arms and go home.

 

Sokoloff recounted on NPR's This American Life Episode: The Poetry of Propoganda how he was acutely aware that he too was in a war of sorts.  Before the Christmas light campaign, each "attack" from him would prompt a counter-attack by the guerrillas marketing the opposite message to their soldiers.  Sokoloff saw these counter-attacks as just and right, part of the virtual tennis game that is war, back and forth until someone wins.  

Sokoloff was playing one of those exquisite games of marketing tennis. It was literally beautiful, visually stunning and compelling like truly great tennis match.   Magical lights illuminating the dangerous jungle, Christmas lights and glowing spheres carrying messages or gifts floating down the rivers that were the guerrilla highways.   While the Election 2016 tennis game might not be as exquisite, it's still just a game between people who think they are more right than the others.

I was on a "This American Life" podcast binge this week and everything seemed to be chipping away at my own resolve about being more right, which is what I tend to think of myself as during this presidential election season.  This American Life Episode: I Thought I Knew You episode from December features the story of evangelical Christian radio host Tony Beam who was shocked to find out that many of his listeners were Trump supporters.  He was certain, though, that Trump would lose their vote after he said he would ban all Muslims coming to America.  Beam was shocked that many, including one of his most engaged listeners, Barry, remained a passionate Trump supporter in spite of the religious attack. 

The NPR reporter met with Barry and we got to see the man behind the bluster, like pulling the curtain back to reveal the Wizard of Oz.   She called him out for being a bit of a contrarian everywhere in his life.  He paused and his voice changed a bit, making him sound almost vulnerable as if he had been "seen."  I flashed on him as a little boy and wondered if perhaps something happened in one pivotal moment that made him need to fight against the world. 

Barry is a man who really loves this tennis game of Right v. Wrong, Left v. Right, etc.  As much as I disagree with him, as much as I find some of my candidate's opponents unsavory, as much as I think the guerrillas are absolutely wrong, I have to admit that where I stand is just as much right as Barry or anyone else.  I had pivotal moments as a kid that made me grow up to be my own version of right.

I can be grateful, though, that it's just a bunch of bluster, all of us fighting hard, and sometimes dirty, with words to prove we are right.  Depending on our history, the words either hit us in the heart in the right way or the wrong way, and we react emotionally.  And then we vote.

At least we have what Sokoloff longs for in his own country: people arguing passionately with words instead of bullets. 

The two words I contemplate this election season will be 1) RIGHT, and my insistence on being so ALL THE F'ING TIME and 2) GENEROUS (not a natural instinct when I am inflamed) with my also-right-opponent.  As high ranking Colombian army Captain Juan Manuel Valdez said to Sokoloff when giving support for the Christmas light project: "Being generous makes me stronger, makes my men stronger."

I am hoping to be much, much stronger by election day.  We'll see...

A Superhero Mantra to Get Through this Election: With Malice Toward None

It's not easy to be a superhero this election season, but I'm now armed with slightly more loving heart thanks to my imaginary lover, Abe Lincoln.

The picture above was taken at the Huntington Library & Gardens tonight, just before my friend Leanne and I went in to hear Lincoln scholar and historian, Ronald C. White, Jr. speak about the almighty "other" speech of Lincoln's. 

I have spent a good deal of time with the Second Inaugural Address as every time I'm in D.C., without fail, I visit my dear Abe at his Memorial (where I always, without fail, valiantly fight the urge to climb into his lap).  Now, thanks to Mr. White I understand this brilliant sermon-clothed-in-an-inaugural-address far better.  Lincoln thought it was his greatest work.  Frederick Douglas thought so too.  Now I have seen the light and recognize the fortuitous bit of timely wisdom I need to get through this election season.

Such a delicate assignment to give this address as the war came to a close.  Cheers would have erupted if he had celebrated the North's victory or shamed the South's attempt to tear apart the country.  But he did nothing of the sort.  In 701 words he did everything in his power to bring the country together in peace, mourning the gravity of everyone's losses, and praised the country for moving toward ending of "one of those offenses...that God wills to remove."

Only fifty four days after this speech was uttered, Lincoln was assassinated.  People marked their mourning status with silk badges with what is now my new mantra, these four words plucked from his final speech:

with malice toward none

I'm not saying the rest of this road to election day will be easy or judgment-free but I'm going to cling to this mantra like a vine in the jungle.

