A Magical Summer & Mormon Vaccine Drama
Hi, I’m Gabrielle Blair and this is my newsletter. It’s completely free to access and read, but if you feel so moved to support my work, please consider a paid newsletter subscription: just $5/month or save money with the $50/annual sub. You can also go way above and beyond by becoming a Founding Member at $75. Thank you! Seriously, thank you. Support from readers keeps this newsletter ad and sponsor-free.
Hey there. So much to talk about these days! I’m going to jump in first with a mini what-I-did-this-summer report:
Family Summer
I’m feeling deep gratitude for the summer I’ve shared with my family — the first time we’ve all been together in one place in 18 months. One of the biggest highlights: We wanted to do a family portrait while the whole crew was together, and decided to make it a video — it’s hosted on Instagram, I hope you check it out. Here’s a still from the video:
The whole thing was shot, edited, and directed by our son Ralph, with all of the kids very involved. I love it so much. (In case you’re curious, the song is L’Aventurier by Indochine.)
Our last family photo was 2 years ago in New York! How often do you like to take family photos?
Another big summer highlight: We took a family vacation to Greece! With all six kids! I can hardly believe it. Ben Blair and I used to lived in Greece — it was many years ago when I was pregnant with our first baby. We loved living and working there but despite our best plans, we’ve never been able to get back. So getting to be there again, 23 years later, was dreamy. And getting to be here with all the kids — they had never been there before! — was over the moon fantastic.
As the kids get older and have independent lives, it’s harder and harder to spend time together (even when it’s not a pandemic). So I was soaking up every moment.
We spent a couple of days in Mykonos, a couple of days in Santorini, and a couple of days in Athens. (Here’s a report I put on my blog if you’d like to see more).
Something extra fun: getting to hear Ben speak Greek. He first learned Greek as a missionary (he lived in Greece for two years before I knew him), and then we lived in Greece together early in our marriage, and then he studied more Greek during grad school, and he’s been practicing again daily for the last year. He’s not fluent but he’s conversational and it was lovely to see people’s faces light up when they expected to hear English and he engaged in Greek instead.
In addition to the family vacation, we tackled some big projects at home, like finishing the herringbone pattern brick floor in the dining room of the Tall House (the house in France we’ve been renovating), and moving from the rental house into the Tall House. The move included rolling our green piano down the street of our little town!
Ralph flew to California last week — fall classes at Berkeley start in a few days. Ben went with him to help him get settled. I was a pretty big wreck as we said goodbye. Lots of tears. Though many of those tears were happy and gratitude-filled.
This summer has been so precious to me. It's been so so so good. Having the whole family together after such a long period of separation and uncertainty... I can barely put words to how beautiful it has been. As I mentioned, we've done big things, and those were amazing. But we also did a thousand tiny things. Sunset walks and making dinner and watching movies and reading books and running errands and weeding the garden and carrying countless boxes up and down countless stairs. I tried hard to soak up every second of it.
I'm hopeful we'll be with each other again soon. Maybe Christmas? But I'm also trying to manage my expectations. I don't dare think what the world will be like in December. Will borders close again? Will the hospitals still be overflowing? What's going to happen to our children who are too young to be vaccinated? And beyond the pandemic, what fires and floods and famines and wars and injustice will be facing over the fall and winter?
Right this second, getting to be with the people we love feels like a miracle. So I'm going to sit still for a bit and appreciate our beautiful, miraculous summer. I fully understand how lucky we are that we got to have that.
I Don’t Know Anything About Afghanistan
Our military was in Afghanistan for 20 years. Most of my adult life. In those 20 years I rarely thought about what was happening there. I couldn’t even tell you names of the Afghanistan leaders, current our past. My brother-in-law, my sister Rachel’s husband Paul, is a Colonel in the Army and was stationed in Afghanistan & Iraq several different times. I was more aware of things during his deployments, and worried about my sister who was raising five kids. But even then, I still can’t say I was paying diligent attention to the war.
I don’t have enough knowledge to add anything to the conversation, but here’s some of what I’ve been reading that has been helpful:
-A primer on the false narratives about the war in the Washington Post.
-An excellent read about the nuanced situation, complicated feelings and our (US) role in Afghanistan. (My sister Rachel shared this one.)
-This thread resonated with me (click through to read the whole thing):
-This article in Newsweek that thinks the current anger at Biden is misplaced.
