a handful of blossoms and a breeze

I was looking through some old photos recently, and I came across a series that tried to capture a beautiful moment. I was visiting the town of Reims in Champagne, and came across a flowering tree near the cathedral. Each breeze carried petals with it, the gutters were filled, filled, flowing with delicate pink petals, and the air felt like spring itself.

a real-life hero

Kym Worthy, a powerhouse prosecutor in Detroit, has been fighting to get money to test dusty (literally) rape kits that have been languishing in storage in Detroit due to a lack of funds. No one will ever be able to explain to my WHY this is something can happen in the United States. (Apparently Detroit has more than 11,000 rape kits waiting to be tested, and Houston has a backlog of about 16,000, but this is something that happens all across the country.)

The kits tested so far have already led to a huge number of DNA matches. Many of the offenders went on to perpetrate other rapes, and in one case, murders. This should never ever ever have happened. Is this the type of society we want to live in?

Kym Worthy is a real-life hero. I wish the money that people spend to support politicians who think that not all rape is 'legitimate rape' would go to causes like this instead. All rape is legitimate rape, and all survivors deserve the chance to have their case solved and their attacker put behind bars.

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Sign the petition or write letters to your elected representatives supporting the Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence Registry (SAFER) Act, which would lead to faster processing of rape kits and create an online registry of the backlogged cases.

Find out more through RAINN, a powerful charity offering services for survivors and influencing policy.

do what needs to be done

A while has passed since I have posted here. I have been working on my thesis, and have had quite a few of these days: click me!

Such a long project, the culmination of so many years in school... the process of writing a PhD thesis is so daunting. I recently read Gretchen Rubin's Happiness Project, and I found it really interesting. One concept particularly resonated with me : do what needs to be done.

I am a bit of a perfectionist - if I am going to garden then I want to learn all about plants and create a beautiful space that can provide lots of wonderful food. If I am going to straighten the closet, I like to take 3 hours to empty it and go through each item. Sometimes this is a useful trait - I know a lot about plants now and when I have just gone through my closet it is extremely organized! - but other times it can be paralyzing.

Writing can bring this out in me. I need to remember that perfect is often be the enemy of good, and a first draft can be edited. I am trying to write everyday, and letting some other things fall by the wayside - the garden is slowly becoming a jungle and my closet is a disaster - but I am doing what needs to be done.

backyard zucchini fritatta

During hot summer days I am all about simple. Lemon ice tea. Iced anything! Dinners that don't involve lots of cooking. Cherry tomatoes chopped in half, with handfuls and handfuls of fresh basil, balsamic, olive oil, pepper and fleur de sel. And this spicy zucchini frittata - so good! We used a piment d'espelette instead of jalapeno, since that is what we had in the garden, and it came out perfectly. Espelette peppers are slightly less hot than jalapenos, with such a good flavor. Exploring new flavors makes time in the garden so worthwhile!