Lincoln's lovely tap on the shoulder comes synchronistically only days after having my very first conversation with a Trump supporter.  I had been wondering if anyone in my immediate orbit was a supporter.  I was hoping I could speak to someone sane about what they saw in him.  I wished it wouldn't be a stranger, but frankly didn't want it to be anyone too close either, for fear their reasons might put a wedge between us forever.

On Monday I went to dinner with a fairly new friend, and I thought he was joking when he first mentioned he was a supporter.  He keeps it tucked away delicately, like a pocket square accidentally shoved just out of sight. 

We ended up having a very long, extremely peaceful discussion.  It was hard to hear many of his points, his defense of what I consider incendiary rhetoric.  At one point I felt like crying.  It broke my heart to hear that he thought Obama was a bad president. But I also really got that just like everything in life, our life experiences give us lenses through which we see the world.  The sum total of my life experience makes me adore Obama and Hillary.  The sum total of my friend's life and his daily experiences in his profession give him a very different perspective.

Yet, in the end, as we talked through all that we each wish and hope for the country,

I realized he and I were much closer than we appeared in that teeny tiny mirror called politics.  We just have different ideas of the right way to get there.  Wounds need binding.  Things need fixing.  Peace needs nurturing. 

 

My man Abe could be calmly reading these words from the Capitol stairs today:

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

 

 

Ron White said a woman he met recently at an event said she was going to write in Abe Lincoln on the ballot.  I think if we work on living with malice toward none it might clear the way for us to all make the most perfect choice for ourselves and our country.

Wintry Vegetarian Lunch with Springy Colors

It's been chilly in Los Angeles these last several weeks but this weekend we had some magical mid-day warmth which meant I could serve lunch on the patio for my very special guest, Adelaide.  It put me in a spring-y mood!

Was inspired by the fruits and vegetables I found plus my own cravings.  The avocados and raspberries were particularly wonderful so they started and ended the meal to be properly celebrated.  

Here's the menu put on my refrigerator so I didn't forget any of the elements at the last minute:

I started my year off with a five day Ayurvedic cleanse which entails eating pretty much only lentils, rice and some veggies, but instead of getting sick of these items I find myself addicted to them.  I love roasted veggies of all kinds and have made a million different roasted cauliflowers but I particularly love this one (from Food & Wine, of course -- Spicy Roasted Cauliflower), served over perfect Basmati Rice and Green Lentils (I just added a bit of cumin, turmeric and salt to them).   I didn't have time to swing by the store for cilantro and mint which would have taken the cauliflower up a notch but flat parsley did the cooling trick in a pinch.  Also, 2 teaspoons of red pepper flakes that the recipe calls for was too much for my guest. Perfect for me, but if you have a guest who doesn't like spicy, you should probably only do 1 teaspoon.  Also, I added the juice of an entire large lime over the entire dish for a little cooling as well.

Let's talk for a quick sec about rice.  I have had a history of screwing up rice, but this recipe is an absolute no fail at making exquisite perfectly textured rice. It's super duper easy.  Follow it exactly as it is written (scroll way down for the actual recipe). Guaranteed: Perfect Basmati Rice 

Found a new Roasted Squash Soup recipe from a new blog I discovered when searching for new squash soup recipes so wanted to give it a go and loved it.  Roasted Butternut Squash Soup.  How can you not love a blog called COOKIE & Kate? Kate is the chef and Cookie is her faithful dog who licks up kitchen debris.  This soup is lovely and quite easy. I will say it was a bit too sweet for me, but I'm very odd about sweetness of soups.  So I added the juice of one very large lime to it AND added one more little squeeze upon serving.  Don't do that unless you taste it first and happen to share my taste bud affliction.

This is how it looked on the plate when I served the salad and the Cauliflower/Lentil/Rice mixture.  This shot doesn't do it justice and I forgot to take a picture of the salad before I served it. It was gorgeous with all those colors!  Dark green, light green, white, deep red, deep orange, etc. 