-Another thread, this one is regarding refugees:
-And another thread on refugees:
What have you been reading that’s helping you learn about Afghanistan?
Vote NO on the California Recall
Are you following the California Recall Vote? It feels like another Brexit — a ballot that happened too casually, without a lot of thought, and with potential impact that could be catastrophic. And because California is so large with such a massive economy, anything that happens in the state affects the whole country.
To me, it feels like people aren’t paying enough attention to what’s happening (you can get caught up here). In fact, I’ve heard some people say they don’t want to vote because they are not in favor of the recall. But it doesn’t work that way. If you don’t want the Governor to be recalled, you must vote, and you must vote No.
And not just that, because of the very dumb recall system in California, you also need to fill in the name of who you want to be governor in case the current governor is recalled. So if you want the governor to remain or to keep the governor a Democrat, you’ve got to do two steps: 1) Vote No, and 2) Put in a replacement name.
I’m registered to vote in California. I’m voting no with an absentee ballot.
The current polling shows it’s neck and neck on yes and no votes. It’s possible that Governor Newsom will be recalled and replaced with a Trumper who is anti-mask, anti-science, and anti-vaxx. I know it seems like California is a super-blue state, but that’s not actually true. There are tons of conservatives in California and they seem to be getting out the vote. So if you are a Democrat, and you’re eligible to vote in California, please do, and please tell your friends.
Overwhelmed By Natural Disasters
Flooding, fires, hurricanes, earthquakes, drought. It feels like I can’t keep up. I’ve only seen snippets of Earthquake coverage in Haiti. I’ve seen a few mentions of Hurricane Henri. I know that not long after our trip to Greece, they’ve had massive fires throughout the country — in Turkey as well.
It could just be what the algorithms are showing me, but it seems like each of these events gets less attention because there are so many happening at once. Is that happening for you too? Are you having trouble keeping track of the natural disasters the world is experiencing?
So much feels so grim right now. It’s hard to know where to pay attention.
New on Instagram
I’m been busy over on Instagram. If you want to see more of our summer, there are highlights about Mykonos, Santorini, Athens, Paris, painting the big front doors, and lots more.
I also started a second Instagram account. I’m calling it @TwitterbyDesignMom, and I’m using it to share all the tweets I find. If my Twitter curation is something you’re into, definitely go check it out and give it a follow.
Mormon Vaccine Drama
The President of the LDS church (church members call him The Prophet) recently asked church members to get vaccinated and wear masks. This is not at all surprising when you consider that before he was President of the LDS church, he had a long career as a world-renowned heart surgeon. It’s also not surprising because early in the pandemic, he led a church-wide fast for a cure/vaccine/end to the pandemic. And yet, many church members have been caught off guard and believe his vaccine request and mask guidance is shocking and wrong.
In fact, there are a significant number of people who are experiencing a full-blown faith crisis over being asked to get vaccinated. The day before he made the request, they would have considered themselves to be True Blue Mormons, very obedient and righteous. And the next day, they are publicly rejecting the prophet, accusing him of being corrupted.
It is bizarre and it is exhausting. I have so much to say about this — how church leadership has failed regarding this pandemic, how and why all of this could easily have played out differently among Mormons, and how so much of it is wrapped up in the extremist right political thinking that has taken root in a too-large faction of church membership. Maybe I need a separate newsletter/post just about this.
On Design Mom Lately
The Ultimate Guide to Dutch Oven Cooking.
DIY Jewelry based on computer code so you can create secret messages.
A Home Tour from Vermont that’s resonating with lots of readers.
Feel free to share your thoughts in response to anything above. I hope you are have a lovely week.
kisses,
Gabrielle
It’s very interesting to hear faithful members disregard the words of the prophet as it relates to the vaccine. The vaccine grants freedoms to all people by the cooperation of the majority. Perhaps members are more attached to their own freedom and less attached to their brother or sisters freedom? Is there a chance they have been taught that there are different rules and rewards for different people…? How can we be a chosen people when we are equalizing all by asking for masking and vaccines?
I would love a post completely devoted to the Mormon pandemic/vaccine/mask situation! It’s such an issue on a large scale and also for me personally it’s been a real struggle. Because how is it ok to “have agency” and “personal revelation” surrounding covid but not for LGBTQ+ positions, abortion, or even coffee and second piercings! That’s just a little of my feelings and I’d just love to hear your insight on the matter.