SPRING AT BEECHWOOD 2019

Our spring at Beechwood video for this year! Here are the videos from 2018 and 2017.

This year I recorded all videos on my phone and then put it together using the Splice app. I did miss some of the sharpness and effects of my DSLR camera, but it didn't outweigh the benefit and ease of being able to record of my phone at any moment, and editing on Splice is a breeze.

It's been quieter on the blog these days, and I have some things I want to catch up on and document here, but in the meanwhile, I've been posting frequently on instagram, jotting down notes and thoughts in a variety of other places, and having lots of good conversations over good food that get etched into my bones.

WHAT I'M READING V. 47

1. Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stephen

This had lovely writing and sucked me in deep to the cadence and story-telling spell that was woven through each of its pages.  It takes you through several decades of a couple's friendship with another couple, and it is poignant, beautiful, raw, and memorable. This is one that I might end up re-reading just so that I can be immersed in that world and language again. 


2. American Like Me by America Ferrara (audiobook)

This one is a compilation of personal essays by 31 different people! All well-known people of color who have had the experience of living between cultures. The essayists include people like America Ferrera (who compiled this book), Jenny Zhang, Padma Lakshmi, Randall Park, Lin Manuel Miranda, Bambadjab Bamba, Michelle Kwan, Kumail Nanjiani, Uzo Aduba, Jeremy Lin, Auli'i Cravalho, Reshma Saujani, Joy Cho, etc.  I found these to be interesting, heartening, and made me feel more known and less alone. Even though each person's experiences are so different, this kind of book points to how valuable these variety of voices are to being part of a community, to being American.  I especially enjoyed America Ferrera's introduction and her own essay, and it was great listening to this one, since many of the contributors read their own essays.

3. The Book of Unknown Americans by Christina Henriquez

It was really interesting reading this one at the same time as "American Like Me", except this was a work of fiction, telling the story of a family who came from Mexico to Delaware for their daughter who had an accident, to get her into a special school, despite the fact that it meant they had to leave their family and comfortable life, to one where they lived in near poverty and loneliness. This one switches narrators as well, so you get to hear the mom's voice, as well as the teenage daughter, the boy who develops a crush on the teenage daughter, and all their neighbors in the building they move into, who have different stories of struggle.  I still think about scenes in this book sometimes, especially the ones where they don't have enough food, and how intimate this story takes us into the lives of these people and remind us that we all experience the same kind of hope and despair. This book and "American Like Me" made me more aware of my own in-betweeness and made me glad and proud of the various cultures that make up this country.


4.  To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey (audiobook) 

This author wrote "Snow Child", which I had devoured a few months ago for book club, and Megan suggested this as another one written by Ivey that she enjoyed. Like "Snow Child", it contains several scenes surrounded by snow and the wilderness in that area of Alaska, as well as Vancouver, but this one takes place in time even earlier than the 1920s, closer to the 1880s, and goes back and forth between narrators, between time periods (jumping into the present at times), mostly in the form of letters.  The story describes an expedition to Alaska, and is full of exploration, adventure, romance, photography, and the culture of that time period. It also has elements of wonder and magic, which I'm learning may be part of Ivey's storytelling, especially when describing nature. It was a lovely read.