Recipes for the other things I made, i.e., no link provided above:

• First Course -- Slice heirloom tomato and ripe avocado.  Sprinkle with good dose of lime juice a teensy bit (avocadoes give plenty of fat -- it's for the tomatoes) of extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkle of Maldon salt -- or some other delicious salt.
• Salad -- Arugula, butter lettuce, roasted squash (roasted in olive oil, salt -- and rosemary, if you have it, or whatever spice beckons you), pomegranate seeds, toasted pumpkin seeds, toasted almonds.  Dressing is just lemon or lime juice (i did a combo for this), olive oil and good salt.
• Dessert -- Good vanilla ice cream, homemade caramel sauce (will post this later in the week), fresh raspberries, toasted pecans.  Side of cookies.

All of these recipes are super duper easy.  Seriously no joke easy-peasy.  I need to post this over on the Lazy Woman blog because they are LAZY recipes but if you want to be superhero entertainer they come in handy too!  

So Buon Lazy Superhero Appetito to all!

Superheroes Fight Superbugs

My friend Gina recently told me the story of taking a Christmas cruise and being the only one in her party of 20 that did not succumb to the flu spreading through the ship. She took regular doses of Boiron Oscillococcinum Homeopathic Flu Medicine and drank Airborne instead of champagne at all her meals. This magical combo consistently has kept her healthy through flu seasons for years.

I had to confess that while both of those remedies used to work for me, they no longer do.   It appears that I get the flu once a year around this time of year. I'll never forget moving last year while hacking and running a fever.  Good times.

Well now I have something that will forever be on hand, particularly since it is most effective when taken at the onset of symptoms: Host Defense My Community

On New Year's Day when I umped onto my big bed with two friends who had spent the night on New Year's Eve and we were laughing hysterically, I suddenly got a sharp pain in my throat. That doesn't seem right, does it?  Sickness arrived at the peak of my joy!

It got worse over the course of the next couple days and started to move into my lungs on Sunday.  Luckily I had a conversation with a friend who is a doctor who commanded me to go out and get Host Defense My Community and start it right away.  I dutifully followed his orders as I was about to start my work week and couldn't afford to be sick. It immediately stopped the progress and as of 72 hours later my symptoms are gone.

I get that isn't a miraculous story, although it should be noted that this thing that's going around is taking people out for several days to 2 or 3 weeks, so I feel profoundly lucky. The miracle is that my friend started getting symptoms yesterday afternoon. I insisted she go out immediately and get it.  She was completely symptom free after taking a dose and having a good night's rest.  

So if you catch it late, give this a shot. As the doctor said, "It will at least shorten the duration of the illness."  And it absolutely did for me.

If you aren't sick and you like to have things like this on hand -- as every Superhero should -- in the event that a dose of cold & flu kryptonite tries to grab you by the throat and lung, get some of this.  My friend and I got ours at Whole Foods but you can get it many places online as well.

Here's to flying high all winter with healthy bodies and hearts!

Silver Palate's Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins: Culinary Superheroes

 

The Silver Palate (@Silver_Palate of silverpalate.com) just liked my tweet about my Orange Oatmeal and I almost had a heart attack I was so excited.  They will never know, but they made my day, month and possibly year with that favorite.  Their website carries on the legacy of Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins and the beloved, stunning cookbooks born of their catering business in New York City in the early 80's.  To this day I use their tried and true recipes and experiment with new ones all the time.  They inspired me to be the most creative cook I could be.

When I moved to NYC for acting school in the 80's someone told me there was an opening at the Silver Palate, and that it was only a few blocks away from where I lived on the upper west side.  I had been in awe of Julee, Sheila and their cookbook since it came out in 1982.  They could do no wrong, and they made me look like a far better cook than I was when I followed their recipes.  To this day, I still make my all time favorites like their Thanksgiving Potatoes several times a year.  (There is actually half a batch in the freezer at this moment, as a test to see if it actually works to freeze them and bring them back to life in the oven weeks later...we shall see!)

I applied for the job, certain I wouldn't get it.  Being anywhere near them was going to be worth the rejection.  Shockingly, I passed the interview process and was asked to join them in the kitchen for 1/2 a day. What? A professional kitchen!  No way!

I was actually so shell-shocked by the opportunity that the only thing I remember, other than how fun the kitchen chit-chat was over the course of the afternoon -- is being humiliated when someone lovingly showed me there was a better way to julienne a bell pepper.  I am sure I turned as bright a red as that damn pepper.  I'm also sure I didn't do anything right that day, but since they had no judgment of my mistakes it soon became clear that the "audition" was all about personalities, not skills.  Thank God!

