August 18, 2023
So, I got lost in the summer doldrums.
After our awesome Cocktails & Civil Rights event (more on that to come, just not here), I was completely zapped of energy. As any person who hosts Thanksgiving can tell you, events are exhausting. But it was more than that - I was just tired.
So many people I chatted with over the past month – from my neighbor who’s a fitness instructor to artist entrepreneurs – expressed the same thing. Pure and inescapable EXHAUSTION. With the heat. With the world and its politics. With where we each are in life. People are just feeling uninspired and unmotivated.
There are a lot of ways to get out of a slump. Journaling. Trying a new recipe. Reaching out to friends. But what I needed was more inspiration.
I didn’t need to create more.
I needed to take in the world.
Since it’s not just me struggling with burnout and the doldrums, I wanted to try this new thing for the Museum of Food and Culture where I share a few of my favorite inspiring and interesting food, history and culture things each week.
This is just something I’m trying out for the next month or so — if you find it helpful (or not), please let me know by rating this email below.
Here are a few things that sparked my curiosity and inspired me this week:
📚 Loved this interview with James McBride where he talks about resilience with art and how he gets his inspiration for writing. McBride’s new book, The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, takes place in a historically Black and immigrant Jewish neighborhood in Pennsylvania and explores what inclusive community means. (I have this on hold and can’t wait to read it!)
🎙️ Listening to Black American Magirology (a podcast episode) with Dr. Psyche Williams-Forson and thinking about food, gender and power, and eating while Black.
☕ Moments of community like this one shared by Priya Parker. Amazing how coffeeshops can become our Third Places (where we go to find community) even while we are working and just living in our own worlds.
🍳 Taking a step inside the world’s largest community kitchen, which serves 100,000 people per day FOR FREE!
🏳️🌈 Reading this blog post from GastroObscura celebrating LGBTQ+ trailblazers, including some of the folks and spaces we talked about in our exhibit. Not just creating safe spaces, but spaces for joy and activism!
This whole thing is inspired by Austin Kleon, the amazing author of Steal Like an Artist and Show York Work. Basically he’s the coolest person to follow as a creative or and I highly recommend signing up for his weekly newsletter.
Basically, I need to remember to follow my own advice and:
Stay curious, stay inspired!
Rachel
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