Happy Monday! Life has been very full over the past few weeks, so I’m a couple of days behind on sitting down to write this.
Pots & Pans
Fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays, and I’m especially excited to celebrate it at home in the U.S. after last year’s muted festivities in Krakow. There’s just nothing like an Independence Day cookout with friends and family!
My new favorite summer side is watermelon + feta salad. We made this recipe (from the Mediterranean Dish blog) last week, and it was a refreshing alternative to the classic fruit salad. Even if it doesn’t make an appearance for the upcoming holiday, I’ll be making it on repeat while watermelons are in season!
The Discourse
In addition to work + traveling to see family and friends, I’ve stayed plenty busy with freelance work.
My home state of Michigan just passed California as the state with the highest marijuana sales, so I wrote about the various dynamics at play for The American Conservative [Michigan Pot Is Growing Like a Weed].
I had the honor to profile Fr. Patrick Reidy, CSC, who will become the first priest to clerk for a Supreme Court justice in the upcoming term. [Father Reidy Goes to Washington — As Supreme Court Clerk, National Catholic Register] Fr. Reidy is a Notre Dame grad who became a Holy Cross priest, attended Yale Law School, and is now a professor at Notre Dame Law School. He’s doing amazing work, and it was no surprise that everyone I spoke with had only the highest praise.
Also of note to Catholics, new study data suggests that the 2019 Pew Research statistics about Eucharistic belief among Catholics may have greatly underestimated the actual number of Catholics who believe what the Church teaches about the Eucharist and true presence. [More Catholics Believe in the Eucharist than Previously Thought, American Spectator] The good news is that things aren’t as bleak as many have believed for the past five years; the bad news is that secular organizations haven’t gotten any better at understanding religion in the intervening years.
Aaaand to round out the past few weeks, five new states have passed bipartisan age-verification laws aimed at preventing minors from accessing online pornography. [Pornhub Blocks Access in Five States with New Age-Verification Laws, American Spectator] Rather than comply with the new laws, Pornhub has decided to simply cut off access to its site in these states. Their protest is self-defeating, which makes the legislative victory all the sweeter.
In Other News:
Why These Chinese Working Mothers Don’t Want More Babies, NYT — China’s one-child policy is in the rearview, but girlboss feminism has a similar effect.
War and Adoration: Why Eucharistic Devotion Is Surging Amid Cameroon’s Devastating Civil Conflict, National Catholic Register — Jonathan Liedl’s reporting on the Church in Africa has been absolutely fascinating to read, and I love this latest article about faith amid civil war.
Marijuana Rescheduling Is High-Risk, Low-Reward, Newsweek — Kevin Sabet (and his organization, Smart Approaches to Marijuana) is an essential voice in the politics of drug policy, and his article in Newsweek is a great one-stop-shop for understanding the stakes of Biden’s plan to reschedule marijuana.
Shelf Life
At long last, I finished House of Flame and Shadow and wrapped up Sarah J. Maas’s Crescent City series — until the next book comes out, that is. I started reading Maas’s books looooong before they became trendy on BookTok, and I’ve always loved her complex high fantasy world-building. This series was no exception!
I’ve turned to Funny Story, which is beach read queen Emily Henry’s latest novel. Her books are always light and easy to read, but I love her self-aware subversions of classic rom-com tropes. Plus, this book takes place in a fictionalized version of my hometown in Northern Michigan, which makes it all the more enjoyable.
I’m excited to turn to some more “serious” fiction in the coming weeks, but I’m enjoying the cotton candy content for now!