At the end of the shift, one of them -- yes I know it's unbelievably crazy that I don't remember which one - almost positive it was Sheila but they were both merged into one for me, possibly because when I was with them I had the experience of only seeing big balls of blinding light.  So, one Ball of Light took me out to the front steps of the store front, sat me down and I expected her to sweetly say that I hadn't passed muster because I was such a moron and needed to be shown even the most basic skills.  Instead she said they were delighted to offer me a full time job.

I burst into tears, not the pretty happy tears, the ugly cry tears. The Ball of Light didn't really know what to do with this reaction.  She had been under the assumption that I would be ecstatic!  I explained I hadn't known it was a full time gig, that I would be in acting school full time and couldn't do a full time job.  She somehow got past my overreaction and asked me to think about it, pointing out  -- as I already knew of course -- that it was the chance of a lifetime.  She didn't do it in a self-aggrandizing way.  She did it to honor me, a young thing just out of college, who loved to cook their recipes. 

I did think about it overnight and knew which passion was winning this battle, but the walk over to the storefront was excruciating.  I wanted to have my Silver Palate cake and eat it too.  Whichever Ball of Light I spoke to was very lovely about my choice and I walked away wondering if I had made the right choice but knowing that I would have a long history with Silver Palate dishes, just not in their beautiful kitchen.

I just found out -- in my post-twitter-elation-googlefest-- that Sheila truly is a Ball of Light as far as I'm concerned.  She died in 2009.  I didn't even hear about it.   I would have wanted to give her spirit a hug from afar when she passed.  But I suppose I hug her every time I make one of her amazing recipes. She rocked my world, and she inspired me to make the dinner parties that fill my soul to this day.

One little tweet...and all this.

Orange Oatmeal for Wintry Mornings

 I got inspired by my Italian mandarin-infused honey when I started to add it to my oatmeal over the weekend...Wait! ORANGE OATMEAL?!  Oh yes... Oh yum...

 

 

I love mixing tart and sweet. This is my new favorite way to make oatmeal for these cold mornings where I can't have a cold smoothie first thing. 

 

Oatmeal + Orange Zest (more than you think but do it to taste) + One Whole (peeled, of course, post-zesting) Orange Chopped Up.  I added a little of my Orange Honey + a little Maple Syrup + MY NEW FAVORITE ALMOND MILK + toasted nuts (if you like nuts in your oatmeal -- I used almonds, pecans and sprouted pumpkin seeds). 

 

Califia has been my go to Almond Milk of choice for a couple years now. I always get the Unsweetened Original but oh my god you've got to be kidding me!  If you like Almond Milk, run, do not walk, to get this Califia Toasted Coconut Almond Milk (a lovely toasty fusion of Coconut and Almond Milk).  It is seriously delicious in coffee too.



 



Catch the Wave, Moms! Catch the Wave, Dads! Girl Power: You Are Enough

This is a call to action to jump into this Superhero ocean.  Jen Pastiloff is a Superhero of Love, for sure.  Even when stripped down to just her yoga clothes, you can see her tucked-in cape peeking out.  After class she lets it loose to fly off to her next heart-opening adventure.  

Now she is turning her attention to girls.  Her superhero laser beam is focused on having them realize they are enough just as they are right now.  That's a passion near and dear to my heart as it is the core theme of the book I am completing "Superhero of Love: Heal Your Broken Heart and then Go Save the World."  We are perfect exactly as we are and exactly as we are not.  

We all need to get that mighty heart lesson, and Jen lives, breathes and teaches that every day.  Most thrilling of all is she is about to launch the rocket that will carry this teaching to the hearts and minds of hundreds of girls.  They will get it.  Can you imagine truly imbibing this lesson as a teen?!  What a gift!

Yes, there is a lot of great work being done with girls trying to undo the societal pressures to fit into the Kardashian molds, but man oh man, let's support this woman who is going to do it on a holistic and holy level. 

Follow Jen on Twitter and Facebook.  Help spread the word.  Every mom and dad should at least open the window to having their daughter be a part of this.  Every mom and dad will hopefully want to be a part of this!